Fell 30 Feet Out of The Tree Today...

[tree md]

The beauty of using poly or nylon rope you can buy in bulk and have several tress cords a in your kit.

I buy a couple hundred feet at a time and sell 5-10 bucks worth to people I work with regularly. I give a little away now and then too

$25-30 for a tress cord is ridiculous.

I think the cost is for the splicing. It's ridicules what they want for splicing. Only reason I am getting the Bee-Line is because Sherrill has a deal going right now to give one away with a PI purchase. Otherwise I have no problems tying my own eyes. Actually, I would prefer to with my prusik cords. I do like spliced eyes on my climbing line though. I need to learn to splice... With the prices they wanna charge for it, I am starting to think I'm in the wrong business.

 

[ForTheArborist]

I fell 30' out of the tree today. I'm a little embarrassed about it but thought I would put it out there for debate and maybe figure out what I did wrong.

I'm not sure what was involved with your gear's falling out. I won't do anything in a tree without some kind of back up device like a shunt. Otherwise I'd just be up there asking myself what the (dirty word) am I doing in the trees around here, and if those climbers on AS.com could see this,.... There is nothing trustworthy about friction knots. They're good to work with, but definitely not to depend on for dear life because if they are suddenly not set just right, then............

 

[beowulf343]

There is nothing trustworthy about friction knots.

???

 

[jefflovstrom]

???

Yeah, was thinking them same.
Jeff

 

[tree md]

Yeah, I was thinking the same... Never met a climber in the industry that doesn't use one and trust his life to it on a daily basis...

 

[jefflovstrom]

I think FTA just jumped in over his head. Probably Googling 'VT' and wondering what Vermont has to do with it.
Jeff

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

I need to learn to splice... With the prices they wanna charge for it, I am starting to think I'm in the wrong business.

I tried, but with how seldom I did it I could not maintain the skills. I make my own loopies and whoopies still, and a balancer every now and then. I just cannot get the tapers to match well on climbing line burries.

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

There is nothing trustworthy about friction knots.

Any knot is as good as the attentio0n span of the one setting it. When I had mine fail I had thought earlier that I needed to retie one of the fishermen. You need to check mechanical devices all the time too.

 

[tree md]

Personally, I trust knots more than mechanical devices. That even goes as far as using a bucket. I would much prefer to be tied in with my own rope and my own knot than depending on a piece of mechanical equipment that I don't know a whole lot about and am not sure of who has inspected it last. When I had to do bucket work for one of the companies that I worked for my sphincter always drew up tighter in the bucket than when I was rope and saddle climbing.

 

[ropensaddle]

Personally, I trust knots more than mechanical devices. That even goes as far as using a bucket. I would much prefer to be tied in with my own rope and my own knot than depending on a piece of mechanical equipment that I don't know a whole lot about and am not sure of who has inspected it last. When I had to do bucket work for one of the companies that I worked for my sphincter always drew up tighter in the bucket than when I was rope and saddle climbing.

First time I got in a buckety I was at two year solid climbing and did not care much for it. Of course that was the old asplundh trucks rickety sob's the GF asked how I liked bucket and I told him man made the bucket and God made the tree who do you trust?

 

[ForTheArborist]

I'll use the Blakes every time, and I'll use a shunt or something on top of that. That way I'm confident that there is a "tomorrow side" of the job when I'm up there doing business.

 

[burntslap]

Experimented

Okay guys, after reading thru all the posts, I decided to do a little field test. 8mm Bee-Line ST, Blake, worked as expected on 13mm XTC, and 11.5 Lava. 8mm Ice i2i, VT, was finicky on 13mm XTC, but worked awesome on 11.5 Lava. Bear in mind, I payed much closer attention to the hitches as it was a test. However, my opinion of the VT did change with this experiment, and I will be using it in the future. One thing I noticed for sure, VT was much more forgiving in movement with pitchy line (I dang near had to get a hammer to move my Blake).

