Climbing Hitches - What's your hitch?

[Timbit]

When I first started in the tree business (many years ago) we were taught the tautline hitch as the only acceptable climbing hitch.
It has worked well for me over the years but now I see many newer hitches out there and I am a little interested in trying a new method. From my high angle rescue days we preached - minimal equipment used = less chance of equipment failure.
Doing a bit of research and would like to hear some comments from the field (or canopy), what do you use up the tree (Blakes, Distel, VT, Tautline ...) and how well does it work for you?

 

[dts99]

When I first started in the tree business (many years ago) we were taught the tautline hitch as the only acceptable climbing hitch.
It has worked well for me over the years but now I see many newer hitches out there and I am a little interested in trying a new method. From my high angle rescue days we preached - minimal equipment used = less chance of equipment failure.
Doing a bit of research and would like to hear some comments from the field (or canopy), what do you use up the tree (Blakes, Distel, VT, Tautline ...) and how well does it work for you?

i started with the tauntline in highschool, for it very difficult to advance limb to limb, retieing 3 knots every time, i switched to a split tail with a blakes hitch and a hitch tending pully, i was high class for a month or so i said i better at least ty the eye to eye hitches, i climbed on a distel with a hitch climber pully and a petzl pantin foot acsender for the past year, i loved it put found it hard to decend with out a lot of wieght on the rope not so good for limb walking but still better by far than tauntline, i rescently have been climbing on vt, perfect took the wieght problem away, now i see the a.r.t. spider jack!!! as soon as i feel like dropping $350 and figure out if the "not about to atach mid line" issue (if it is one) i may give that a shot, i cant keep up with the new stuff... as for less equipent less failure, it take but a second to look at our set up and see that all auto locking beaners are locked and your safe, fast, streamline and smooth

 

[ForTheArborist]

I throw around prussics a lot. They're good for a lot of uses, and they can be adjusted from greater to lesser binding strength.

I used to use a blakes in my drt, but it required too much tending to keep it grabbing on the rope. I'd keep a shunt just above it just in case that know failed. That blakes might have been loosening up all of the time because I was using a static line that doesn't allow the blakes to set snug on the line. The static line is probably just too stiff.

I might try the blakes again this dynamic line I've been climbing on.

I'm going to look into the tress when I get a moment. I heard it's as strong as the prussic, but it's easier to loosen up after the load has been put on it.

 

[2treeornot2tree]

I started out by using the blakes hitch, but it got real tight and was hard for me to move it one handed while accending. I then tried the vt. I liked it alot except for one long decents (20' or more) it would get really hot no matter how slow I went and I felt like i was burning my fingers. This is most likely due to the fact that I weigh around 300 lbs. (working on losing it, but dang I like to eat) I bought a A.R.T. Lockjack yesturday at a arborist store after playing/ hanging on it for about 30 mins. It can be put on midline. The owner told me that he wont sell the spider jack because it has a wood handle that protrudes upwards. He said ( might be a once and a million chance) that if you fell and smacked into the tree that the handle could possible puncture your chest. The lockjack also has a swivel on the saddle connection.

 

[TreeAce]

I tend to mix it up alittle. My two main choices are distel and blakes. VT is very good but I tend to use the distel more cuz I think its bomb proof. Now a days I tend to use the blakes for situations where it wont stay tied for long, like if I just need a second TIP for a little while. Its a good knot except I noticed it's not worth crap when used with tachyon. But my ocean poly I2I works very well with it using a distel. Blakes works OK with bluemoon (poison ivy) and works maybe the best with good old saftey blue or arbormaster. I am fat and I cant really say the distel ever binds up to tight. My biggest beef with the VT is that it doesnt always set for me. Only takes a second to fix but requires more attention. The VT is the smoothest but just not enough to make me switch.

