What Am I Doing Wrong Here? - RopeWrench

[lxskllr]

Weather's tolerable today, so I thought I'd give the RW a try. Got everything setup, it seems to work smoothly, but when I footlock, it puts slack into the system, and the hitch doesn't progress. I start from a "seated" postion, grab the rope above the gear, footlock, then pull with my arms while pushing with my legs. This is what the setup looks like...



I also tried flipping the wrench around so the tether legs were surrounding the climbline, and got the same results. This is srt with a basal tie.

 

[kevin bingham]

you need to put your lanyard over your shoulder and clip it into the HC. then tighten it up. this will hold the system up high and not flop down. when you get to where your going, take the lanyard off and go to work

 

[SeanKroll]

As you have the hitch climber pulley, certainly take Kevin's advice.

There is a tending loop on the RW, too.

Bungee tethers are nice, too.


@kevin bingham what about the High stepper?


@lxskllr a rope walker is where it's at.

 

[lxskllr]

Ah, ha! Thanks guys. I'll have to rig something up. I have everything I need. I'm thinking some nylon strap for around my neck, and some paracord with bungie sections.

10-4 on a rope walker setup. That's clearly the easier way, but I want to get at least functional on footlocking. It's a useful skill, and I like learning the basics before adding technology. That applies to just about everything, not just climbing.

 

[Benjo75]

I'd be careful about anything around my neck. I've not heard of anything bad happening but it certainly could. I'm just funny about anything around my neck. As Kevin said use your lanyard. It's already there. I use a chest box and a micro biner. I also use a split tether on my wrench. I have a pin with the wire bail from Tractor Supply that I use on my tether.

 

[lxskllr]

What's the benefit of the hitchpin as opposed to putting everything on the biner? Maybe yours doesn't fit? Everything fits on my biner, but there isn't a whole lot more room, and my tether splices aren't particularly bulky.

 

[Jonny]

Want a free homemade chest harness? It’s very simple but it’s effective, almost infinitely adjustable and you’ll forget it’s on. Just 3/4” flat webbing and a cheap little zinc tri-glide buckle. Add your own mini biner or little scrap of throwline or whatever.

 

[lxskllr]

Sure. In for ¢ in for £ eh? Thanks Jonny.

 

[ruel]

What's the benefit of the hitchpin as opposed to putting everything on the biner? Maybe yours doesn't fit? Everything fits on my biner, but there isn't a whole lot more room, and my tether splices aren't particularly bulky.

Less crap to fiddle around with, easier to line up with everything if it's separate like that

 

[Jed]

...That's clearly the easier way, but I want to get at least functional on footlocking. It's a useful skill, and I like learning the basics before adding technology. That applies to just about everything, not just climbing.

This.

There's a ton a guys out there who would say, "Why even mess with a zk1 in the first place? There's the newer, improved versions of the wrench, there's the Runner, the Akimbo, and now the Runner Pro."

To that question, I would respond that: 1) Once you've dialed in yer system... it works insanely well. 2) It represents a major portion of Kevin's genius, and, 3) For guys like me, it offers all of the mental security (that your safety is on good, old fashioned rope friction technology) that any other system ever COULD offer. And I've often told my new guys that mental security is like... maybe 95% of climbing.

The wrench CAN be dialed in incredibly well, but, having said that, I would also offer that it can represent some significant challenges with regard to: Climb-line diameter, prussic cord diameter, prussic cord length, number of wraps, configuration and etc. etc. etc. darn near ad nauseam. Super fun and fullffiling stuff though, all the same.

Fwiw, I stinkin LOVE that particular tool, and Sean's (Ruel) a super good man.

 

[Jed]

lol... haha... I just remembered that Sean bought that wrench and tether second hand on ebay. 😂😂😂

So, that thing is literally (at least) fourth generation. Fifth if you count yourself, and sixth if you count Kevin.

Butj if we are counting points, I'M the one who deserves most of the credit for wearing the slick pin into a convex configuration. 😂

 

[Benjo75]

What's the benefit of the hitchpin as opposed to putting everything on the biner? Maybe yours doesn't fit? Everything fits on my biner, but there isn't a whole lot more room, and my tether splices aren't particularly bulky.

I got in that habit a few years back when I was learning SRT. I would climb the tree SRT then swap to Ddrt to work the tree. I used a top tie with Alpine Butterfly on a Quickie or Delta Link. I would send up the end of the rope with my eye splice. Not tying in to the splice but an Alpine Butterfly leaving about 6 or 8 feet of tail hanging down. When I got to my tip my eye splice was hanging there not attached to anything. I would unclip the Rope Wrench, clip a biner in my eye splice where the Rope Wrench was in the middle hole of the Hitchclimber. Then unclip the quickie, untie the Alpine Butterfly and tighten up the few feet of slack. I had ascended SRT, swapped over to Ddrt all without ever unclipping from my system and only a few feet of slack just for a few seconds.

