I was wondering how....

[OTGBOSTON]

The guys in the DR climbed the palm trees, couldn't see any evidence of gaff marks. One day when I was out of the room my wife had a chance to get some pics.

In this case the guys were getting coconuts.......to sell to the tourists (my wifes cousin, the bride, and her friend)

 

[MasterBlaster]

So what is it? I can't tell from the tiny pics.

 

[SkwerI]

I can't see, is he using a belt lanyard plus a couple of choking loop runner type things for foot steps?

 

[OTGBOSTON]

oops forgot that part. He had one length of rope from his foot timberhitched to the trunk and another length from his right thight timberhitched to the trunk. No belt lanyard whatsoever

 

[MasterBlaster]

Timberhitched??? What is that?

 

[lumberjack]

Timberhitched??? What is that?

Fear knot Google.

 

[MasterBlaster]

A timber hitch doesn't move.

 

[OTGBOSTON]

Its a sort of timberhitch. Wrapped around the trunk once and then around the rope three times. He would advance the rope and then pull on the free end to tighten it up. Whole thing looked very uncomfortable and not very safe to me.

 

[No_Bivy]

can you blow the pics up a bit....

 

[MasterBlaster]

Its a sort of timberhitch.

Google that one, Carl.

 

[lumberjack]

A timber hitch doesn't move.

It can be slacked and moved up the tree?

 

[MasterBlaster]

Not with weight on it.

 

[SkwerI]

That's correct, Butch. So why are you giving Carl such a hard time about it? Think it through instead of making Carl or somebody else explain it to you. The guy obviously alternates putting weight on one or the other, pulling up the slack side as his weight is on the opposite. Even an idiot like me can figure that much out.

 

[MasterBlaster]

My point is (and I know what a TH is) that whatever he was using wasn't a timberhitch.

 

[OTGBOSTON]

You're right MB, it was not doubled back onto itself.

 

[rbtree]

It could have been, Butch. Or he could have been wrapping the tail around the working end instead of back onto itself like a timber hitch...which could have been more easily adjusted. Either way could be adjusted upward when unweighted, but not as easily as a running bowline.

 

[Banned by Squirrels]

Very low tech. and dangerous...

He'll prolly die from a falling coconut before he ever falls though.

 

[OTGBOSTON]

here is the rest of the tree crew, just an axe and a couple of machetes....

 

[xtremetrees]

He'll prolly die from a falling coconut before he ever falls though.

Thats funny and probably true!

 

[vharrison]

How much did they get for a coconut?

 

[OTGBOSTON]

Not sure Gigi, I wasn't there at the time.

 

[Bounce]

I've used girth hitched webbing loops to climb like that before, but never without a flipline or lanyard. I found them to be difficult to use because they are tough to advance up the trunk. There was always some little stub or piece of bark on the opposite side of the tree that I couldn't get them over. I would only do this on a fir tree without any good branches to tie into.

Wouldn't a running bowline work a lot better than a timber hitch?