adjustable bridge for butterfly

[arborvor]

Does anyone else use an adjustable bridge on there butterfly harness? My set up right now is I use 10mm V100 tied off on one ring with a fisherman bend then stich the tail. The other ring has a clevis with a twist with a ropeman attached to it. The other end of the v100 is seized to prevent it going through the ropeman. I use 2 kong cap. eye biners. just wondering your thoughts on this setup.
thanks robert brettschneider

 

[TREETX]

Nothing paints a picture like a picture.

Can you post one??

 

[murphy4trees]

I ask the following in all sincerity...
What benefit does the adjustable bridge have?
I would guess it has some effect on the way you can roll from side to side.. or maybe adjusting the length of the tether for footlocking. Otherwise I don't get the benefit.

 

[arborvor]

A pic will take a couple days. My harness is in my truck. Why the adjustable bridge? I do like my bridge very short when climbing,I like the knots close ,just my style. There are times when I need that roll factor when I climb where I want my knot and biners out of the way. For footlocking I have my ascenders and cord set for a short bridge .Which brings me to having such a short bridge its hard to squeeze it my harness if I would set each end with a knot, especially when it gets really cold down here (40 F) all those winter cloths I would never fit in it. Also if i need to use my fig. 8 I have that attached to a cord so it is above me out of my way and use a small 3 over 1 prussik to control my decend.
Ok im done for tonight I'll send a pick and other reason way I like the adjustable bridge.
Robert Brettschneider

 

[ramanujan]

Originally posted by arborvor
My set up right now is I use 10mm V100 tied off on one ring with a fisherman bend then stich the tail. The other ring has a clevis with a twist with a ropeman attached to it. The other end of the v100 is seized to prevent it going through the ropeman. I use 2 kong cap. eye biners. just wondering your thoughts on this setup.

Shockingly bad idea to use a ropeman in your climbing system. Few rope grabs (definitely not ropemans) meet life support standards. Not only is the axle break strength only 15kN but the ropeman will damage and/or CUT rope at much less than that. Gibbs ascenders average rope damage at 4kN, I'm not sure what ropemans usually fail at.

Industrial fall protection rope grabs are rated for falls, but are of a much different design, squeezing a length of the rope rather than pinching it at a point.

Most rope grabs should only be used in ascension applications where there is no chance of shock loading.

Why not simply have a few different lengths of bridges to fit your different needs? But never never have a ropeman in your climbing system.

On a short lanyard is one matter, still not an excellent idea, but much less chance of shock loading.

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

I've used a ropeman as self belay on SRT. my thinking is that it would not have all that far of a fall if the top ascender failed.

 

[Kneejerk Bombas]

Re: Re: adjustable bridge for butterfly

Originally posted by ramanujan
Gibbs ascenders average rope damage at 4kN

Where did that come from?

 

[ramanujan]

Gibbs ascenders average rope damage at 4kN

sorry that was was supposed to say "can cause damage at as little as 4kN." that's directly from gibbs documentation.

 

[daniel kraus]

I have been working on an adjustable bridge system lately myself. I have the posistioner as an adjustment point. I also use the lockjack.
When body thrusting I extend the bridge so the lockjack is out of the way and all I need to do is pull on rope, also coming in from a long limb it is nice to just have a rope to pull with no hard wear in the way. With the lockjack I can pull with one hand an inch at a time and hold on with the other. I’m still working with it to see if it’s worth the extra hardware.

dan

 

[arborvor]

sorry it's taking a long time for the pic. have to get parts for the computer. thanks
Rob

 

[ramanujan]

hey dan good to see you here, don't be such a stranger

we need a few more north west climbers around here.

 

[daniel kraus]

This times it’s because I changed servers, what a pain. I’m here reading while I eat my breakfast almost every day. But really, I think the extendable bridge has some potential.

 

[ramanujan]

yup last time i saw him he was d kraus.

or no wait, last time i saw him he DQ'ed me. just kidding.

 

[daniel kraus]

Ha ha, that’s right. You did climb the heck out of that tree though. You have had the worst luck, lets see, at the PNW TCC you were the first of the day to do the work climb, then in the speed climb you got the belay rope under the static line and got stuck, and now you drop a sling from your belt that you didn’t even know was there! Is there anything I’m missing? Well you should be due for some good luck I think.
This weekend Kathy and I are going to compete in the Praire chapter comp, give Frank Chips and John Ranson a hard time. Last I saw John he was less that a point away from making the ITCC finals.
I’m going to be using the extendable bridge. Cheers!

 

[ramanujan]

call it bad luck or inexperience i'm not sure... frustrating nonetheless. i should probably give myself some time, i've been climbing for about a year and a half now so i suppose i can't be too hard on myself.

a little over a year ago Frank, John and Charley Wagner were here in Vancouver for a week or so before the ITCC in seattle. My boss gave them a big catalpa to deadwood so i chipped up the brush for them, didn't know any of them but knew they could climb a heckuva lot better than me.

good luck to you and Kathy at the jamboree (medicine hat is it?)

keep us posted on the usefulness vs clunkiness of your adjustable bride.

oh btw thinking of your cat rescue thing as i chased a tabby up a fir the other day. it started at about 20 feet, pissed on me at 50' then stopped when it ran out of tree at about 85.' silly thing. from now on i'll wear a sombrero