 

[pantheraba]

I cannot exactly follow that process...do you know of a video that shows that?

 

[Benjo75]

Not that I know of. I'll try to make one tomorrow. It's a pretty simple process.

 

[Batla]

...
Then unclip the quickie, untie the Alpine Butterfly and tighten up the few feet of slack. I had ascended SRT, swapped over to Ddrt all without ever unclipping from my system and only a few feet of slack just for a few seconds.

I guess before you can unclip the quickie and untie the AB, you need to move your weight from your rope to another support (lanyard, feet on a branch..)?
As you mention, your process is safe as the hitch is always supporting you. That's a good one.

 

[Benjo75]

Yeah you'll need to lanyard in first. I suppose you wouldn't have to if you only had about 1foot of the eye hanging down and you were standing in a good stable spot. There would only be a couple feet of slack in your system and you'd never be unclipped from life support. I'm careful about having slack in my system after researching how little of a fall it takes to crush your pelvis. Plus when you're above your tip 3 foot and slip you'll fall 6 ft.

 

[pantheraba]

I saw a girl take a fall of less than a foot....rock climbing, not trees...I heard her ankle snap. I stepped in a hole once....a parking lot that in my mind's eye was a smooth surface. Stepped off a cross tie onto the "smooth" pavement...didn't look down to see if the lot was smooth. It was not...there was a pot hole with a rock, tennis ball sized, in the bottom. I rolled my ankle on that rock...the pain as my ankle broke knocked me unconscious. I woke up beside the truck with a broken ankle. I had been out playing with the kids...gathered them up, drove home. iced it, kept hurting, having cold sweats...drove myself to the hospital and, yep, definitely broken.

That story to say it don't take much to get F'd up in a hurry...my step down was maybe 6-8 inches onto that rock....the girl I saw slide down less than a foot...both cases a messed up ankle.

Lanyard in, keep falls to a minimum.

 

[Benjo75]

Yep. I see climbers taking chances, climbing way above their tip. You can probably get away with it for a while but it will eventually catch you. I've only been doing this for almost 30 years and I intend to do it for 30 more so I try to be as safety conscious as possible. I may be a little slower that some but I like to go home at night and I also like to sleep pain free. As pain free as a tree man can be.

 

[lxskllr]

Hey Ben, I noticed when you first said it, but I've been puzzling over it since. You said you start srt, then work the tree drt. I thought one of srt's big features was the ability to do crazy redirects working the tree. How come you choose drt?

 

[Benjo75]

It was when I was learning SRT. I had been climbing so many years Ddrt that I was hesitant to change. So I started learning to ascend SRT and got comfortable with it. But I was uncomfortable and slower working all day on it. I didn't trust myself on a base tie with the rope running down the backside of the tree. I was afraid automatic pilot would kick in and I'd forget about it. I was also more comfortable being able to retrieve my line anywhere I was without having to climb back to the top. After a while climbing srt then changing over and a few months of rec climbing and getting used to the retrievable redirects and figuring out that climbing back to the top to retrieve my line wasn't an issue. I went solely srt. Now I generally only use ddrt on the tail of my climbline to pull myself out to a bad spot.

There is so much to learn starting out with srt. So I learned one retrievable redirect, one top tie setup and one base tie setup and stuck with that. After a couple years I've added other setups but I mainly use my basic setup. I just recently swapped to a different base tie. It doesn't let slack into the base knot and keeps everything tight if you stand on a limb and let your line go slack. I'm very cautious about my climbing and make sure I'm comfortable before trying anything new. There are several cowboy climbers around here and they have all fallen several times. One just fell 35 ft last year. Broke his pelvis and really messed him up. Old school style, spurs and flipline everything. I don't mind falling but I really don't want to hit the ground.

Just made the video. It's uploading now.

 

[Benjo75]

 

[pantheraba]

BenJO!!!! Well, just damn. That was a very good video. Thanks for taking the time to show that...makes total sense now. And I felt like you were talking to me!

I like the trailer hitch pin....I'll adopt that, too. When you started untying that butterfly the light bulb lit up here...mid line loop, 3 directions support and then just gone. Nice method. I will be able to use that....THANKS!

I also saw that you leave the SAKA/HAAS (whatever it is, I have the same) attached via bungee....is it like that the whole time?

I have been removing it and hanging it on my saddle once up in the tree but it's kind of a hassle. Does it do OK leaving it bungeed to the saddle and attached to the foot even if not using it?

 

[Benjo75]

Thanks. No problem. I leave the SAKA attached to the lower D if I'm just going up and down. I take it off for working. I'll either send it down and just use the right foot ascender if needed or I'll clip it to the back of my harness if I think I'll need it later.

 

[ruel]

That's a really clever technique

 

[cory]

Theres a lot to read here, I'm going to do it later, but I just wanted to say now, Hell yeah! to Gary and Benjo re how easy it is to get seriously messed up. Safety, safety!