Grapnel Use in Trees

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With the weight of the grapnel only, 20 ft is about all you can swing it with outwards, but if you are going down at a low angle, you can work longer.

adding a karab for weight will increase the effective arc/distance.

Using attached to a bag/line the only limit is your ability to throw in a tree.

Actualy the line may need to be long on a 20ft transfer if your target TIP is 60ft up. Then I might need 85-90ft of line.
 
4th picture

Originally posted by Mike Maas
Finally
Dangit, Mike! You made me blow soda out my nose again! Keep up with the funny pictures, I gotta go clean off my keyboard and monitor. :laugh:
 
Mike, when are you going to learn to double crotch on a transfer! It can't all be big swing.

Hope your feeling better though.

You should see if you can set thast up as a slide show or streaming .gif.
 
ROFL Mike!:D That climber should have had pogo gaffs. Then the final picture could have shown him straddling a branch in the top of the tree with a rope tangle all around him.
 
The cartoons helped. Just seems bulky and something I would rearely use. Good idea - more tools the better.

Is there anything more 007 like with collapsable prongs for easier storage on your saddle?
 
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Mike,

Your graphics are brilliant!

I've seen single hook grapples used to snag a limb as an anchor for a transfer. Pretty trick! There are a number of configurations that could be used. Rock and ice climbers have a lot of anchors. Arbos could use tools similar to these. Even something as low tech as tieing a rope in the middle of a stout piece of wood to use like a toggle. This is going out into extreme climbing, not for the masses though.

Tom
 
Originally posted by Tom Dunlap
The only time in my life I ever heard of a grapnel is from New Tribe. All other times I've read grapple. No big deal, to mate toe to mot toe...

If you ever use a grapple to lift a piece of stuck gear or a hanger out of the tree, you need to have a retrieval method. After setting the throwline I get the weight on the ground and then pull down about as much line as the distance from me to the stuck thing. That's where I girth hitch the grapple. If I need extra weight, I clip a biner into the top loop and girth hitch the other end of the biner above the grapple. Now it's time to pull the grapple up. Before pulling the end of the line off the ground, tie the ends of the throwline together. Now you have a loop of line. This way you can pull the grapple back down or flick it over towards the object. Works every time!

I've gone months without using mine and then use it in a flurry for a week. A good investment.

Tom


Tom, I need to say thank you for your post. The biner on my FS got stuck in a crotch about 40’ up in a large live oak today. I really did not feel like foot locking back up to get it out. I remembered your post and had my FS back in less than 10 minutes.
 
They are handy, for thier price you cannot beat them. Keep it out for quick line attachemnt or on your saddle doing large trims and you will think of things that it can be used for, a hanger some 30 feet below you, in another tree. Twigs on a roof..buncha stuff.
 
Yesterday I was at a family picnic. My cousin called to ask if I would bring my rec gear again. Its a load of fun to set ropes and get some climbing in.

When it came time to clear the gear I had a snafu. I use Kong HMS biners in my FCs. Somehow one of them slipped end for end and the stopper knot on the rope jammed in the small end of the biner. I decided to try setting a throwline instead of climbing. On the second toss I got a good drop on the stuck gear. I set the grapple and pulled it up to the gear. After a couple of jiggles, everything slipped out of the tree. Boy did I look like the Cool Guy for the cousins :)

Gotta love the grapple!

Tom
 

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