Question about SRT

[John Paul Sanborn]

ICS is the manufacturer, you don't want the QTY they want to sell

Yates gear sells ICS and DMM.

Maybe i'll go this direction

 

[Tom Dunlap]

I've been perfecting SRT for arbos for several years. The system that I've come up with now seems to cover all of the bases. Compact, has backups, climber can be rescued while on the system. All of the techniques that are discussed here have limitations that I've worked through on my journey.

The Mini Traxion is not a good choice for personal support. The MT isn't rated over 5k#. If you like the function, you need to use the Maxi Traxion.

If you find that grabbing the rope is hard I think that you might have the lanyard that attaches the saddle to the upper ascender is too long. When you sit in your saddle and reach up to push the upper, the bottom of your hand should be somewhere near your eyebrows and the top of your head. If you reach above the top of your head you are doing chin ups and working harder than necessary.


On Rope 1,http://onrope1.com/index.html
makes a tool called the Adjustable lanyard, part number F0401. This is a nice tool to use as a lanyard for your upper. You can tweak the length to perfection.

Here is the link to Yates in California:

http://www.yatesgear.com/


Tom

 

[TheTreeSpyder]

i asked a few buddies about the AM demo and they say you are write again TD. Though they climbed on a doubled line as one with MarBar etc., and did some work on backup knots for other types of acsension on it FootLocking etc., no true, true SRT but intro'd the techniques on a doubled line as one. Such knots would grab more positively on the 'thicker' line.

The not having the friction hitches near the cams (as well as shirts, hair etc.) etc. is an oft overlooked one. i always look to a knot tender or hand shoving the hitch up.

Though the comment on not having friction hitches as backups (and holds) perplexes me some, for all the refrences in the On Rope bible to prusiks etc., also throughout other mountaineering refrences. i can see where our beginning hitches (open tailed Tautline and Blake's) could lean and perhaps revel in this warning if not properly, meticulously set; but what of our newer breed of closed tail/ eye to eye tails? One of them sliding up and clamping from both ends with 4+ rope grabs (i go/think 1 knot grab/choke ring for temporary, 2-3 rigging, 4+lifeline) wouldn't be a positive enough, instantly clamping backup??

Is the BigBoyz pic (OnRope reminiscient) the system you refrence? Has it's totality been pre-sented here comprehensively as one and i missed it? i remeber induced running refrences and examinations i've poured over, and am questioning have we been fully brought up to date in this evolution you have lead on.

"Fascinating Captain, ab-soul-lutely fascinating....." rings out as we all trek on, yes towards the stars.........

i beleive the stage is your's...........

 

[Tom Dunlap]

When I was at TCI I had some time to talk with a couple of arbos who have training and work experience in high angle rescue. We talked about using a friction hitch above an ascender as a backup. We all agreed that this setup is probably not a real good system.

If there would be an incident that would cause the ascender to fail, we all felt that the "backup" is so close to the vicinity that it would likely be involved in the incident. Better to seperate your backup by some distance. My setup, as seen in the upper right of this group: http://www.missouri.edu/~quinnl/trees/training/tomgallery.html keeps the two ascenders seperated. I've replace the lower Microcender with the Rocker. By keeping the lower tight to my saddle its less likely to get in trouble. When I showed the setup to Denny Moorhouse he really liked the effeciency. Denny started Clog, DMM and now owns ISC. Quite a guy!

Using knots for ascending does work but they aren't as effecient as mechanical devices. If we'retruly progressing, why use antiquated tools? If so, consider giving up the remote control of the TV. Not likely

Backing up a DdRT ascent is problematic. Petzl is considering bringing the Footlocker back into production. If climbers use a smaller, static line for ascending the Shunt could be used as a backup. I can think of some knot backups for DdRT but there is no impelling reason to work that out since SRT is a much better way to ascend. DdRT ascents are a dead end alley. If you punch through the dead end alley, you'll find that the next street over is SRT. Why would anyone want to walk into a dead end?

Tom

 

[Dan Flinn]

Hi all,

I work in the Fire/Rescue business for the local municipality, so I can make a couple observations about the two fields:

When doing a high angle rescue, one is required to have a separate line as a backup - but the use of screw type caribiners is still acceptable (opposed to the automatic close and lock an arborist needs).

We (fire service) might ascend on one rope while tending a prusik on the back-up line, therefore eliminating the possiblity of the prusik interfering with the ascender.

I tried having a prusik back-up above my top ascender using
ascenders for tree work, but quickly found that it was more of a nuisance than a benefit due to, as pointed out earlier, that in order for it to move along the rope, it had to be too loose to grab in the event of failure. Also, I found that, since both my ascenders are secured to my saddle, both would have to fail for me to fall.

I have learned so much just from this thread! That picture is great!

Dan

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

I linked it from the onrope page. That rig costs around 260 clams

Here is an example of why Tom is so insistant on parsing the DdRT from DRT. Dan is working on 2 separetly anchored ropes.