vt hitch setup

[alloutdoorsboy]

I switched from taughtline to Martin and now use the icicle which seems to grab way better than the martin fwiw

 

[clearance]

I think it is safe to assume that any knot can fail if not tied properly!

Very true, but a tautline is easy to tie, simple as it gets.
Windfirming and standing stem are not like res. work, it can be pretty crazy. Ain't no hospital just down the street, its a production show, nothing pretty or fancy here. I have climbed to 180', others have climbed higher, for example. I advise keeping it simple.
In the Tree Climbers Companion, the VT is the only one that has the explicit warning.

 

[ClimbinArbor]

actually the warning pertains to all tresses

 

[ClimbinArbor]

i have been using a figure eight on a bight lately as my climbing line termination to my biner. works pretty well and is ultra safe and holding from what i can tell.

anyone else have ezperiences good or bad using this?

 

[treemandan]

Before we get to carried away blaming the Vt, let's remember that it's not the Vt that failed in this case.

What failed was one of the hitches that attaches the Vt to the biner, a scaffold hitch.(sometimes called a double fisherman's knot in error) This same hitch was also likely used to attached the end of the climbing line to a biner for attachment to the saddle. If the scaffold hitch on the end of the rope had come undone there is not much of a chance that JPS would have caught it.

Not sure I follow. My little VT thingy has two eyes spliced in the ends and that goes to the biner so there is no scaffold knot which by the way Des Pawson calls it a double fisherman's knot.
I also have a split tail which does get more use that the VT rope thingy with 2 eyes on the ends but all in all I just go up and start tying the old taughtline/prussick deal til I am done.
I know a 270 pound godzilla who climbs on a three wrap susy suicide prussick with NO stopper knot!
what they need to make for the VT type set ups is a pulley that redirect the tail of the climb line so you just pull towards you instead of away but I think we should stop there and just get the F up the tree for now.

 

[senechal]

i have been using a figure eight on a bight lately as my climbing line termination to my biner. works pretty well and is ultra safe and holding from what i can tell.

anyone else have ezperiences good or bad using this?

I know a few guys that swear by it. I find the interface on biners to be lousy as you end up side loading with very little effort. I also find it to be bulky for what I need and is a magnet for snagging your tail.

 

[treemandan]

i have been using a figure eight on a bight lately as my climbing line termination to my biner. works pretty well and is ultra safe and holding from what i can tell.

anyone else have ezperiences good or bad using this?

That is usually what i use when needed.

 

[ClimbinArbor]

I know a few guys that swear by it. I find the interface on biners to be lousy as you end up side loading with very little effort. I also find it to be bulky for what I need and is a magnet for snagging your tail.

ive been giving mine a 6" loop, so as not to get the bulk of the knot interfering with all my hardware.

 

[reachtreeservi]

i have been using a figure eight on a bight lately as my climbing line termination to my biner. works pretty well and is ultra safe and holding from what i can tell.

anyone else have ezperiences good or bad using this?

I use the same figure eight on a bight or a rewoven figure eight.
Easy to tie and check.
Super safe...

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

If the scaffold hitch on the end of the rope had come undone there is not much of a chance that JPS would have caught it.

Actually Dan, that is what happened. The fisherman's came undone from the pulley beckett. (see I&F forum for full details)

My fingers on the barrel of the hitch is what kept it "working".

 

[RedlineIt]

1I'dJak,

Jeez, it's been ages since I logged on here. I know that I had PM'd you that I could fire some spliced Bee-line up your way because my employer basically just gives that stuff away to climbers, by my circumstances have changed.

Also want to say that D Mc made a most intelligent post which I agree with.

The VT is at it's best on a long limb-walk, getting out on the tips and then playing yourself back in all smooth.

The VT can actually be annoying on a big straight up Conifer climb, because at about 40 to 50 feet, unloaded, it self tails down to nothing.

I'll try to put this is realistic terms:

You climb to fifty feet on your VT. Lanyard in above, release VT. VT self tails due to rope weight. Climb up a bit on your lanyard. Pull rope out of your VT. Flip it. Missed? VT self tends. Pull rope out of VT. Flip it again. Successful? Climb up, Lanyard in. Release VT, grab it before it self tends.

See what I mean about annoying?

Don't get me wrong, the VT, Knute, Icicle, all the Prussic variants have their uses and if you ever find yourself doing residential pruning where hitting the outside third of the tree is the whole game, or even removals where getting out and tying a control line is required, you will find the VT a dream.

But if our roles were reversed, and I were climbing big conifers, I'd be back on the Blakes ASAP.

Or I would use my double-ended lanyard to my TIP.

Horses for courses.


RedlineIt

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

I was talking about the climbing rope attachment. The one without the hitch. What knot do you use there?

Fisherman's-2 turn overhand - scaffold - noose....

 

[ClimbinArbor]

Actually Dan, that is what happened. The fisherman's came undone from the pulley beckett. (see I&F forum for full details)

My fingers on the barrel of the hitch is what kept it "working".

wait a second. i thought you werent supposed to tie anything to a pulley becket for just that reason.......

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

I never heard that, the Petzl Fixe' is used in a tress hitch as the terminal connection.

 

[ClimbinArbor]

I never heard that, the Petzl Fixe' is used in a tress hitch as the terminal connection.

huh wierd. i use one single biner and a micro pulley for mine. load one eye of the vt, then the pulley, then your other eye.

of course i run mine on a 4d, that may be the difference.

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

huh wierd. i use one single biner and a micro pulley for mine. load one eye of the vt, then the pulley, then your other eye.

of course i run mine on a 4d, that may be the difference.

I cannot find a pic of the vt on the fixe, but you can see how it would work, tie to the beckett, then the pulley goes onto the carabiner where the other end of the tress cord is tied off.