Benefits of moving to cinch/positioner?

[alex_m]

I climb using a pulley/short vt on my strop, which is great. It never slips, has minimal sit back, i can lengthen it under load and shorten it with one hand.

I am intrigued to what a cinch or art positioner could add to this if anything. I love gadgets so wouldn't need much persuasion

cheers

[Paul Smith]

Alex, you had a ropeguide so know how a positioner works, I love mine and would not be with out it!

[Rupe]

The cinch can be used on a sing line, so if you move it the centre and attach the end of your strop to a branch (round branch and clipped to itself) you can then use the entire lenght of your strop as an addiditional line, so this make for some interesting work positions.

 

Of course you have to go back up to unclip.

 

There are some concerns about cross loading karabiners in this application but this can be dealt with simply but I'll leave that for later, after you've got your head round the first bit!!

 

Other than that, both the positioner and cinch are more compact than a hitch and pulley combo and certainly smoother. The positioner does not adjust under load that easily though.

[alex_m]

cheers rupe, that sounds quite handy, feel free to elaborate (if you can be arsed) on the idea.

[Rupe]

The elaboration is to do with the attachment to the branch. As I said there are issues regarding cross loading if you simply wrap round a branch and clip on to the rope. This is not necessarily a problem but it is something to be aware of, for work positioning it might be ok but if you cut your main line and weighted soley on the cross loaded karabiner it might be a problem, unlikely to break but not how its meant to be used. And the whole point of secondary attachment is in some case just in case you cut your main line so you might as well do it properly.

 

All you need is a marlin spike knot on you lanyard and clip to that a few inches below the branch you are attaching too. Problem with that is it can use up valuable inches of rope, so a small prussik loop (three wrap) attached to the lanyard below the karabiner will work well. Some folk use mini slings for this, the dyneema ones are tiny but still have 24kn MBS.

[Rupe]

Another point is that the cinch can attach to the spare hole on the hitchclimber if you wanted to, or just front attachment point if thats easier.

[Will Hinchliffe]

I really like my Cinch on my lanyard now. Its great being able to use 10mm line in it. I like to tie an alpine butterfly in my lanyard when I clip it back on its self this makes it easier to unclip and you can keep the knot in the line if you are planning on using it on your front D for your next bit of positioning.

 

When spiking you can take your cinch of your lanyard and put it on your main line (if its 11mm). Then you can tie a running bowline around the spar and you then have a great way of getting off the pole quickly in the event of an accident.

 

The Cinch wont work on ropes like Tachyon or Imori, they are to big.

[alex_m]

cool, thanks guys.

so apart from that technique and the smoothness, what else should i consider before parting with so much money....

[Tully]

The cinch can be used on a sing line, so if you move it the centre and attach the end of your strop to a branch (round branch and clipped to itself) you can then use the entire lenght of your strop as an addiditional line, so this make for some interesting work positions.

 

Of course you have to go back up to unclip.

 

There are some concerns about cross loading karabiners in this application but this can be dealt with simply but I'll leave that for later, after you've got your head round the first bit!!

 

Other than that, both the positioner and cinch are more compact than a hitch and pulley combo and certainly smoother. The positioner does not adjust under load that easily though.

 

Rupe I use this technique but use it on my positioner with a single line.

 

The reason for this post isnt to discuss the fact that i some times move my lanyard to my bridge using a positioner but to ask how you fix your karabiner to you rope to make a single line.

 

I used to marlin spike or alpine butterfly it to the rope once it was looped over the branch but have found a much faster easier technique.

 

I put the line over the branch and put the karabiner back on the line but twist the line twice around the karabiner when it is open (obviously closing the krab once i add the wraps.

 

When you sit on this the rope looks like it has one wrap around the spine of the karabiner and does not seem to cross load as the line continues to stay straight.

 

I have tried to reason why this could be dangerous but it seems to work everytime without slipping etc. Have you ever tried this or am i even making sense to you?

[Rupe]

Yes, makes good sense!! I will have to try it. Personally I dont think the cross loading is a major issue anyway, its just that if this technique is being discussed then it should be included in the conversation.