Timber hitch at basal anchor

[Treetom15]

Re the alpine butterfly- I was shown a good system whereby you tie 2 about 1m apart on the stretch of rope just above your base anchor, and then attach another climbing system to this (just a spare rope and prussik would suffice) and pre tension this slightly so that if you did have to cut the base anchor and lower someone down, you aren’t cutting a rope under tension which is unpredictable. 
 

However like most of you have said, I only ever use a base anchor to access and then canopy tie, so while the theory of the above works well it’s not something that I have ever found useful in a work environment 

Edited February 25, 2023 by Treetom15

[Mark Bolam]

17 hours ago, Mark Bolam said:

I wouldn’t use a timber hitch as a base tie.

What a load of bollocks.

 

Running bowline with stopper, butterfly 1m above just in case as Joe said.

 

That’s it.

 

Access only, then canopy tie.

 

’my subbie climber says x’ means f-all.

 

I’d rather listen to a genuine working climber and respect his opinion rather than come up with some contrived bullshit.

 

I’ve re-read my post from last night and it implies Stevie, and his climber, aren’t the real deal.

It came across badly, and this isn’t what I meant.

Stevie is the real deal, obviously, and he has taught me loads over the years we have been pals first through Arbtalk, then met up for beers in real life.

 

I’d kind of got the wrong end of the stick.

What I was trying to get across was that base ties, in my opinion, should be kept as simple as possible

He’s a pro, and works with pros, so can incorporate these slightly more complicated and maybe better systems.

I still sub a bit, so occasionally have to work with retards, so keep stuff like that as basic as possible.

 

No offence intended mate, you know your shit better than I do!

 

It’s good to talk about stuff like this though, a bad base tie could kill you.

 

I KNOW a timber hitch would work, but I’d never use one in this application. 

[Joe Newton]

You only have to work with retards occasionally? Lucky.

 

One in particular untied my base tie without my asking.