to splice or not to splice.

[parrisw]

Just wondering what the consensus is amongst the climbers. I just got a new clilmb rope, and a climber I know just uses knots on his climb rop with a blake's hitch. I'm thinking of putting a eye splice on one end of the climb rope, the other end I have a split tail bee line, that I will use with a friction hitch.

 

[WolverineMarine]

I like either an eye to eye beeline prussik with a carbiner..or a split tail..less b/s getting around limbs..when tie in higher..etc..

 

[parrisw]

this is what I got http://www.baileysonline.com/itemdetail.asp?item=BL516+34&catID=26 and 150' of arborplex.

What I meant was, at the other end of the rope, to tie into your harness or have a splice and use a carabiner

 

[reachtreeservi]

3/4 of My climbing lines are spliced.
I use an grizzly spliced Ice eye to eye with a micro mouse or hitch climber for a slack tender.
For canopy work I like very little slack in the hitch. (Distal)
If I body thrust I add a 24" sling between the saddle and the hitch.

 

[WolverineMarine]

I just use a bowline to my rope snap/caribiner..then clip it right to my saddle..never used a spliced eye to caribiner etc..might be a little less to get hung up on in the canopy and never have to worry about retrying/setting the knot..less saftey worries..but..the eyes cost an extra 20-30 bucks..per line..whats the little bit of extra piece of mind worth I suppose?

 

[masiman]

I try to use a friction saver to preserver my safety line at the TIP. With the rings on the friction saver I don't think the splice would go through, at least not with the a thimble in the eye. Other than that I can't see a drawback.

 

[reachtreeservi]

Mine are spliced without thimbles, and go thru the large ring on my friction savers.

For a double rope with an overhead TIP , it's a trim set up and as safe as it gets.
Other than the cost, which you write off anyway, there's very little downside.

I do have a couple lines without the splice to use as a safety when spiking up a straight spar.
They're easier to tie a running bowline around the tree and use the eye to eye to attach the line to my central d ring on my harness.

What sucks is paying 25 or 30 bucks for the splice and nicking your rope with your sugoi a foot from the end and having to cut the last 2 feet off.
Happened to me last month with a brand new rope.

 

[masiman]

Mine are spliced without thimbles, and go thru the large ring on my friction savers.
...
What sucks is paying 25 or 30 bucks for the splice and nicking your rope with your sugoi a foot from the end and having to cut the last 2 feet off.
Happened to me last month with a brand new rope.

reach,
I guess the splice won't fit through the small eye? I'm asking because I prefer to set the friction saver from the ground off a throw line and I'm thinking I could not easily thread it through the small ring.

I was thinking the same thing about the eye when it wears out, that you have to pay to have a new one put in....unless you've got mad skillz like NickfromWI

 

[reachtreeservi]

You can still use a splice and set your friction saver from the ground.

Just pull the unspliced other end of your rope thru 1st.
Pull the slack out and rebag the excess. Biner the splice to your D and you're good to go.

 

[randyg]

You can still use a splice and set your friction saver from the ground.

Just pull the unspliced other end of your rope thru 1st.
Pull the slack out and rebag the excess. Biner the splice to your D and you're good to go.

I am lost here. I set friction saver from ground with throw line, and pull splice on end of climbing line through BOTH rings of saver. To remove friction saver, I install small threaded link to splice as it fits through large but not small ring. I use new england 16 strand arborist safety blue half inch rated 7,700 lbs., and when I nick it, I cut and re-splice. New rope splices much easier though, so we try to keep away from sharp objects, but either wraping around saw bar or stabbing to stem with climber, I spend to many a rainy day with the Brian Toss splicing wand.

 

[randyg]

I do not use thimbles on climbing line, only hooking to very smooth biners. Never wore inside eye before line needed retired for other reasons.

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

I tried splicing my own lines, and did not do it enough to become good at it.

I do a lot of elm and basswood and have had splices get caught in tight crotches, so I gave up on them and stick with a scaffold knot for the climbing line and my VT tress cord.

40 some odd dollars for the double spliced tress cord?!?!?!? I burn through them too fast. I find that the high tech stuff looses its form real fast too.

I'll take $3.00 worth of bulk cordage any day. And if it is just 3/8 in stable braid, then it is more like $1.75

 

[masiman]

You can still use a splice and set your friction saver from the ground.

Just pull the unspliced other end of your rope thru 1st.
Pull the slack out and rebag the excess. Biner the splice to your D and you're good to go.

I was thinking that would be the way to do it, you just have to pull your safety from end to the other through the friction saver. Thanks.

 

[parrisw]

Thanks for this great discussing. I had no idea it would turn out like this. I don't think I will splice, I wasn't going to from the begining. And now decided not to.

Thanks

 

[Nailsbeats]

I too thought about splicing the end of my climbing line and decided against it. I now use a double fisherman's that will cinch up tight on my biner and I can pull the biner out and the knot falls apart when I want to recrotch. Works well and is definitely cost effective and hassle free, never have to worry about getting the rope caught in the crotch.

 

[treemandan]

Yeah, just the eyes for the rigging gear, I do it myself on the 3 strand stuff but trust its done right at the factory on the big rigging ropes.
Something like that on your climbing is bound to get stuck... on a friday afternoon.

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

Ditto for homemade lanyards.

A short piece of old climbing line is my favorite pine lanyard.

 

[Blakesmaster]

A short piece of old climbing line is my favorite pine lanyard.

My climbing line keeps getting shorter the more ideas I have. I can make that!

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

I have so many old lines with nicks in them that are still good enough for crab apples and lanyards....

Bryon Toss has a story of an old splicer, when he died and they cleaned out his house there were boxes and boxes of rope marked "too short to splice"

 

[md_tree_dood]

I had a splice on my line but had to cut it off due to damaged rope, that being said, I liked it for convenience it save time from having to tie and retie a fishermans knot.