Footlocking help

[Tree Machine]

Thanks Ian. I enjoy hearing about different techniques. I actually went outside and tried your method. It is painful on the knees, but I have bony knees. I did it as described, without ascenders or a hitch. I will say that it's possible to ascend a rope in such a manner. I'll just leave it at that.

Rocko, a Pantin will work DdRT and SRT, but not DbRT. A good footlock will work for all three techniques and minimize having to have extra devices. Having someone else on the end of your rope pulling or winching is putting your life in someone else's hands. Use caution.

I had my video guy come over today to capture the result of this stuff I invented called 'music dust'. After we finished that, I asked if he could stick around for a little rope work.

My intent was to show the footlock technique, properly done, and have you witness an ascent on 11 mm doubled rope. We only had about ten minutes and he had to split before I could do an SRT ascent, but the technique doesn't differ.

I need to go to my monthly caving meeting right now, so I may not get the video cleaned up until later tonight or tomorrow.

 

[dhuffnmu]

Oh that would be nice to see tree machine.

 

[KentuckySawyer]

all your power ... should come from between your knees.

Well that goes without saying, right?

 

[KentuckySawyer]

Here's the 70' footlock I got to do twice today. Morning then agian after lunch.


http://arboristsite.com/attachment_27987.php

 

[Tree Machine]

I'm sure that was a little safer than it looks. I'd a shot a bit more inward toward the trunk. If you ascend up something that snaps off, you die.

 

[KentuckySawyer]

Where my rope crossed the limb was 4" pin oak. At the base of the limb there was more like 6-7" of wood. It was plenty strong and was the part of the tree where I had to start the removal.

I was origionally aiming for the next fork up, but I settled for the lower spot.



Here's the tree at 5:00.
http://arboristsite.com/attachment_27992.php

 

[PTS]

I played with the foot lock yesterday. I am used to hip thrusting but find myself tired quickly. Foot locking seems to be a flexible guy tool. I am musclebound and can only move a few inches with the foot lock which may be caused by inexperience. Anyway, I played with the idea of a homemade ascender which I made with a piece of clime line, tied a large circle using a bowline and left a tail which allowed me to tie a friction not (tautline) on my rope under my taut from my saddle. Put your foot in the circle and away you go. It worked great, really fast, but I question what problems I may run into doing it this way. Seems really simple but haven't heard anyone talking about doing it, so I figured that there might be a downfall.

 

[Tree Machine]

PTS, you're right on. That's a regular setup in the caving world, using a footloop, rather than a Pantin. That's similar to how I have my wife's vertical rig setup. Top ascender attaches to her harness. A lower ascender has the footloop attached to it. The two ascenders are joined by a bungee/web thing similar to my chainsaw lanyard.

You push yourself up with the footloop, advance the upper ascender (stretching the acender/ascender link), hang your weight on the upper ascender, lift leg and the lower ascender magically advances up. Repeat as necessary.

Similar in effect to the marbar system, but hers uses single ascenders and is made specifically for SRT. Also, her footloop is wide enough to insert two feet.

 

[Tree Machine]

I think when you see the video we shot yesterday, the whole footlock concept will come a whole lot clearer.

 

[bottlefed89]

When do we get to see it??

 

[Tree Machine]

I got the clips edited this afternoon. I just need to compress them and assign em a format. Actually I need to break them into a couple individual smaller videos so that the file size is not overwhelming. I want to include all the dial-up guys.

I think you'll really like this if you've been having trouble with the footlock technique. I did a little something special for your entertainment to prove the point that any of you can do this.

 

[Tree Machine]

In Dhuffnmu's opening post, he asked about footlocking, but also about boots. Beacause of that, and the fact that my boots are virgins, I thought I'd share the opening clip with the boots.

There's a keen way of tying boots so that they won't come untied (actually there are severel ways). This is the method I've come to like (for those who haven't seen this before).

 

[Tree Machine]

I'm having to play with the sizing a bit. Arboristsite doesn't allow clips bigger than 2 meg. This clip is a test to compare viewing size. Bear with me. We'll get to the footlocking part here in a minute.

 

[Tree Machine]

That one was noticably smaller, but still viewable. This is another test, a 20 second piece, in that smaller size. It's a closeup, so let's see how this one views. To get the file size smaller I've compromised the audio.

 

[Tree Machine]

That's the ticket. On this next one, I'm going to delete the audio altogether and we'll see what that does to the size.

This one, by the way, is the footlock technique. I do it deliberately slow so you can see it clearly. When playing the video clip, you can click on that little horizontal scroller pointer thing and watch it in slower motion, or frame by frame. Here we go.

This clip is crunched down to 1.07 meg. At full digital video quality it is 670 megabytes. I think that is just amazing.

 

[Tree Machine]

Yep, whacking the audio altogether is the way to go.

OK, I told you earlier that I would do something to convince you that ALL of you are able to do the footlocking technique. I hope to prove that point beyond a question of a doubt, but first I need to come down off my porch.

 

[Tree Machine]

OK, I promised that I would convince each and every one of you that YOU CAN DO THIS FOOTLOCKING THING.

This little clip is preparing you for that definitive proof.

 

[Husky288XP]

Are you leaning back or sitting on a prusik, or are you holding your body weight and footlocking?

 

[Tree Machine]

You better believe I'm gonna.......

 

[Tree Machine]

Husky, I'm using a set of dual ascenders.

Let me come off the porch again and I'll have the video guy go up top and shoot from up, looking down. I have never rappelled in bedroom slippers. I'm not sure how this is gonna go.