how many climbers wear a chest harness or top croll? ?

[pdqdl]

I guess I should only say that I think rope grabs are useless for descending. You have apparently figured a way to do it, and it would certainly be a good safety.

I've been climbing on friction hitches for about 25 years. I have more trouble trusting a rescue-8 for descent than I do my friction knots. I guess it is all in what you are accustomed to.

 

[Ms2004life]

Agree it what you get used to. Friction hiches are great as a back up to descenders in our game though with so much rope use i have found mechanical gadgets to be harder and longer wearing as the rope on rope wear just eats through to much line i have my grigri running for almost five years and still going strong and i use a petzl shunt as a friction back up instead had it for 4 years and cost me $70(nz) works out way cheaper than cord over here. For myself coming from 20+ years of wall and mountain climbing background i used all methods of ascension and descending so had good pool to work from and have found this set up to be the cost effective and efficient for all tree work scenarios srt drt its all awesome changeovers are simpler which is safer have a great day im off ice climbing

 

[pdqdl]

How will a prusik work on a double rope?

Excellent.

One of the basic footlocking maneuvers that learning arborists are supposed to master is to take a doubled rope, setup a prussic that chokes down on both ropes, then use that prussic loop to secure the climber in between foot thrusts. A prussic holds two ropes even better than one.

Of course, I never mastered footlocking. I could be the lead entertainment event at an arborist competition; it would be the comedy routine. Everybody would be laughing, guaranteed.

Here is a pretty good video showing the basic method: Footlocking | Advanced tree climbing techniques - YouTube

Of course, this method relies on having an isolated tie-in point to work from. If you are spurring up, then sliding down, that will be rather easy to set up. Using a double rope to descend on would not be my preferred method of getting out the the tree, however.

 

[Ms2004life]

Agreed mate not mine either.

 

[tramp bushler]

Went down to Valdez on Sunday and picked up some more climbing gear. Got a Kong Rescue 8 in red aluminum and a Kong ascender. Also got some tube webbing and a short piece of 9mm kernmantal. . I probably should have got 7mm . I want to use it for prusik. Line .. got some more screw lock biners. I was hopeing they had some ball lock biners but no luck . I like the Petzel screw lock because they show red if they are. Unscrewed at all . . Last night I made up my 1st Beer knot sling. Gonna work on making up a prusik tonight. That Tree Climbers Companion is a pretty good book. . Next I need a day off to go play with this stuff.

 

[pdqdl]

I might be mistaken, but you may find that kernmantle rope a bit stretchy for tree work. Is it rock climbing rope?

Good call on getting a smaller diameter rope. I was imagining myself climbing up 150' trees all day, and I got to thinking how heavy a 300' long chunk of 1/2" blue streak would be. Pant...Pant...Heavy wheezing....at the top of a tree.

Smaller diameter is lighter, but it cuts quicker and wears through sooner. Be careful.

 

[Ms2004life]

A kernmantle rope is a rope with a core and a sheath. There are two types dynamic and static, dynamic has stretch eg, rock climbing and static does not eg, abseiling and tree climbing. Nowadays they are made for specific industries and have varying levels of stretch or staticness (i just made that word up).

 

[tramp bushler]

I might be mistaken, but you may find that kernmantle rope a bit stretchy for tree work. Is it rock climbing rope?

Good call on getting a smaller diameter rope. I was imagining myself climbing up 150' trees all day, and I got to thinking how heavy a 300' long chunk of 1/2" blue streak would be. Pant...Pant...Heavy wheezing....at the top of a tree.

Smaller diameter is lighter, but it cuts quicker and wears through sooner. Be careful.

I got the 9mm rope to make prusik hitches with. None of the deciduous trees in Alaska get that tall. The conifers do but it would be rare for me to hang a climbing line in one of them. They are just belt and spurs.
I've been thinking of getting a 200' Hank of 1/2" blue moon.

The prusik is for above the rescue 8 for descending. Yes it is prolly mountaineering rope. But I cut it to 8' for the prusik. Shouldn't be too much stretch in that.

 

[pdqdl]

If I was going to secure a descent on an "8" with a prussic, I would put it below the 8. There are only 3 ways to fall out of the tree rapelling on an 8: Your rope breaks, your 8 anchor point fails, or you lose control of the tail below the 8.

Secured below the 8 with a prussic will protect from 2 out of 3 potential failures listed above, plus it will be protected by the 8 from loading up and getting hot. Rigged below the 8 to the line feeding into the 8, you will only need to control the prussic, and the 8 will just remain above all the action, quietly doing its job. If you want to stop, just let go of the prussic. Continue descending? Just grip the prussic and pull down to go down.

Secured above the 8 with any sort of friction hitch will require you to tend both the tail of the rope feeding into the 8, as well as controlling the prussic "safety" above the 8. If you screw up and lose control of the 8, the prussic will hold you just fine, but it will be a big distraction otherwise, and the 8 will abandon doing its job as soon as you let go of the rope feeding into it, intentionally or otherwise.

