# False Crotches



## CRN Tree (Apr 10, 2006)

I hear a lot of people taking about the false crotch system. Whats the best method for using a false crotch for a climbing line?


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## Tom Dunlap (Apr 10, 2006)

A setup similar to this has a lot of adjustability. It's cheap to make too. You don't need an eye spliced line but an eye is more streamlined and less likely to snag.

The webbing setup is made from a purchased, one inch tubular webbing sling that I sewed into an eye on eye. The sewing that I did is not there to add to the strength of the sling. It is there to capture the biner/screw link, and keep the sling flat.


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## Bermie (Apr 10, 2006)

As I understand it a false crotch is when you wrap your cambium saver around a branch to have something to use as an anchor point when there is no natural crotch available.
I have done this by climbing up as high as possible, then stand in the last crotch, clip in with my lanyard, reach up and wrap the cambium saver around the trunk/branch, then thread my climbing line through the rings and re- attach. Using a cambium saver allows you to retrieve everything from the ground. I have also used a sling and karabiner, just choker the sling around the tree, and clip the climbing line into the krab. With this you have to take it all down with you if you're just pruning,or retrieve it on the ground once you've felled the tree.
Make any sense?


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## Fireaxman (Apr 10, 2006)

Tom Dunlap said:


> A setup similar to this has a lot of adjustability.



Tom - special Thanks for "Adjustable FC 2". That gives me the "Choker" effect I was looking for without sacrificing ground retrievability.


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## jmack (Apr 11, 2006)

CRN Tree said:


> I hear a lot of people taking about the false crotch system. Whats the best method for using a false crotch for a climbing line?


you can set a friction saver from the ground outlined in tcc they great for long hauls or alot of up and down stuff. buck has excellent fs and they have a prussik fs for spars


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## Erie Buoy (May 8, 2006)

*Details of Tom's Adjustable FC*

Is the adjustable FC adjustable from the ground? Or, do you set the friction hitch at what you think will be the correct length before you run it up the throwline into the tree? If it is adjustable from the ground, how do you make that happen?

It looks like you've tied a Blake's Hitch with the small (8mm?) line around the piece of (11mm-12mm?) climbing rope. Since the small line is a loop anyway, is there any reason not to use a Prussik instead of the Blake's Hitch?

Thanks for any insight -- I'm going to see how this works for me since my homemade conduit rope saver didn't work very well.


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## Fireaxman (May 8, 2006)

*Adjustable False Crotch*



Erie Buoy said:


> Is the adjustable FC adjustable from the ground?



I know you were addressing Tom, but I'll put in a quick plug about Adjustable False Crotch.

There are actually two concepts that can be discussed about "Adjustable", and two ways "False Crotches" can be used. Tom's "Adjustable False Crotch" looks to me like it is designed to be set in the tree, not from the ground, in a place where no natural crotch is available. It is "Adjustable" in the sense that it can be adjusted to fit any stem size, but it must be set by the climber when he is up in the tree.

The other concept is of an "Adjustable False Crotch" that can be set from the ground THROUGH an available crotch with your throw line, adjustable from the ground in the sense that it can be set at any height lower than the highest available natural crotch you can hit with your throwline.

It is explained in detail in Jepson's "The Tree Climber's Companion" 2nd edition page 50. I am a big advocate of this type of "Adjustable False Crotch". It combines the benefits of SRT and a friction saver in the sense that it saves you from having to isolate the two sides of a double rope system from branches, it lets you use a pulley for a friction saver, it lets you set your tie in point as high as you can hit an available crotch from the ground with your throw line or Big Shot and then adjust it to any height lower than that (like if you are short on rope for the DbRT), and it is more easily set and retrieved from the ground than the rope saver / cambium saver / false crotch devices. It gives the tree the benefit of a cambium saver in the sense that it reduces the wear on the cambium in the crotch. The cambium must only suffer the wear of the installation and removal (not much, just the weight of ropes w/o climber) and the weight of the climber without friction.

The only disadvantages I have found are that (1) it takes 1/3 more rope if you want to keep your TIP in the highest crotch and (2) it puts another rope in the tree that could be at risk from falling branches and / or an errant saw.


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## rbtree (May 9, 2006)

Erie Buoy said:


> Is the adjustable FC adjustable from the ground? Or, do you set the friction hitch at what you think will be the correct length before you run it up the throwline into the tree? If it is adjustable from the ground, how do you make that happen?
> 
> It looks like you've tied a Blake's Hitch with the small (8mm?) line around the piece of (11mm-12mm?) climbing rope. Since the small line is a loop anyway, is there any reason not to use a Prussik instead of the Blake's Hitch?
> 
> Thanks for any insight -- I'm going to see how this works for me since my homemade conduit rope saver didn't work very well.



Not adjustable from the ground.

That's not a Blake's, but a distel hitch. A normal prussic, or klemheist would work similarly, then the loop could be taken on and off the line, if needed. (no reason to do that) Tom tied the distel before he tied the loop together with the double fisherman's.

I rarely set friction savers from the ground anymore, but prefer to climb with ascenders or footlock.


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