Problems ans questions on Distel
I'm very new to climbing in general, and just tried a Distel for the first time this past weekend. I'm having some problems and questions.
I tried 8mm and 10mm prussic cord for the hitch on some 7/16ths StaSet, because I don't have a climbing rope yet. I just wanted to try things out. I tied 3/1, 4/1 and 4/2 hitches. I noticed that the hitch seemed to grab and release abruptly when decending. It also got hot sometimes, hot enough to burn my fingers. I wasn't burning out of trees; I was less than 10 ft up, decending to a sitting position.
While ascending, only once did my climbing line feed down through the Distel smoothly, then lock on as I eased back down on the rope. Most of the time, it slumped over, so that I had to hold my position on the rope with one hand, and pull the slack out through the micropulley with the other. I tried pulling it out with my feet, not really foot-locking, but I couldn't get this to work either. A number of times, the hitch didn't slump over, but it wouldn't grab on the rope as I slowly released it.
I suspect that this is mostly a) lack of experience, and b) not exactly the right cord for the hitch and the climbing rope.
Any tips and suggestions? Thanks.
-Kevin