treeseer said:
An arborist who reaches out to the side, sometimes upside down, to make cuts, absolutely needs a chin strap.
That was going to be my contribution to the side-rail topic going on here. As well, I think that one side of the chin-strap affixed, the other with a good line of velcro solves the problem of helmet fall-off, and makes the on/off a one-handed task.
Kentucky asks about grippy gloves. It's really hard to dispute the benefits which goes far beyond just the gripping of a rope. You'll note a lot of traditional-conventional, that's the way I've always done it, if it ain't broke don't fix it guys have embraced the grippys. Their complaints about wearing gloves often come from experiences with gloves other than grippys (which I would have to agree with). The stickys overcome the major complaint, which is loss of dexterity.
Darkstar has opened up to the possibility of mechanical devices and obviously has embraced SRT and the lighter, faster lines. Never hurts to expand your horizons. Good on you.
Someone mentioned rock climbing lines not standing up to abrasion very well. True, that, and they're generally more expensive than 11 mm arbo lines. I'm unsure about being able to terminate an eye with conventional splices in a rock rope. Rock climbers, for the most part, don't put their ropes through the rigors of the average treeguy. Most don't work their ropes all day long, all week long, week after week, although they'd like to, but most rock climbers don't get paid to do what they love. We do. That's why our ropes are constructed differently. They take splices. They stand up to our excessive demands.
Before the recent advent of 11 mm lines in our industry, our choices in 11 mm were the hard, stiff static lines (zipline) favored in the caving circles, or the soft, dynamic kernmantles of the rock circles. The rope industries stepped up and created,
especially for us, this new family of lines. Progressive climbers will embrace having the new options, traditionalists will badmouth what they have to offer without really ever putting the line through extensive climbing. If they don't like it right of the bat, it doesn't get used much and they have nothing good to say. Don't make a decision to try an 11 mm based on something like that. The price of
really knowing is the cost of the rope and the time you spend with it.
.png "Love :heart:")
which I still use a majority of the time.
If you are fearing that your strap will get caught and tear your head off you are definitely thinking too much.