 

[tree md]

Okay guys, after reading thru all the posts, I decided to do a little field test. 8mm Bee-Line ST, Blake, worked as expected on 13mm XTC, and 11.5 Lava. 8mm Ice i2i, VT, was finicky on 13mm XTC, but worked awesome on 11.5 Lava. Bear in mind, I payed much closer attention to the hitches as it was a test. However, my opinion of the VT did change with this experiment, and I will be using it in the future. One thing I noticed for sure, VT was much more forgiving in movement with pitchy line (I dang near had to get a hammer to move my Blake).

burntslap, that is the thing that is really awesome about the VT. If you need to get somewhere in the tree it will really allow you to get there. That is why it is dear to many climber's hearts, including my own. Another alternative is to tie a plain old prussic in your line. You can adjust friction by the number of coils that you use. I used to climb on four coils and still would when I needed my hitch to run smooth. You just have to be mindful that it is going to take more attention than a 5 coil prussic. Of course it depends on your weight. I am closer to 250 than 200 pounds and 5 coils works best for me except when I have to really move through the tree. There is no substitute for the VT in those situations IMO. Whatever you use just be mindful and pay attention to tending it.

There are those who climb ultra safe and there are those who push the envelope to get the job done and fast. Whatever you do, however you climb just tend your hitch closely and you will be fine.

I guess that was my whole point about posting this thread.

 

[Rftreeman]

VT

Very Thankful..

glad you did get hurt..

 

[pdqdl]

...
I have been thinking the situation over as well. I believe that a contributing factor to the failure is that my i2i might be a tad too long...

When I started making my own beeline prussics, I discovered that the commonly purchased length of 30" was too long for my preference, using the smaller diameter velocity for a climbing line. If you get it down to a shorter length for the smaller diameter climbing lines, I think there is a big advantage.

If you have too much play in the VT, just add another crossover. More reliable, not really any more trouble to self tend.

 

[tree md]

PDQDL,

I wanted to tell you that I have appreciated you excellent input on this thread. You definitely know your rope bud.

 

[moss]

When I started making my own beeline prussics, I discovered that the commonly purchased length of 30" was too long for my preference, using the smaller diameter velocity for a climbing line. If you get ityou down to a shorter length for the smaller diameter climbing lines, I think there is a big advantage.

If you have too much play in the VT, just add another crossover. More reliable, not really any more trouble to self tend.

That's it, I like 28".

Do a crossover similar to the way a Blake's crosses the "bridge" just below the coils and then do the braids, aka XT, performs like a VT, less finicky, totally self-tending with a little rope weight below. Distel is a sweet hitch but tends to bind on me, Distel with very short legs is perfect for a lanyard IMHO, grabs quick, no sitback.
-moss

 

[pdqdl]

PDQDL,

I wanted to tell you that I have appreciated you excellent input on this thread. You definitely know your rope bud.

Thanks. That really means a lot to me.

I was quite the Boy Scout, and I have spent the last several years learning a lot here at AS from folks like Moss, Moray, and so many others. Even TreeSpyder, although he is awful hard to follow sometimes. There is SO much to learn here, if you just tune in real close.

It helps that I enjoy splicing and tying knots.

 

[JNGWC&Tree]

Had a similar experience on a textbook tied Blake's once. I now use the tautline hitch. I'd rather have a hitch the seizes and freezes than one that keeps on running.

It's a bizarre sensation to see wood passing by fast and hear the distinctive sound of rope passing through a friction hitch at high rates of speed. I landed on the clients fence and had to replace a section. If I had not had my spurs on I would have likely broken both legs but the shafts and pads took the impact and kept my legs braced. Nice bruises afterward.

It was like slow motion while happening though...........

 

[tree md]

Another thing I failed to mention is that my line was a good 10' from the trunk so I took a pretty hard swing as well. This tree was very dead in the top. I had to set my bull line in the only central crotch and did not want to be tied in to the same lead I was rigging from. I had to set my climbing line in the crotch of another leader that had me about 10' away from the trunk. I'm sure the swing probably played a part as well. This tree was made to climb on rope. I was just trying to spike up to save time from having to switch over to gaffs. Which is what I did in the end anyway.

Oh well, chalk it up to a learning experience.

And yes, I did hear the line whizzing thought the hitch. It did seem to happen in slo mo but it happened fast enough that I could not catch my climb line. I did manage to catch my bull line which slowed me down enough to escape injury. I was on the ground before I knew it. Wasn't hurt a bit but I did lay there for a minute to catch my breath. That will definitely wake you up the first thing in the morning.