 

[dts99]

I tend to mix it up alittle. My two main choices are distel and blakes. VT is very good but I tend to use the distel more cuz I think its bomb proof. Now a days I tend to use the blakes for situations where it wont stay tied for long, like if I just need a second TIP for a little while. Its a good knot except I noticed it's not worth crap when used with tachyon. But my ocean poly I2I works very well with it using a distel. Blakes works OK with bluemoon (poison ivy) and works maybe the best with good old saftey blue or arbormaster. I am fat and I cant really say the distel ever binds up to tight. My biggest beef with the VT is that it doesnt always set for me. Only takes a second to fix but requires more attention. The VT is the smoothest but just not enough to make me switch.

i should ad that i used a 28 inch beeline when i was climbing on distel and i have a 36 for vt, a longer beeline on distel may have solved the one problem i did have with it

 

[Tree Pig]

i should ad that i used a 28 inch beeline when i was climbing on distel and i have a 36 for vt, a longer beeline on distel may have solved the one problem i did have with it

I use a either 26" or 24" 8mm beeline with distel its just long enough to get the legs around and connect to the biner. have not had a single issue with it as of yet. I had 10mm on before and it did seem to bind up more then the smaller cord does.
11mm rope by the way.

 

[Nailsbeats]

Schwabisch, nothing fancy but very reliable. I can just take a flying leap and it'll catch everytime.

 

[formationrx]

hitch

for me, the tautline is the best fiction hitch. its simple, highly adjustable, and has never failed me. I've seen guys use one wrap over and two under, or two over and two under, or one over and three under. on the tail lever i have seen one high deadhead, one low deadhead, two deadheads- one high one low, one deadhead in the center and one low, even three 3 deadheads equally spaced for instant recognition in case of slipping. funny how that little slip feels like a long mile.....

 

[TreEmergencyB]

i switch it up often, Distil mostly swabish sometimes, depends on how i feel like wrapping the rope that morning. Like to use the blakes on removals at times and sometimes on the ball.

 

[TreeAce]

for me, the tautline is the best fiction hitch. its simple, highly adjustable, and has never failed me. I've seen guys use one wrap over and two under, or two over and two under, or one over and three under. on the tail lever i have seen one high deadhead, one low deadhead, two deadheads- one high one low, one deadhead in the center and one low, even three 3 deadheads equally spaced for instant recognition in case of slipping. funny how that little slip feels like a long mile.....

1st...welcome to AS.
2nd...This posts reminds of a something that Prentice110 once said..."anyone who likes climbing on a taughtline needs to have there ******* head examined!!"
Take that how you wish, but I couldn't resist.

RIP Prentice110

 

[pdqdl]

There are about 3 important considerations for every friction hitch:

How reliable is it, how well does it hold under load, and how easy is it to use otherwise?

The VT is the ultimate for easy to use, since it releases very easy, and ties rather quickly also. It also holds very well; so much so that it isn't very good for sliding quickly down a rope. Others have commented about burning their hands, but I think that is because it is generally used with smaller diameter tress cords. Almost everyone agrees that the VT needs to be set, other wise it can drop you. So reliability isn't too good here.

The schwabisch, distal, and some of the other eye-to-eye rigs are quite a bit more reliable that the VT, but don't release quite as well. They probably bind and hold equally well, and will have the same heat problems when used with smaller diameter tress cords. Tying them is slightly more complicated than the VT.

Blake's hitch is the old standard to beat; it releases reliably but with quite a bit of reluctance, so sliding the knot up always comes with an expense of extra effort. I don't think it can be beat for reliability and ease of going down the rope on a long slide. Since it is usually tied with the same rope size as it is binding to, getting hot and burning the hand of the climber is not too much of a problem. I don't think too many climbers use the blake's hitch with the smaller diameter climbing lines, so heat issues might be a problem on less than 1/2" rope. Sadly, this ability to slide down a rope with good control will also encourage the more adventurous climbers to damage their ropes on hot slides down out of the tree.

The old "taut-line" is the original knot that many learned on (I did!); but should always be replaced at least with a Blake's hitch. While it holds just as well, it has a tendency to creep untied, and it can choke down onto the line so tight you can't slide at all. It comes with the greatest expense in labor to release and slide up the rope.

