RADS and the ISC-D4

[Ryan-H]

I've gotten pretty comfortable climbing on a RADS with a Grigri 1, but it's getting worn out after years of hard work, so I've been trying the ISC-D4. While I'm sure it's a great device for descents, I have to fight a lot more friction to tend slack while ascending poorly while ascending (losing energy and system travel.) When it comes to working the tree, it fails totally. As soon as there is any weight on the system at all (think limbwalking,) the anti-panic feature prevents me from feeding out rope. Manually failing the cam is pretty much impossible, too. I’m sure there are applications for this device in the tree care industry, but RADS is not one of them.

 

[Bermy]

Time to move on to a Hitch Hiker and knee ascender mate! SRT with almost NO sitback and ascend/descend on the same device.
Check out the 'any rope wrench hitch hiker...' users thread.

With the addition of a revolver biner the HH turns into an awesome branchwalking setup.