Smooth climbing

[MOG]

I think it's been speeded up by maybe 110% of normal. Not hugely. I've never said it was dramatic. It might be a result of the video process but the leaf and rope movement isn't natural, nor the rate of pendulum.

 

i can tell u 100% mate that its not speeded up. climbed with him this wkend and he is that gd i am afraid. Also heaps climbing the tree lots of times too. i defo going to have a go soon on it and i take a Video and see what time i can do it in. Maybe a few pratice runs first too tho.

 

Nar ross i didnt get any vid's of him this wkend. trev (my boss TREEGEAR.com.au) has tho and think he going to edit they all and put em togther. i link it too ya's when he does it.

 

MOG

[joe into trees]

Aww, you guys. Thanks heaps for all the kind words. As those of you who have been along to some climbing comps know, I am neither particularly quick nor particularly smooth when compared to a lot of the top climbers out there. This tree shows off the spiderjack very well, and it's easy to make it look good when you're in a familiar environment using a piece of equipment that is very well suited to the task at hand. If I can persuade Angus to come down out of the hills once more, and brave the bright lights and bewildering variety of coffees on the menu in the big city, we might make a video of using the spiderjack in a particularly choppy, dense little oak that has a work climb pitched in it. It's not as smooth as when the tail is free flowing, but those of you who have given up on the SJ because of problems with working against the rope may be surprised.

 

Steve, I'm not sure why you are finding the glazing on your line. Maybe you're just descending a lot quicker than me. It is amazing how fast and far it's possible to jump with the SJ - maybe I should be pushing it further than I have been though! It may also be a problem with using the cam rather than the block to attenuate the friction? I don't know. My Samson Velocity has seen at least 18 months of heavy use, so it's getting pretty near an honourable retirement (ie, cut up and used for pole belts, tag lines and tie-down rope) but I can't see any glazing on it.

 

As to the speeding up -

He's obvious quick but just not quite as quick as you think.

- I was a bit put out at first but then I realised that this was about the best compliment that the video could possibly receive.

 

This being the internet, there's nothing I can say that's going to convince anyone who didn't believe the video in the first place. The truth of the matter is that I was trying to go slow and be smooth - a full-on blast through that circuit could probably knock 20 seconds off the clock and be a lot more jerky and flickery.

 

As Matt mentioned above, we spent the weekend at the Tasmanian Tree Climbing Championships. I was tech-ing and judging the rescue, so I didn't get off the ground a great deal, but I did get to watch a lot of excellent climbing. Congratulations to Ross Kite (guest climber from NZ and overall prelim winner) and Nathaniel Smith (2011 Tas TCC champion!). Someone there asked me whether I thought that everyone should be climbing on a spiderjack.

 

The answer is that I definately do not think that. One of my favourite things about this craft is the ingenuity and inventiveness of climbers. I like that three smooth, proficient climbers will perform the same task in three completely different ways. Single rope climbing clearly has a lot to offer... but I also recently saw Brett Hamlin making the Blake's Hitch (without a prussik-minding pulley) look smooth and fast and easy. It takes time and commitment to get good with any single style, and we can't all get good with everything. The spiderjack offers some fantastic benefits - ease of ascent, smoothness coming off branches and a big increase in the range and speed of jumps compared to the VT or other hitches - but you have to put in months of practice and there are a plenty of disadvantages as well. At the end of the day, experience, competence and good decision making is what counts. The spiderjack just lets me make up a bit for not having any of those!

[Heads up]

Nice post Joe. Just a quick Q i've been told my another SJ user that he wasn't a fan or using it for reductions due to the fact when your above your achor point it keeps tending the slack and pulling you back. Now i've had this with a VT at times but just wondering if you've had any problems with that on the SJ and/or any remedies for it. As i'm tempted to get one....

[Sam1]

I want one....but the way people are paying for their tree work -i'd better stick with my prusik cord!!

Edited March 28, 2011 by Sam1

[waz77]

Nice post Joe. Just a quick Q i've been told my another SJ user that he wasn't a fan or using it for reductions due to the fact when your above your achor point it keeps tending the slack and pulling you back. Now i've had this with a VT at times but just wondering if you've had any problems with that on the SJ and/or any remedies for it. As i'm tempted to get one....

 

I guess if you tied a slip knot at the point where you dont want the sj to advance past it should cure the prob then just pull the line when you want to ascend/descend to remove the knot.

[Steve Bullman]

 

As to the speeding up - - I was a bit put out at first but then I realised that this was about the best compliment that the video could possibly receive.

 

 

i wouldnt worry about it too much mate. i went through similar a few years ago...people accused Andy of speeding this video up

 

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0b4_VOc7fu8]YouTube - Rockin Beeches[/ame]

[alex_m]

haha

[Mark Bolam]

That's my kind of reduction Steve, good value for money for the customer.

 

Have you got any pics of it now? I bet it came back lovely.

[Ross Smith]

nothing wrong wit the speed of that filming steve, smooth as even the pendlum is free flowing,whatever that is. oops

[bob]

Hi all, thought this would be a good time to jump in. Just bought a sp. A week ago. After a week of playing with it I've only found one thing I don't like. It doesn't feed rope easily when your going out on a long limbwalk and the rope isn't feeding directly into it, or if your rope is draped over a limb. With a pulley your hitch always feeds freely.

 

for those odd times try clipping a small crab to your harness to allow it to run through.

Tried it a couple of times early on but never seems an issue now