The Prussic, either in a closed loop or in I2I, is still a pretty good knot. While this is a very reliable knot, it shares most of the performance of the Blakes and taut line hitches, and offers several advantages: It cannot come untied by accident and it will hold well no matter which direction you pull on it. Sadly, this means sliding up the rope isn't too easy, much like the taut line.

 

[Scrat]

I started out by using the blakes hitch, but it got real tight and was hard for me to move it one handed while accending. I then tried the vt. I liked it alot except for one long decents (20' or more) it would get really hot no matter how slow I went and I felt like i was burning my fingers. This is most likely due to the fact that I weigh around 300 lbs. (working on losing it, but dang I like to eat) I bought a A.R.T. Lockjack yesturday at a arborist store after playing/ hanging on it for about 30 mins. It can be put on midline. The owner told me that he wont sell the spider jack because it has a wood handle that protrudes upwards. He said ( might be a once and a million chance) that if you fell and smacked into the tree that the handle could possible puncture your chest. The lockjack also has a swivel on the saddle connection.

Just to share my opinion on the SpiderJack concern, The said 'wood handle' is the brake lever and it is 2-1/2" long nearly an inch wide and almost as thick with a fully rounded end, in addition it is on a pin like a hinge on the main body so it is not rigid and the SJ is attached via an eye to a caribeener to your saddle, or swivel, or ring. I think it is less than likely (1:100,000,000,000,000,000,000) that you could puncture anything with it. At best maybe a bruise the same as any hard object between you and the tree. Honestly you have a way better chance of puncturing yourself with a misplaced gaff or during a kickout. I climb on a SJ and if that is your only reason for not using it I think you should re-evaluate your considreation of the SJ, as well as the source of that information. As far as your weight you must be one big Dude, I am 6'5" and just barely over 200, with full gear (including a sizable saw) I'm just at 240 which is the limit for the Gecko spurs I use. I believe Buckingham steel spurs limit is 350. I don't know your frame size but if your muscles are used to carring that weight and you lean out a bit like you want, I venture to say you would be one lean mean tree wrecking machine!

Best
Scrat

 

[2treeornot2tree]

I havent every seen a spider jack in person, so I was just relaying what the store owner had to say. You are right, you are probably more likey to get a puncture wound from something else, like branches. I am a big dude. I am about 6'2" tall. But I have alot of musle. In college, I could leg press 1000lbs. Went to buy 16" climbing boots, and found out that they wont close around my calves. Think my calves are like 20" around.

 

[sir_nick2]

Vt 4 wraps 3 tresses on a hitch climber setup since retired for a spider jack

 

[sgreanbeans]

Taught line 93-99, Blakes 99-07, Swabash (sp?)

 

[deevo]

I have been using Blakes with 8mm Beeline,DMM pulley, and a pantin last 4 years. I personally like it, I climb on Blue Streak/Yellow jacket, slides and releases nice for me, and have no issues. I want to get a 600' roll of the new Samson Vortex in the spring. I got a small hank of it at the TCIA show and want to give it a further go.

 

[TreeAce]

Do you spider jack users find it annonying that it cannot be attachet mid line? Why not just use a lock jack? I have used either one but am considering it.

 

[sir_nick2]

You mean spider jack users lol, i just got one and every thing i read mentions that it's not mid-line attachable i really dont see the big deal. Watch the sperjackery series by joe harris on youtube and you'll probably see that this one down fall greatly out weighs the pros of this device.

 

[dts99]

Vt 4 wraps 3 tresses on a hitch climber setup since retired for a spider jack

my question for the spiderjack... i climb about 80% of my trims starting with a big shot and climb up into the canopy on a treeaccend with dueling pantins, i then switch over to a vt, can i do this even if my tie in spot is not right infront of me, like say still 20 feet over my head or what ever, or do i need to slide it onto the rope and then back over a limb or thu a friction device? or can it be put on before i climb, or should i just buy it and adjust my system to use it. maybe clip a pulley to my treeaccend and use drt off Dbrt, and have all the benys from everything.... on this note and old timer called me a gadget climber, i said how whould you get up there, he said i wouldnt.