 

[pdqdl]

I got the 9mm rope to make prusik hitches with. None of the deciduous trees in Alaska get that tall. The conifers do but it would be rare for me to hang a climbing line in one of them. They are just belt and spurs.
I've been thinking of getting a 200' Hank of 1/2" blue moon.

The prusik is for above the rescue 8 for descending. Yes it is prolly mountaineering rope. But I cut it to 8' for the prusik. Shouldn't be too much stretch in that.

Once you get used to riding the elevator down out of a tree, you will decide that spurring back down the tree is too much trouble...Let's see...How can I get a rope up that tree to rappel down?

Hmm...I think I'll climb that big ol' tree and bring a rope, too. How much of that 9mm rope will I need?

 

[tramp bushler]

Generally speaking, when I go up a tree it's to turn said tree into a stump. Or for powerline limbing. In the first instance I'll be chunking it down. In the 2nd I'll repel down. Thats why I got the Arbor Plex. If the boss doesn't have any work for me tomorrow I have a Silver Poplar picked out to practice both SRT and drt on.
It's going to take some practice for me to get a system figured out for me to use. I don't have a Big Shot so getting my line up the tree is a labor of love. :msp_mad:

 

[tramp bushler]

Like this.

.
. This is what I had previously figured out then I saw it in the book.

 

[tramp bushler]

Well I went out and practiced today. Man, talk about an AB workout. .I did SRT first. , got stuck for a bit about 10' up. Prusik hitches Really hold. Had to put my thinking cap on to figure out how to get my weight onto the figure 8 . I had the ascender on top with a web strap to the saddle bridge. Prusik below it with foot loops made from 5mm cord. I ran the prusik to a biners on the bridge with the foot loops hitched to the prusik.
. Had my Merrill trail shoes on. I had to mount the 8 on the free end of the rope. Sit/stand,slide up the prusik and tighten up all the slack from the 8 . Put a double sort hitch on the 8 .take the Kong ascender off the line. Then loosen the prusik, take the soft hitches off the 8 then repelling down. It was harder to do it than it is to type it.

 

[tramp bushler]

My little shot cube, wait, it's just a 5gallon bucket.

Works OK.
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Hope things come out right.
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Well I got the line up in the tree. Now see if I can figure the rest of it out
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It took a while to figure out the sling shot. The 115# spectra halibut fishing line that I robbed off my halibut rod flys good but snarls often. Then I pulled up the 5mm pass rope with it then pulled the Arbor Plex up with the 5mm .

 

[tramp bushler]

So after my SRT try out I read the book some more and got to thinking that rendering the climbing line thru the crotch would be like having a block purchase on my saddle. Should be half as hard to pull my fat butt up the tree. So I tied the end of the rope to the bridge with a bowline w/2 half hitch keepers and did the ascender and prusik w/foot loops thing again and low and behold it was. I was off to the races then .. so I did that a few times, climb up, repell down on the 8 . Then I took another break and read some more. Then I wanted to see if my doubled climbing line in the 8 would work. So I put on the spurs and flip line and up I went. The hiking shoes aren't as comfortable in the spurs as my Viberg 's are. But still I breezed up the tree. Trimmed some limbs with a hand saw put the climbing line in the 8 , both legs of it, slacked my flip line and down I came. When the flip line hung up I just gave it a flip and came down. Worked great.

I may be a 101 on a climbing rope. But I'm pretty good in the belt+ spurs.
Thanks for your pacitents all.

 

[Ms2004life]

Good one mate your into it!! Myself i just use two ascenders with foot loops attached to my harness easy as pie for those big rope climbs. Well done man

 

[tramp bushler]

How did you figure the length from the ascender to the bridge or loop/ring and to the foot loops.
Trial and error or is there some formula or something. ??

 

[tramp bushler]

Oh and I beg to differ. There ain't nuthin easy about this rope climbing. It may not be any harder on big trees but it isn't any easier on small trees ..

 

[Ms2004life]

Haha just a matter of finding your lengths don't make the up strokes to long, little steps is beter like walking upstairs if you get me. You can add a third to your bridge which can make it easier to rest. It gets easier and your not as trashed when you get to the anchor

 

[smokey01]

chest harness

Does anyone wear these regularly, are they a fad or for fat old guys like me? ? Seems it would give the ABS a break on a big tree.
I mean attached to a saddle?

I am new to climbing and I'm buying and trying all kinds of equipment and methods.
I do have a Petzl chest harness and use it with a Croll ascender.
It gives me a good rest position and allows me to switch from walking up the rope and stand sit up the rope on long climbs. I have a foot ascender on my right foot and foot loop to a Unicender on my left. If I want to come down quickly, I just stand on either or both feet, disconnect the chest ascender and repel with the Unicender. The Unicender and chest ascender give me two solid connections to the climbing line. (not counting the foot ascender.)
Another option is to replace the chest ascender with the Unicender but then I am only connected once to the climbing line. (again, not counting the foot ascender.)
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