Treeaddict
Treehouser
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I’m curious about that too! I just assumed foot and knee ascender?
Full body harness
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hitchclimber with ropewrench, chest harness (monkeybeaver suspenders for me), saka, and a foot ascender (mine is CMI but I think they should all pretty much work the same, the CMI is a large brick, will upgrade in the future)
you need atleast the foot ascender, but the knee ascender makes life so much easier, its worth the money (and you will know, after the first climb with it)
All I would need is the saka and the rope wrench set up. From watching videos it seems like most canopy work in srt needs a hand ascender for limb walks to come back in from the limb. Ofcourse I could just set up a pulley with a hitch cord but how necessary is that in usual application?
depends on the day and tree, I keep a hand ascender and spare biner to Z rig when im limb walking, I did a whole tree yesterday without it, although I thought about putting one in, if you can limb walk and have both hands off the limb then you really dont need it, but most people dont have superhuman powers, so you need it
I also find a spare prusik loop and biner to be handy as all get out, I use it to keep a tie in while moving my line around a limb (pics if you want)
I also find a spare prusik loop and biner to be handy as all get out, I use it to keep a tie in while moving my line around a limb (pics if you want)
yeah I'm still learning the optimal angles for my limb walks. some I can go all the way out with no issue. others like the pine I climbed on Tuesday was a shaky unbalanced mess with nothing to stabilize myself to. Yeah it would be awesome to see some pics of the set up. Im about to buy a new 70cc saw so maybe some months after that I may begin ordering my set gear so I can start training. Another thought. My two current climbing lines are Yale blue moon and New England tachyon. Would you recommend one over the other for srt?
prusik loop to bypass non-isolated limbs
lanyard to bridge, to prusik over limb, dis connect main climb line (prusik holds you), move climb line end to correct side of limb, re-connect, remove lanyard and prusik, and climb on
NOTE: this method is sketchy IMO, I do it, I do not condone using it as there is no stopper knot to stop your prusik from running off the rope
lanyard to bridge, to prusik over limb, dis connect main climb line (prusik holds you), move climb line end to correct side of limb, re-connect, remove lanyard and prusik, and climb on
NOTE: this method is sketchy IMO, I do it, I do not condone using it as there is no stopper knot to stop your prusik from running off the rope
gotcha, thanks! so my next questions would be:
when I was learning the vt it was always a 4/3 or a 4/4 configuration that was recommended. but yours appears to be a 3/4. your not the first person I've seen running that. How does that react say compared to a Michoacán which is my current favorite.
also is a chest harness only important for keeping you close to your system when limb walking? My reading has always said that it was for tending the mechanical (zigzag, akimbo, etc) but I can't see how a hitch climber would benefit from that, would seem to just be to keep you standing vertical.
oh and what brand is your hand ascender? it reminds me of ones I've seen on amazon. Ive seen a lot of ascenders on amazon that look just like what we use in tree work but are a fraction of the price. is there really a huge price difference in the amazon products?
when I was learning the vt it was always a 4/3 or a 4/4 configuration that was recommended. but yours appears to be a 3/4. your not the first person I've seen running that. How does that react say compared to a Michoacán which is my current favorite.
also is a chest harness only important for keeping you close to your system when limb walking? My reading has always said that it was for tending the mechanical (zigzag, akimbo, etc) but I can't see how a hitch climber would benefit from that, would seem to just be to keep you standing vertical.
oh and what brand is your hand ascender? it reminds me of ones I've seen on amazon. Ive seen a lot of ascenders on amazon that look just like what we use in tree work but are a fraction of the price. is there really a huge price difference in the amazon products?
that is a cheap amazon ascender, works for non life support just fine
chest harness for SRT is non optional, it pulls the hitchclimber up with you, otherwise it falls down by your knees and wont work as intended
the 3/4 VT is my favorite, for me (and this goes for almost every configuration ive tried) anything with lots of wraps (4/3, distel, ETC) binds up, I dont like the VT but its the only hitch I can make work on the rope ive got (the blue one is scion, its the tricky one, the orange is samson velocity, super nice rope and most hitches work great on it)
before buying the gear, go out and practice hitches, as many cords as you can, as many hitches as you can till you find one that works for you, the green cord I use is 8mm armorprus 32" e2e, it is a nice cord, I hear epicord is amazing, I will be trying it in a few months once its time to retire my green cord
biggest thing IMO: before sitting into your hitch (especially after ropewalking), grab the top coils and push them up tight, otherwise the hitch may slide on you (not fun, don't ask)
chest harness for SRT is non optional, it pulls the hitchclimber up with you, otherwise it falls down by your knees and wont work as intended
the 3/4 VT is my favorite, for me (and this goes for almost every configuration ive tried) anything with lots of wraps (4/3, distel, ETC) binds up, I dont like the VT but its the only hitch I can make work on the rope ive got (the blue one is scion, its the tricky one, the orange is samson velocity, super nice rope and most hitches work great on it)
before buying the gear, go out and practice hitches, as many cords as you can, as many hitches as you can till you find one that works for you, the green cord I use is 8mm armorprus 32" e2e, it is a nice cord, I hear epicord is amazing, I will be trying it in a few months once its time to retire my green cord
biggest thing IMO: before sitting into your hitch (especially after ropewalking), grab the top coils and push them up tight, otherwise the hitch may slide on you (not fun, don't ask)
SkwerI
Treehouser
I used a 4/1 and loved it. Never saw the need for the long hitches where you had to reel in 24" of rope to advance the hitch 12". Mine was short and tight, less than 2" of slack.
