Still hurtin pretty bad from the surgery monday. I'll know more next week.
Need a quick way to rappel from palm trees
- Thread starter Tree94
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you never come close to cutting your climb line like that?
No, if I need to take the time to reset it, I reset it.
That's crazy, i never heard/seen anyone do that here in Arizona. What kind of palms do you have where you're at? Do you have Washington robusta?
Some. Most places we did palms were high end and willing to pay for spikeless pruning.
over where I'm at there's palms on every corner, you basically just hike up and down them all day. And because of lots of Mexican competition, they go for only about 40 bucks a piece. So taking all that time to rope them just doesn't make too much sense here.
Thanks for the tips on the friction saver, I'm going to implement that probably soon though
Thanks for the tips on the friction saver, I'm going to implement that probably soon though
Nish
ArboristSite Lurker
I'd use an adjustable friction saver like this one or that one, or splice my own with a length of hard lay three-strand. Tighten the friction saver around the trunk, leaving just enough space between the rings so they tighten together under load.
Then all you need is a locking carabiner and a munter hitch. For fast rappels, I believe the munter hitch beats the figure 8 for less heat build up, as the primary point of friction is distributed throughout the length of the rope.
Then all you need is a locking carabiner and a munter hitch. For fast rappels, I believe the munter hitch beats the figure 8 for less heat build up, as the primary point of friction is distributed throughout the length of the rope.
Nish
ArboristSite Lurker
An eight actually builds up less heat since there's no rope on rope contact.
In this scenario you've described, 94, I think I'd take my climb line, use an anchor or buntline hitch to put a biner on it, run it through my eight with 3-4 ft of tail, and then tie my throwline onto the biner. Spur up, flip it around the trunk and lock it off, and go to work. When you get done, rappel down and use the throwline to open up the loop until it slides down the trunk. Reset your eight and on to the next one.
In this scenario you've described, 94, I think I'd take my climb line, use an anchor or buntline hitch to put a biner on it, run it through my eight with 3-4 ft of tail, and then tie my throwline onto the biner. Spur up, flip it around the trunk and lock it off, and go to work. When you get done, rappel down and use the throwline to open up the loop until it slides down the trunk. Reset your eight and on to the next one.
ksvanbrunt
ArboristSite Member
I used to do a lot of coconut trees in hawaii and our two ways of doing it was an adjustable friction saver just below the crown and repel ddrt, or girth hitch a bigger carabiner, like a petzl Williams, set up your figure 8 and put your weight on it then put your tail through the carabiner afterwards. With your tail through the biner as well you can pull the loop through from the ground to retrieve it. You just have to have a rope long enough to make it to the ground and back up again. Hope that makes sense.
so you put the friction saver around the trunk correct?
I just always imagine it wanting to slip down the trunk
ksvanbrunt
ArboristSite Member
Yep, around the trunk. With the adjustable you make it so the rings are just about to touch. It won't slip as long as you set it up tight enough. I look at it like its the same concept as relying on your lanyard to catch you if you were to gaff out on a spar.
Well, you can do what you want, but, you can set your friction saver after you prune and and still be able to retrieve it from a freshly cut cut petiole.
Jeff
beastmaster
Addicted to ArboristSite
I've done a lot of Washingtonia palm over the years. I'll only climb srt if they have a lot of dead fromes for safety reasons, though ive done maybe a thousand of them back in the day trimming up ward. but ive never climbed down one. If im useing double rope I'll run it through a freshly cut petiole or two, coming down the opposite side of wear its running throu. Even then sometimes it takes a little help pulling the rope out. Best is to us a friction saver around the trunk. So long as its smaller then the diameter of the palm it'll hold ,you can beat your life on it. I just use my regular set up to come down a Vt. If i SRTed up ill come down with a gree gree or figure 8.
Don't do many palms but an ART rope guide can be choked off securely on a smooth straight stem and is retrievable, I use it on pretty much every tree whether it's a high anchor for pruning or round the stem as I'm coming down on spikes. Quick, easy and consistent, also easy to retrieve and reset in another position, say from one side of the tree to another or when descending down from a high anchor to a position to fell out the head or even just chogging down the stem.
Nice to have that secure quick escape route
Nice to have that secure quick escape route
Nish
ArboristSite Lurker
Not true. Rope on rope contact isn't so bad if the friction is distributed through the length of the rope, as in the munter. Generally speaking, friction burns your rope when it occurs at a constant location, as in the natural crotch, the friction hitch, the rappelling device, etc. That, of course, is how you get the heat to build up.
Why would the rope running on your carabiner via munter hitch, be any different than the rope running through an eight? Except for it occurring in closer proximity, as well as the added friction of rope on rope contact?
I'm very interested, if you are in fact right.
But I don't understand the whole "entire length of rope stuff"
Nish
ArboristSite Lurker
With the figure 8, the primary points of friction are those spots on the metal device which the rope runs through. These spots are a constant location for friction, and thus provide an opportunity for heat created by friction to build up in a location. The munter hitch, which really does rely on rope on rope contact, has no constant location for (the main) friction. As you descend on the munter, the primary point of friction is continually changing as the rope passes through (the segment of rope creating the munter hitch at one point in your descent will be different from the segment of rope creating the munter hitch an any other point in your descent). And so the heat created by that friction has no similarly opportunity for build up, and, therefore, the munter hitch is importantly distinct from any other descending devices I know of, including the various other friction hitches used by climbers (prusik, Blakes, VT, etc.), which also involve rope on rope contact.
With the munter, there obviously is some heat build up in the carabiner. Some of this is from the rope-on-carabiner friction. In that respect the munter is similar to the figure 8. The difference is that, unlike with the figure 8, this is not the primary point of friction, especially, I think, as the loads increase.
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