Hitch Hiker Reviews

I'm still using the original Beeline cord that came with the HH. I tried 7 coils on an Oak take down I did this afternoon, it worked great! I had it tied "very slightly" loose. Grabbed quick and solid, and never even thought about seizing up! :D
Haven't had a chance to get any other cord to try, listening to you guys talk about the HRC cord that'll be on my next order. ;)

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I put the HH on my new Tachyon, same setup as my access rope (hard braided).
I tried Ddrt and SRT.
The beeline's knot seems to shrink a little less on this softer rope and doesn't jam when it's time to descent, good. But instead, I saw the little locking at the Oxam. Nothing to worry, actually it's less annoying than the knot's jam.
I just push down gently the HH with my wrist when I release the knot and it starts sliding almost smoothly.

In fact, the Oxam is splined and sinks deeply in the rope. Maybe, with a softer rope, the amount of rope in front of the biner is bigger than the slope of the HH's windows. So the HH's body has to go down first to make enough room before the biner could "climb" out of the rope's hole and slide again on the rope. Probably, a little stepper slope could solve this issue but it will decrease the braking effect, and overall, it should be adjusted depending on the rope's quality (not doable).

I hope that makes sens.
 
Marc-Antoine said:
... But instead, I saw the little locking at the Oxam. Nothing to worry, actually it's less annoying than the knot's jam.
I just push down gently the HH with my wrist when I release the knot and it starts sliding almost smoothly...
Click to expand...

This problem of the carabiner sometimes not releasing on descent is not a design or slot angle issue. If it was, everyone would experience it, but of all the HHs out in the field it seems only a few have this problem. From the experimenting I have done, it appears to be a surface texture issue. When two hardened metal surfaces are subjected to high- pressured loads, any small imperfections and milling marks can act like the gripping teeth on an ascender. This same phenomena can be seen on trigger mechanisms and is the reason careful polishing is used to reduce load needed for trigger release.

For anyone having this problem, I have found that taking some time and working the contact surfaces of the HH and possibly even the carabiner with progressively finer wet/dry sandpaper, ending with 400 grit, until polished smooth will solve this problem. Remember you are not trying to remove material, you are just polishing it.
 
DMc said:
This problem of the carabiner sometimes not releasing on descent is not a design or slot angle issue. If it was, everyone would experience it, but of all the HHs out in the field it seems only a few have this problem. From the experimenting I have done, it appears to be a surface texture issue. When two hardened metal surfaces are subjected to high- pressured loads, any small imperfections and milling marks can act like the gripping teeth on an ascender. This same phenomena can be seen on trigger mechanisms and is the reason careful polishing is used to reduce load needed for trigger release.

For anyone having this problem, I have found that taking some time and working the contact surfaces of the HH and possibly even the carabiner with progressively finer wet/dry sandpaper, ending with 400 grit, until polished smooth will solve this problem. Remember you are not trying to remove material, you are just polishing it.
Click to expand...

Well said, :thumbup:
I've been working in a machine shop for almost 28 years and we see the same thing happen with tools/tooling and the parts we produce. It's something you wouldn't expect to happen, but the metal will almost act like it's "sticky", depending on the alloy and or surface texture/finish. Polishing should pretty much eliminate the problem.(until the surface looses it's polished finish, just polish again;))
 
Thanks to correct my analysis.:)
I didn't thought that the finished surface could be so important beside the sliding areas in the bearings.
I look closer at the machined surface and do what you suggest.
 
Someone posted a Hitchhiker setup that involved a pinto pulley in another thread.
I wanted to try it out, but can't find the pictures.
Help, anyone?
 
Thanks.

Martin, my apprentice is off to forestry school for a two week class in treeclimbing tecniques etc.

Since we have already taught him more than the teachers at school know, we figured he could use the time to get real good with the Hitch hiker.
 
In the above picture could you clip the standing end of the line into the becket of the pinto?
 
rumination said:
In the above picture could you clip the standing end of the line into the becket of the pinto?
Click to expand...

I would be concerned with the thin edges of the HH contacting the rope and wearing/cutting it like in a fall or shock load.
The carabiner coming off the becket would be lined up to go right inside the HH.
 
Also look at the angles of the carabiner where it contacts the Pinto. The Pinto has a bushing to prevent the sides from pulling in under load. I don't imagine an outward-force load would be in its "best use" instructions.
 
Tried the HH for the first time yesterday. I think I'm not doing the wraps correctly as it grabbed very tightly and had a hard time releasing. I also noticed that there was about a half inch of sit back when advancing and sitting in the line. I do like how compact and sleek the setup is, but it didn't feel anywhere near as smooth as the RW. Again I will continue to tweak the wrap setups. I was using the 10mm beeline with about 5 wraps.

jp:D
 
Get as little slack in the wraps as possible, then it'll tend better and have less sit back IMO.
I retie it after using it for a little while, to get the last bit of slack out.
 
There seems to be a fine line, though, between too much slack and not enough. I think I tend to tie with around 2 inches (5cm) of slack between the bottom wrap and the top of the HH. When loaded this seems to stretch out a little bit, so I do sometimes find myself retying as stig mentioned above. That said, I've found that I'm either much heavier than most here or something about the set up isn't quite tweeked the same way as others, because with the bee line cord supplied I've found myself using 8 wraps because even with 7 it seems the hitch breaks and then will not reset and grab reliably. If I reduce the slack in the 6 or 7 wrap system, while it will grab reliably, descent is not as responsive as I prefer. So, with the bee-line, 8 wraps for me.

The cordage lasts a heck of a lot longer than without an HH as well. I'm still very impressed. Right now I'm working on tweaking a rope walker system.
 
The HH continues to shine for me. :D I tried some 10mm Ocean cord I had and that worked pretty good, but I finally got some HRC(8mm?) cord. Used it to start a job on Saturday(two large Pines, just me on a windy day, didn't get done nearly what I wanted)and it worked great. :thumbup: Smooth release, never seemed to stick/seize, and grabbed the rope tight every time I released it. The only thing I noticed was it was a bit "touchy" when I pulled on the hitch to release it. I believe that was from having it tied just a bit too loose(?). I think a very small adjustment would eliminate that. I accessed the tree using the "hands free" self advancing system(I'm still working on it)SRT, DRT, also used the the basic with the DMM revolver as a 3:1 for some positioning. The more I use it the more "natural" it becomes to use it without thinking about how to use it. ;)
 
HH "Hands Free" climbing system update

Here's a video I put together to update my HH climbing system, it's gettin' better all the time. Thanks guys for all your input!!! :D
Took the video with my new Contour Roam helmet cam, love that camera! :thumbup:

<iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/iqwJ3r1qFf4" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
 
MasterBlaster said:
Hands free?
Click to expand...

What I mean by that is, all I'm using my hands for is "hanging on to the rope". I'm not tending slack, advancing the HH, advancing one of the ascenders, etc., just hangin' on to the rope. :D :thumbup: I probably shouldn't have run the part when I'm climbing the rope at 4x, you can't see what's goin' on below but you can see my hands aren't doing anything other than climbing rope.....;)
 
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