hip thrust is for 20 something!

L

LeafCollector

Treehouser
Joined
Jul 15, 2018
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Location
Northwest Indiana
so i decided today that a foot ascender is a must for an out of shape 46 year old beginning climbers.
i was completely gassed at 30', half way to my T.I.P.
i cut one limb and headed back to earth.
everything I do tree wise is recreational, HIP THRUSTS just don't qualify as recreational.
I've kept my climbing gear minimal just to discover what works best.
If i'm completely honest, I prefer the blake's hitch over the hitch climber set up. I feel you get more distance per hip thrust with a longer bridge but love being able to just un clip from the hitch climber. Today's climb I tried out the swabisch prusik and loved it.
that said, I wont be climbing much more with some help from my legs;)
i'll heading over to TS and ordering one tonight.
Any thoughts on the HAAS knee ascender in addition to the foot? Is it overkill?
thanks

P.S. while i wont be giving climbing advice anytime soon, P.M. me if ya got HVAC problem i can help advise on.
P.S.S. i don't do side work;)
 
I'm assuming you're climbing Ddrt? Either way a HAAS or SAKA will prove invaluable to your climbing. In conjunction with a foot ascender it's just like walking up a ladder. Climbing Ddrt you'll only be going half the distance per step but it will be twice as easy. Srt will be twice as fast but you're pulling your entire body weight with each step. Which is no trouble since you'll be using your legs now instead of your arms and stomach. If you choose to climb SRT you'll also need a way to tend your hitch like a chest box or just pull your lanyard over your shoulder. You'll also need a Rope Wrench or a mechanical ascender suitable for SRT. Then you'll be running up and down the tree over and over. There's a hundred ways of doing this and this is just the way I prefer. You'll get lots of great advice here.
 
You can still ascend SRT with the hitch climber setup. Just a PITA to work and descend that way. To much friction. My first few SRT ascents were this way. So much more efficient. A foot ascender and HAAS will help DDRT but still a tiring thing. PM PCTREE and get a Hitch Hiker from him or order a rope wrench and tether. Going up SRT is like walking up a set of stairs.
 
Back in the day I used the foot ascender and a single hand ascender, along with my VT hitch tied in as my backup. Once I got up in the tree I could switch over by simply unhooking my hand ascender and kicking my foot ascender off the line. I could clip my hand ascender on the back of my saddle or even toss it to the ground. Simple and fast was my standard.
 
So many better ways to skin this cat, it defies any simple post response to detail them. Maybe spend some time with the search function, and in the archived threads. I know if you ask a more targeted question, you'll find many helpful souls here.
 
Cool gadgets and stuff are awesome energy savers and truly helpful in this profession. But, when push comes to shove, it's nice being able to toss your rope and just pull yourself up there.
 
Sure enough, the Master speaks truth. Old school truth...long gone for the most part from current times everyday tree work truth, but truth nonetheless :).
 
A lot of things are hard the first couple times you try it. If you’re out of shape than maybe getting in shape will benefit you more. I’d still look into a rope walking setup for efficiency tho
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #11
Benjo75 said:
I'm assuming you're climbing Ddrt? Either way a HAAS or SAKA will prove invaluable to your climbing. In conjunction with a foot ascender it's just like walking up a ladder. Climbing Ddrt you'll only be going half the distance per step but it will be twice as easy. Srt will be twice as fast but you're pulling your entire body weight with each step. Which is no trouble since you'll be using your legs now instead of your arms and stomach. If you choose to climb SRT you'll also need a way to tend your hitch like a chest box or just pull your lanyard over your shoulder. You'll also need a Rope Wrench or a mechanical ascender suitable for SRT. Then you'll be running up and down the tree over and over. There's a hundred ways of doing this and this is just the way I prefer. You'll get lots of great advice here.
Click to expand...

SO I'm climbing Ddrt, and for the record i have no idea what the small d stands for?
i plan do do all thing on the double rope until I naturally progress out.
when your using the foot and HAAS, can you stay in close to the stem? i guess the stem is my security blanket as I develop my tree wings.
SRT looks great and some day ill gear up for that.
i bought the foot ascender and a nice set of aluminum spikes tonight from TS.
i plan to remove mostly dead trees, OAK and ASH to build up my firewood supply.
The oak I climbed today had a massive limb perfect for the tie in, I swear I heard it crack. Even though I did have 2 other limbs under my TIP if that 7" limb would have failed, i still had to throw away some clothing if ya know what i mean.
seems to me, the dead ones are safer to spike up the tree along with my Ddrt and get a real good look at my TIP.
i appreciate all who have commented.
 
There's also a way to use a longer bridge to eliminate the hold your weight while you tend slack part, which is the worst part of hip thrusting. If you are a fan of the longer hitch setup (split tail or even just tail of the rope), you can also add a micro pulley with some throwline or something hitched onto the standing leg of the rope. That way all you have to do is pull the tail and it automatically tends the slack. A foot ascender will save much of the work tho, as I'm sure you have discovered. Another trick if you are doing this recreationally and on the cheap, is either the foot wrap /footlock method, or even make up a foot strap with a garda hitch using two caribiners. While not as nice as an actual foot ascender, it works surprisingly well. You can also use a friction hitch for a foot ascender, the rbs knot is very quick to tie and will work too, like everyone has said, a bunch of ways to skin a cat

A healthy, non included bark, 7" branch union on an oak will be strong enough to lift a car. Go low and slow, but in time you will find yourself being comfortable on much much smaller diameter stuff, especially when you learn how to bounce test it, and do redirects to lower the forces even more. Like anything worthwhile, it just takes time :)
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #15
MasterBlaster said:
You want the bridge to be as long as you can reach. :drink:
Click to expand...
And there it is.
I should be reaching more overhead on the pull. My setups are in tight so I'm starting my pull too close to my body (chest)which equals no leverage.
I've got a nice sewn eye split tail I'll use in place of a sewn eye prusik. That should get things moving better for me.

I'll post a pic of my setup, not for approval but mere entertainment:)
ThAnk you
 
It helps if you stretch your right arm a foot or so. Sure - you look funny but man you can really increase your thrusting!







:|:
 
On short hauls , say 35' or less I go old school DRT w Taut line or Blake's hitch and rather enjoy it. Everything taller gets SRT w HH and Ascenders.
 
I like the O rig setup. If I don't need to go too far sometimes I'll lanyard in, unclip my climbing system, take an extra hitch cord and biner, and clip it to my bridge then clip my climbing system to it. That extends my system out another 20 inches or so. Perfect for just pulling. Doubled rope of course. Then all you have to do is just pull rope at a 2 to 1.

Ddrt is doubled rope. Double rope would mean 2 ropes. Doubled rope means one rope doubled over. Srt is single rope technique. I know they've already changed it again. Now there are a whole new set of letters to explain something that I don't think really needed clarified. Double rope, doubled rope and single rope makes pretty good sense to me. Plus I don't like change. So I'll probably be stuck saying these for a while.
 
Doubled rope where both legs are moving, means that your tie-in point broke and you are falling.
Doubled rope where both legs are static, you'll have an hard time to go elsewhere.
Make a mix of that and you're good to go.
 
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