TLDR:
chest harness non optional
hand ascender doesnt matter so long as its not life support
keep a ring and prusik loop on your saddle at all times, will get you out of a jam more than once
get a long ropewrench tether if you arent sure about what hitch you will like, they are cheap, buy the shortie if you need it
get a spare slic pin or two, they are very easy to lose
dont do my prusik trick, unless you are 200% sure of what you are doing
velocity is a good rope if you need another one, although very light and doesnt flick well IMO
chest harness non optional
hand ascender doesnt matter so long as its not life support
keep a ring and prusik loop on your saddle at all times, will get you out of a jam more than once
get a long ropewrench tether if you arent sure about what hitch you will like, they are cheap, buy the shortie if you need it
get a spare slic pin or two, they are very easy to lose
dont do my prusik trick, unless you are 200% sure of what you are doing
velocity is a good rope if you need another one, although very light and doesnt flick well IMO
okay cool, I've seen those ascenders on there and has always been curious for there quality. I can see now how the hitch wouldn't quite tend itself in a srt set up. in my ddrt the line pulls itself up when I use my foot ascender. I currently use my chest harnesses to keep my harness on my hips or when I'm in a difficult spot for a long time and my core needs a break. when I first started climbing the vt it was always the 4/3 but I hated it on my lanyards, either the top braid would slide off or would become hard to tend, plus when I'm hip thrusting or using my foot ascender on ddrt there was wayyyyy to much sitback. I bought a hitch climber pack and a 20ft section of 8mm ocean poly which is currently what I'm climbing on with a 4 wrap Michoacán and it has been my favorite so far. I like being able to tie my own eyes cause on a hitch I only get an inch of sitback. I have a 30in e2e of the epicord in the 9.3 and its still my favorite to this day but the length is too long for a Michoacán. eventually ill buy a 20ft length of it from Wesspur but right now the ocean poly with a 4 wrap grips tight on everything I have except for my chinook long lanyard I got from Wesspur (which I think is Yale blaze or the Samson velocity hot, don't remember, but that one needed the 5 wrap Michoacán.
I think the chinook is velocity
if the Michoacán works, then it will work SRT I think, ive found, for me (140 pounds with gear) that my rope wrench takes maybe 80% of my weight, if im sharing the load between it and anything else, I have to manually collapse the RW to make it slide down
ruel
TreeHouser
Im with Brian on hitch length, short is good for me. I prefer super positive grabbing over super Easy tending. I personally found long VT hitches would not reliably engage SRT, needing manual setting which I'm not Comfortable with. described above as grabbing top coils and pushing them up. Not a good practice IMO, Kevin Bingham said make sure hitch engages 100%of the time
For SRT ascent,
-SRT device( in my preferred order, Bulldog bone, hitchhiker, rope wrench)
-Foot ascender
-Second ascender (knee is best/ easiest, hand with foot loop is ok, prussic with loop works but isn't great)
- tending point (webbing sling with carabiner, chest harness, lanyard over shoulder)
For SRT ascent,
-SRT device( in my preferred order, Bulldog bone, hitchhiker, rope wrench)
-Foot ascender
-Second ascender (knee is best/ easiest, hand with foot loop is ok, prussic with loop works but isn't great)
- tending point (webbing sling with carabiner, chest harness, lanyard over shoulder)
it sketched me tf out, at 60ft and it slides on ya, once I start upgrading for the season, I will be getting another climb line, and giving the groundie/new climber this scion, what line do you use SRT with the hitchclimber?
im looking at either silver ivy, or samson vortex, vortex seems to hold a hitch well
skwerl I just noticed some of the nicks in your climbing line. I kisses my tachyon line 3ft from my spliced eye for the first time a couple days ago. didn't even cut through a single carrier but since then I've asked myself, when is too much damage time to retire? I do all my own splices so I could easily cut 3ft off and resplice it but I don't see the need to. So I guess my question is when is there too many strands cut to be considered safe?
if it didnt cut any carrier strands then its ~99% ok, I dont know the limit, but ive cut a few strands and the rope has held, and still does to this day, for me if its more than 5 or 6 strands id cut and re-splice
that being said, I climb on a rope I may or may not have put a spike thru, cant even tell it happened but im sure it did, I keep an eye on that area, no limp/soft spots, no cut strands, no discoloration, chemical burns or melted strands, its good to go
that being said, I climb on a rope I may or may not have put a spike thru, cant even tell it happened but im sure it did, I keep an eye on that area, no limp/soft spots, no cut strands, no discoloration, chemical burns or melted strands, its good to go
yeah you can see all of the charts for rope safety inspection and they talk about the whole excessive fraying is when you retire it. but I've been curious about the grey area in-between. I'ts such a small nic that Im not worried about it at all, just got me wondering. I'm gonna climb on it just to see how it acts over time and whether the 24 strand cover would run out at all.
thanks for the link, looking at that makes me think, maybe all my ropes need retired
well within my acceptable levels, but all of my ropes have nicks, frays, glazing, you name it
none of them have weird soft spots, or thin spots, so I still use them
well within my acceptable levels, but all of my ropes have nicks, frays, glazing, you name it
none of them have weird soft spots, or thin spots, so I still use them
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