Long question from a newbee

Professionalamateur

Treehouser
Joined
May 4, 2020
Messages
2
Location
South lake tahoe ca
Hello all, long time lurker here. Thanks to all for the knowledge over the years. I've got a rather long question so if you're not in the mood for a novel, please disregard.

I'm an occasional climber. I apprentice for an old school arborist in the spring and fall, but my main job makes the apprentice work minimal. When I climb for my boss, its closed loop ddrt w/ blakes hitch, hip thrust and advance the climb line with a pole saw. Either that or removals on gaffs, tied in twice.

When I'm working at my property or for friends/family I use a different method, which I prefer, and wanted to see what you all thought of it. I know there are more efficient techniques, but as I'm very part time, I prefer to do what I am comfortable with. My main concern is weather or not y'all think it's safe.

I set a climb line with a big shot and throwball/throwline. Where I live its pine and fir, so its usually over many branches (ddrt with closed loop would be verytime consuming to isolate a single branch or etc). I do this til I have the rope over a branch that angles upward. I use an appropriate basal anchor, fix one end of the rope to it, and climb the other end of the climb line srt. I do a "2 person bounce test" on the rope before climbing. (I use arbormaster with a spliced eye that has a caribeaner to connect it to the basal anchor, and its also connected to a lowering line in case i need to be lowered) I use a prussic on my main Ds ( I have a weaver wide back 4 d saddle) and a rope grab with a foot loop, which is backed up to my side Ds in case the prussic fails. Basically a sit-and-stand method. (I know a chest strap of some sort is preferable. But is it necessary?). I always carry a rescue 8/descender of some sort, secondary way to tie in (lanyard or 2nd rope), hand saw, and caribeaners. Once I'm as high as I like, I tie in a second time, usually with my flip line. I set up a lowering/ rigging line on a suitable anchor, branch, trunk, etc. In a second location, i set up a suitable anchor for my climb line. I just bring it up with me or have my grounds man tie it on to the free end of the rope i climbed. I then set the climbing system up for split tail ddrt with a blakes. I test it with my weight, unclip the flip line, and descend to the first / lowest area i want to work. At that point the grounds man pulls the srt rope/ system out of tree. I use the rope grab and foot loop to sit/stand my way back up as I work bottom up, instead of hip thrust. If I use a chainsaw I'm tied in twice.

Thanks for reading! Sorry I dont have photos but hopefully I make some sense. Any feedback appreciated!
 
Howdy and welcome!

It sounds like you’re ascending SRT with a prussic as your main and an ascender as a backup to the prussic?

I didn’t see anything weird about what you wrote, aside from asking online if what you’re already doing is safe. :)
 
I'd just buy a Rope Wrench and then you could do away with hauling up another system. Work the tree off of your original system with the addition of the wrench. I'd also get rid of the biner on your base anchor. It could get slack and become side loaded. Use a delta link, quickie or just a running bowline with yosemite tie off. What you're doing seems fine it's just a lot of extra gear and extra work. If you like a top tie then have your groundy untie your base anchor then re tie it up top.
 
How you are climbing is safe enough, however, not as safe as it could be, and more complicated than necessary.

The addition of a foot ascended and any one of the multicenders on the market, would give you a means of bailing out on ascent that required nothing more than disengaging the foot ascended. You would also have what is needed to accomplish many different tasks safely and with little effort.
 
Your method was common in the early days of srt tree access; single up, doubled down or rather doubled to work the tree and then down.
The Rope Wrench changed all that, but you’re fine if you wanna work like that and don’t got a boss breathing down your neck.

Arbormaster Rope is good for doubled or moving rope system, but it’s like a rubber band on a base tie SRT ascent. Next time you get a new rope, get something that can do both, a 24 strand polyester double braid would do it, or if you got a hitch cord you could try a kernmantle. As far as I know all 1/2” 16 strands are super stretchy if used for SRT. Nothing really dangerous about it, just not real efficient when there’s so many great static ropes out there.

Welcome to The TreeHouse!
Stick around man, there’s oodles of good info and good folks :)
 
Last edited:
Yep...sounds ok but there are refinements that can make it a lot more efficient, the best of those have already been mentioned.
Getting an SRT device...Hitch Hiker or Rope Wrench or RopeRunner, and a knee/foot ascender will transform what you are doing and enable you to work the tree SRT instead of changing back to doubled.

There is an SRT thread here that started a few years ago and traced the evolution of several of our journeys into SRT, lots of good information there too.

Welcome!
 
Ditto, Carl. I would shoot a line and ascend SRT but once I reached my tie in I'd swap over to doubled rope. Just what was the most comfortable and efficient for me.
 
Not sure that climbing weight makes a big difference SRT vs double rope. I've been between 190-210 climbing, and have not missed double since I switched over.

The system described sounds safe but cumbersome. Even if you're just part time, try some new techniques! Learning is part of what keeps tree work interesting (at least for me)
 
Tree workers doubled rope technique works fine, and will get the job done.

Having used both, once learned to an equal point of proficiency, an SRT climbing system is better.
 
Back
Top