How'd it go today?

[lxskllr]

Gonna call Project Skidding Cone a success. Finished product...

The setup...



First try...



After getting it to the bottom bank, I put a butterfly in rope, and rehooked it to the hitch. Butterfly was a pita to remove, so I figured I'd try a prusik. I seem to have left my rigging cord somewhere else, but I have some web loops. Can you make a prusik out of them?



Success!

Made a bad screwup. Forgot to unhook the pulley before pulling on the prusik the second time, and I broke my rope. Also cut my new skidding cone :^(




My shitty little pile of wood...



It's the lightest, crappiest wood up there. It was closer to the truck, and I had to move it anyway to get to the bigger stuff. Food time now. Chili and beans...

 

[Mick!]

Anyway, like @SkwerI it was an outer part and not the whole tooth. I’ll spare you the selfie!

No issues, modeling career on hold till I see the dentist!

 

[pantheraba]

You are an animal! With pliers?

 

[Mick!]

No, just wiggling, accompanied by my wife telling me to stop doing it!

 

[Mellow]

 

[Mick!]

That scene from Castaway haunts me every time I have toothache.

 

[Burnham]

The reason I like the RQ8s is that they take away the need of that.
In my estimation, that is.

I'm not sure I agree with you there, Stig.

 

[biggun]

I also dreamed once that a human-sized dinosaur chased me up a tree and when I got to the top it stabbed me to death. I remember dying in the top of that tree. Next image in the dream I was floating in front of a bunch of neatly spaced out records... I figured each record represented a possible life that I could choose next. But that's just me guessing. Pretty weird having a dinosaur stab you to death. Okay... I'll quit posting weird-ass dreams. I'm afraid I might start a trend or a panicked stampede.

Gary, I think i had some of the same shit you were taking, whilst i was in hospital.

 

[stig]

I'm not sure I agree with you there, Stig.

If things get out of hand, simply wrap around another horn.
Of course anybody can screw anything up.

But compared to a "Normal" figure 8, way safer.

However, I have been listening to your advice ever since I first "met" you here.
You were an invaluable source of knowledge when Richard and I started SRT ascends.

So next time, I'll be sure to add a backup before sending a prospective apprentice down the rope.

Søren was so cool about the whole thing, though, totally in control.

 

[Nutball]

I also dreamed once that a human-sized dinosaur chased me up a tree and when I got to the top it stabbed me to death. I remember dying in the top of that tree. Next image in the dream I was floating in front of a bunch of neatly spaced out records... I figured each record represented a possible life that I could choose next. But that's just me guessing. Pretty weird having a dinosaur stab you to death. Okay... I'll quit posting weird-ass dreams. I'm afraid I might start a trend or a panicked stampede.

No, continue, these are great. We need a weird/funny dreams thread.

 

[cory]

I have a very intermittent (every 2-3 years) recurring dream that the pristine opposite shore of the lake I go to in ME gets nuked by clear cutting

 

[Nutball]

I once dreamed I was asleep on the side of a hill in a nice green field. And I remember that a radio tower walked up and tickled me in my sleep. I am not making this up. Please interpret that one.

I read it wrong. I thought the tower kicked you. I think it kicking you is funnier.

 

[Nutball]

It's strange how teeth falling out or crumbling is a common recurring dream for people. I probably have it a couple times per year, or where my jaw locks like it is dislocated.

I think finding oneself all of a sudden naked in public is another common one.

 

[lxskllr]

I hardly ever remember my dreams. I was gonna tell you all about one I had kinda recently cause I thought it was weird/interesting, but after being up for a short while, it was pretty much all gone. I couldn't remember enough to tell the story.

 

[Nutball]

I think I did tree work last night.

I'm glad I didn't put a lot of hours on the big stump I posted about a while ago or I'd have ground it all night in my sleep.

 

[Burnham]

If things get out of hand, simply wrap around another horn.
Of course anybody can screw anything up.

But compared to a "Normal" figure 8, way safer.

However, I have been listening to your advice ever since I first "met" you here.
You were an invaluable source of knowledge when Richard and I started SRT ascends.

So next time, I'll be sure to add a backup before sending a prospective apprentice down the rope.

Søren was so cool about the whole thing, though, totally in control.

Here's the thing you are missing, Stig.

If the rappeller loses control of the descent line below the RQ3, or any other rap 8, due to some unexpected interference ( wasps, a falling widowmaker, a tiny branchlet sticking into one's eye, overheated rope on hand friction...the damn list of possibles is endless), then uncontrolled fall is inevitable. The ability to use the RQ3 horns is lost, as fine an improvement they may be over the old style rescue 8. Falling hard is nearly assured.

Now I will readily admit to hundreds, in the very least, of un-backed rescue 8 rappels. I did so with full confidence in my unassailable abilities at not only avoiding the mistakes I might have made, but also my obvious immunity to any of the whackadoodle unexpected interference that can befall a tree climber on rappel. Dumbshit confidence, that . I adopted a different attitude and practice as I got older and hopefully wiser.

And let me now point out a great alternative to the prusik backup to figure 8, that offers every bit of the safety...a ground belayer. It takes only the least little bit of downward pull on the rappel line from a ground based belayer to halt a rappeler on an 8 in their tracks. No moving rope, so no friction issues or slack/tension management for the belayer to contend with...safe as houses, if the belayer is paying attention at all.

All this applies to rappel rack descent as well.

 

[Fiddler]

We need a weird/funny dreams thread.

We have a dream thread...

Dreams - as in when you are asleep

A recent exchange on Facebook got me to thinking this could be an interesting (bizarre?) thread. Dreams. Here is one I had many years ago...where I died in the dream. I was being chased by a dinosaur (small T-Rex, human size). It chased me thru dark woods and I climbed way up a tree...

www.masterblasterhome.com

 

[SeanKroll]

@stig Rescue 8 ears prevent the unlikely flipped up rope to girth hitch f-up.




You can lock off either, with a soft lock, or bight thru the biner, and a mule knot and overhand on a bight tie-off.



A back-up friction hitch is for a slip, cramp, heart attack, or to rest.

A valdotain below the 8, attached to a bridge ring or bridge will lock the 8, and be release-able under tension.

 

[stig]

Burnham, I really like the ground belay idea.
Why didn't you tell me about that 10 years ago.

We hardly ever use a figure 8 for work.
Actually, make that never.
It was a thing for getting out of the Redwoods and Sequoias.

 

[SeanKroll]

" fire man's belay"...historically

You can also use a belay-line backup from above the first rappeler, then "fire man's belay " through a re- direct at the base.

 

[Burnham]

Burnham, I really like the ground belay idea.
Why didn't you tell me about that 10 years ago.

I rather expect I have addressed the subject more than once in the last dozen years or so.

In fact, a quick search of "belayer" shows a few...one from 2008, one from 2009.

Do you backup for a descent? | The Tree House (masterblasterhome.com)

Another descender for your contemplation | Page 2 | The Tree House (masterblasterhome.com)

I guess you have to pay attention to everything I have to say, all the time, to get all the goodies .

 

[pantheraba]

We always used a ground belay when someone was rappelling. Several times...at least 6-8...I have seen it save someone.

 

[FireFighterZero]

 

[FireFighterZero]

 

[FireFighterZero]