new hitch

[Tom D]

here's one to try, (experienced guys only) its essentialy the bastard offspring of the VT and the howard. I have been climbing on the howard for a while now but always looking for improvement I came up with this. I have always found the VT annoying when using it with the hitch climber; too short a cord and it jams up, get it running nice with a longer cord and there's too much sitback when ascending (I like to haul inderneath the HC). If you only ever use the traditional VT Technique of pulling a few handfuls through every so often then the longer cord VT's fine, but it kind of defeats the object of the HC IMO.

 

I tried this yesterday on a decent sized oak, my old cord was past its best and i was using a brand new piece, I tied this as an experiment, it gripped well streight away and tbh i forgot i was using it. It never needed dressing or tweaking and performed really well, which is unusual for a brand new piece of OP. I think the full twist as opposed to a braid stiffens the whole hitch making it less likely to loose its shape, it breaks really easily after being loaded and there is very little sitback. I can measure the eye to eye length of the cord if anyone is interested.

 

 

Anyway, here's a couple of pics, it has some wraps at the top, (use as many as neccessary) and then instead of a braid (left side leg goes right and vice versa) add a full twist (left side leg goes right round the right hand leg and back down the left side, vica versa for the right leg). then round the climbing line and repeat.

[David Humphries]

The Dixon hitch

 

You on 8 or 10 OP?

 

 

 

Keep us updated Tom.

 

 

 

 

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[Tom D]

its 8mm mate, early days yet in terms of performance, but it looks promising. be interested to hear others thoughts and experiences.

[Steve Bullman]

sorry to burst your bubble

 

looks like an XT to me, developed by mark chisholm

[Steve Bullman]

i sometimes use that configuration if ive cut my cord the wrong length and need to use up some cord in the knot....or if im swapping a cord over onto a smaller diameter line and its hence too long.

[Tom D]

how do you find it steve?

[Peter]

XT is just one crossover per braid though methinks, and the final twist at the bottom is not XT either.

[Tom D]

XT is just one crossover per braid though methinks, and the final twist at the bottom is not XT either.

 

isn't that a vt then??

[Tom D]

I see now, found a pic, its not the same as what I have been using. At the end of the day all hitches are pretty similar variations on a theme, the XT is a new one on me, although its halfway between what i did and a vt. I would imagine it works pretty similar to what I have been trying. I like the stiffness of the mine, when the hitch breaks it gets the top wraps moving up before the hitch compresses too much, minimizing sit back.

 

the XT:4 wrap XT Hitch back on Flickr - Photo Sharing!

[Frank]

That knot looks ugly tom. Sorry but it does. Lol