Rope Wrench feedback

[Mark Bolam]

Here goes!

 

Wrench arrived last night, so I fitted the slick pin and that was it.

 

Today was day 2 on some 50' connies, two end ones left, brashy brashy. Probably not the ideal introduction!

 

I bagged in to a decent looking crotch and tied off at the base. First 10 feet was a struggle, kept pulling on my rope, years of Drt hard-wiring! As soon as my Pantin started tending it started to click. Because the tied section of my rope was tensioned on multiple side limbs, I thought my anchor would drop as I removed them. Obviously it did, but it didn't matter as I was on SRT!

 

Worked the whole tree from that first crotch. I went back up the 40' pole at the end just because I was so chuffed on how far I could advance on one pump on the Pantin! It's been a while since I ascended 40' with a smile on my face!

 

Chogging down was a bit weird (with a basal tie off), but I got there.

 

2nd tree, 20ft ladder, strop in, big throw, running bowline and I was off again.

 

Easy tree, this one, and I only struggled a bit coming down (I wasn't wearing spikes).

 

The single line thing didn't feel weird to me, the only problems I had were:

 

a) My Drt (I can't be arsed to call it Ddrt every time, and don't know why that acronym is used) hardwired brain. Old dog, new tricks.

b) My Pantin won't tend slack till about 10' up. Got over this be rolling a large log onto my rope before I set off.

c) Coming down a pole taking the system with me. Should have worn spikes? Mine go with my Pantin ok.

 

Second job was a very dense Monty Pine, some snow-damaged lower limbs to remove. No chance of bagging in, just climb, secure, advance, secure, repeat etc.

 

I reverted to Drt straight away as I don't think the wrench would have helped in a tree like this.

 

My initial thoughts are -

 

Kevin Bingham, the beers are on me when we meet. You've probably extended my climbing career by 5 years at least.

 

Reg Coates, the beers are on me next time you are over mate, you told me to get one on about page 5 of this thread!

 

I have never climbed SRT until today, so this was a steep learning curve. As so many on here have said, and I would like to extend my thanks to them, it's almost like learning to climb again.

 

In fact, it's not. You can climb trees again like you did when you were a kid, LOTS to keep the rig high, tend the slack with the Pantin and enjoy it!

 

The Monty made me think that Drt still has it's place, and I think in small garden trees may be quicker, but isn't it nice to have a choice?

 

 

This post has taken me exactly one 440ml can of 5% Stella Artois to type.

 

Kevin, in American, that's probably about 3 cans of your Bud!

 

Exciting times.

[Ian Flatters]

Mark to make things even easier try using a retrievable anchor too, takes seconds to install (quicker than a cambium saver from the ground). Works really well for me and i also use it on stems so i can get my line out where as a running bowline wouldn't be retrieved.

[Rich Rule]

Ian, I had a running bowline on an oak rj the other day, bit of a pain to tie with a 40' tail. It was doable and was retrievable.

 

Can you explain your retrievable anchor? Cheers. A pic would be even better.

[Ian Flatters]

Hi Rich,

 

Heres a link to a picture set Drew B took, and in the video i show it at the end. [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ru1Wqa5dZik]Cherry Removal - YouTube[/ame] Its the best setup i've used as i was using a long tail in the bowline to about halfway down the tree. Saw this on DBTree on Facebook and was like, i'll try this.

[Ian Flatters]

oh yeah on this blog theres a good bit of info on the RW by Drew too Treetools Blog | life in trees - hell yeah!

[gibbon]

Here goes!

 

Wrench arrived last night, so I fitted the slick pin and that was it.

 

Today was day 2 on some 50' connies, two end ones left, brashy brashy. Probably not the ideal introduction!

 

I bagged in to a decent looking crotch and tied off at the base. First 10 feet was a struggle, kept pulling on my rope, years of Drt hard-wiring! As soon as my Pantin started tending it started to click. Because the tied section of my rope was tensioned on multiple side limbs, I thought my anchor would drop as I removed them. Obviously it did, but it didn't matter as I was on SRT!

 

Worked the whole tree from that first crotch. I went back up the 40' pole at the end just because I was so chuffed on how far I could advance on one pump on the Pantin! It's been a while since I ascended 40' with a smile on my face!

 

Chogging down was a bit weird (with a basal tie off), but I got there.

 

2nd tree, 20ft ladder, strop in, big throw, running bowline and I was off again.

 

Easy tree, this one, and I only struggled a bit coming down (I wasn't wearing spikes).

 

The single line thing didn't feel weird to me, the only problems I had were:

 

a) My Drt (I can't be arsed to call it Ddrt every time, and don't know why that acronym is used) hardwired brain. Old dog, new tricks.

b) My Pantin won't tend slack till about 10' up. Got over this be rolling a large log onto my rope before I set off.

c) Coming down a pole taking the system with me. Should have worn spikes? Mine go with my Pantin ok.

 

Second job was a very dense Monty Pine, some snow-damaged lower limbs to remove. No chance of bagging in, just climb, secure, advance, secure, repeat etc.

 

I reverted to Drt straight away as I don't think the wrench would have helped in a tree like this.

 

My initial thoughts are -

 

Kevin Bingham, the beers are on me when we meet. You've probably extended my climbing career by 5 years at least.

 

Reg Coates, the beers are on me next time you are over mate, you told me to get one on about page 5 of this thread!

 

I have never climbed SRT until today, so this was a steep learning curve. As so many on here have said, and I would like to extend my thanks to them, it's almost like learning to climb again.

 

In fact, it's not. You can climb trees again like you did when you were a kid, LOTS to keep the rig high, tend the slack with the Pantin and enjoy it!

 

The Monty made me think that Drt still has it's place, and I think in small garden trees may be quicker, but isn't it nice to have a choice?

 

 

This post has taken me exactly one 440ml can of 5% Stella Artois to type.

 

Kevin, in American, that's probably about 3 cans of your Bud!

 

Exciting times.[/quote

 

I'm glad you got one. I bet you will want to climb every day again

[Ian Flatters]

forgot to add the picture link Untitled Album | Facebook

[gibbon]

forgot to add the picture link Untitled Album | Facebook

 

That looks good

[Ian Flatters]

Simple to install too,

[Old Mill Tree Care]

Hi Rich,

 

Heres a link to a picture set Drew B took, and in the video i show it at the end.

Its the best setup i've used as i was using a long tail in the bowline to about halfway down the tree. Saw this on DBTree on Facebook and was like, i'll try this.

 

I like that tie off option. Simple and inexpensive.

 

Do you favour this over a base anchor? I like the base anchor option due to the rescue option but it does make the rope 'bouncier'. I'm on Poison HiVee.