The Roostertail Friction Saver

[Henning]

Hi, I am new here.

For the sake of saving friction, I came up with some ideas.
I built an adjustable cinching fs with a swivel-pulley.
I realised that the swivel on my harness was twisting my
spiderjack, but I feel that the thumb brake should always
point towards me. I also would have to throw the tail of the
rope over me when doing a 180/360 spin. I am quite thin, so
every single bit of friction is too much. Having lines crossed
from working the canopy, even with a pulley fs, creates too
much friction, so I use a swivel pulley now. Works great!
However after setting a redirect there is no other way than
avoiding to twist the lines.
I also figured ways to set and retrieve the system from the ground
with only one throwline going over the target branch.
Setting from the ground also works for the Ropeguide.
So far, I see only one advantage of the Ropeguide: Its shockload-
reducing system.
I guess it could be implemented as well, but I haven`t thought about how yet and
I also don`t think that it is super necessary. Well, the other characteristics
might also not be super necessary...

What do you think?
Does the world need another (better) friction saver, or is it all SRT nowadays?

Henning

 

[crotchclimber]

I use the USaver. ART Ropeguide looks nice as well. Neither have swivel pulleys. The only swivel pulley I'm aware of are the Rock Exotica Omni-Blocks, but they are not as smooth as the pinto or cocoon so would be more prone to jamming during retrieval in a choking configuration through a ring. I'm not sure the Omni-Block 1.1 would even fit through the largest rings easily. I use a swivel on my rope bridge and I still get my lines twisted sometimes. Usually I'll lanyard in, unclip and undo the twists. None of my coworkers do SRT, and I usually only use it for access on large trees or when I'm only making a few cuts. I usually use the Hitch Climber system and all of my coworkers use the ZigZag or the same.

 

[Henning]

I use the USaver. ART Ropeguide looks nice as well. Neither have swivel pulleys. The only swivel pulley I'm aware of are the Rock Exotica Omni-Blocks, but they are not as smooth as the pinto or cocoon so would be more prone to jamming during retrieval in a choking configuration through a ring. I'm not sure the Omni-Block 1.1 would even fit through the largest rings easily. I use a swivel on my rope bridge and I still get my lines twisted sometimes. Usually I'll lanyard in, unclip and undo the twists. None of my coworkers do SRT, and I usually only use it for access on large trees or when I'm only making a few cuts. I usually use the Hitch Climber system and all of my coworkers use the ZigZag or the same.

Hi,
that represents my thougths pretty much and I found solutions for all the problems. The U-Saver looks very good, but it serves another set of purposes.
The Roostertail focuses on friction reduction. It can only choke (sorry I thought it means "cinch") so far, the swivelpulley is totally free to spin, therefor the retrieval system has no direct contact to the climbing rope.
To be honest I took a swivelpulley and did a little sanding on it, but a swivel plus any other small pulley is thinkable.
For installing and retrieval the pulley goes over the branch, I use a steel trilock carabiner instead of a ring for easier clipping of the
throwline. I don`t see a problem with sideload and accidential opening there. More likely to break the branch, right?
For installing one throwline is necessary (obviously), but having a second line on the lower end of the fs makes it easier to set or to pull it
back down if the crotch has an obstacle. the secondary line can be removed after the fs is set and is out of the way.
For retrieval, when climbing is finished, both ends are connected to a throwline from the ground, so there is maximum control to get it separated and down in a controlled way. Any other way is thinkable, pulling it up on the ascend rope and when up there install it manually or the like.

 

[crotchclimber]

Extremely low friction at your friction saver means more friction on your hitch. Works fine on mechanical hitches like the Zigzag it seems, but on cord hitches there's a lot of friction on long descents. I often use a metal flexible conduit friction saver when I can because it works the best with cord hitches and a Blakes hitch. Plus they are fastest to set and retrieve. Have any photo of your friction saver?

 

[Henning]

Extremely low friction at your friction saver means more friction on your hitch. Works fine on mechanical hitches like the Zigzag it seems, but on cord hitches there's a lot of friction on long descents. I often use a metal flexible conduit friction saver when I can because it works the best with cord hitches and a Blakes hitch. Plus they are fastest to set and retrieve. Have any photo of your friction saver?

Your concerns about too much friction on the hitch end depend on the sort of positioning device, I agree when using a friction knot or the like. Thats what the ropewrench was developed for.
What bothered me was that due to my lack of bodyweight I had balancing problems mainly when limbwalking. I simply could not manage to stay upright enough to maintain control because the pull of my climbing rope would hinder me. I am talking about smooth movements, and these friction problems forced me into a more stop and go movement: Take some slack, move on, take some slack again...
Now, with minimal friction in the system (I can open the spiderjack completely) with the only friction being the pull of the rope going down from me (most likely over some branches), I have much wider freedom of movement thereby I am not likely to loose balance. Also Ascending is a lot easier, I can almost pull myself up using only my arms.
I have no picture at hand right now, just imagine a choked (through a steel carab) piece of rope with a swivelpulley on the end. It is a bit more than that (my install/retrieval gimmicks), but it explains the main function. Just like a pulley saver, but a pulley without a swivel can`t perform as it should.