Base anchor

[Ian Flatters]

Why don't you just rescue them like you did in DRT? If the base anchor has the ability to lower great but if they are attached via a strop then this makes it impossible anyway. But I'm sure the ground crew would spring into action like a well oiled olympic team.

[marcus_arb]

Why don't you just rescue them like you did in DRT? If the base anchor has the ability to lower great but if they are attached via a strop then this makes it impossible anyway. But I'm sure the ground crew would spring into action like a well oiled olympic team.

 

ok say the climber wasn't stropped in and the groundie went for the ground rescue option and the climber got stuck

[Paul Smith]

My base anchor is tied of round a fig 8. The line goes up to the tip and back to the ground with a little to allow for any redirects etc. The fig 8 can be undone to allow the climber to be rescued. If the climber gets stuck in a crotch the options are the same as Ddrt.

[softbankhawks]

Marcus-Arb, my gut instinct tells me that a groundsman should be up a pre installed line sharpish to check on the climber. It is very well imagining a plumb belay but you are right, a trees morphology is complex.

There is not one solution, or two or three etc.

[softbankhawks]

Trunk Anchor and Trunk Belay are two different concepts. Those newer to srt can be overjoyed at the seemingly obvious rescue aspect.

I now of only one srt rescue...a climber was lowered while ascending as he got caught in a swarm of wasps.

I have personally climbed, it may be hundreds by now, of trees that have been made safer and easier because of my Trunk Anchor and single line that compressed and shared my climbing forces.

We need a massive bag of tricks to truely work safely. It can be a ******* pain sometimes.

[Old Mill Tree Care]

I've been climbing SRT for six weeks now and have given much thought and experimenting to anchoring methods.

 

On some trees it seems more suitable and simpler to just choke my rope at the top, although this means I have a 36 metre tail!

Some trees I prefer to create a retrievable anchor at the top with the tail running through the Alpine Butterfly. I do this when the anchor point is skinny and I'm concerned about compression if I was to set a base anchor.

When I set a base anchor I just choke the base with a running bowline and put an Alpine Butterfly on the rope 2-3ft above the bowline for the rescue/lowering line to be attached to.

The advantage of this is no extra hardware needed.

The disadvantage is that my rope isn't long enough on big trees and it makes the rope feel a bit bouncier (Poison Hivee).

 

While I like some of your base anchor set ups, they are heavy on gear and I figure that a rescuer can clip their rope to the Butterfly then sit down before cutting the anchor and lowering me down.

 

As always, I'm interested in any comments, especially if I've missed something and i can improve.

 

 

Thanks guys, this is all good.

It had not occurred to me that if a groundie starts to lower me using his climbing gear and I get stuck, what then?! Four days a week we are a three man crew but that would be irrelevant because we only take two sets of climbing gear.

 

Now I see why you guys are using more complex base anchor set ups. I'll avoid my basic base anchor until I get more gear.

Edited March 11, 2012 by Old Mill Tree Care

[Paul Smith]

There is no need to over complicate it. You only need to have a way of belaying from the ground. It does mean you need a long rope though!

[marcus_arb]

Marcus-Arb, my gut instinct tells me that a groundsman should be up a pre installed line sharpish to check on the climber. It is very well imagining a plumb belay but you are right, a trees morphology is complex.

There is not one solution, or two or three etc.

 

well said, I think your right, every tree is different so really every rescue system is going to be different and climbers and groundies need to put there heads together and work out the best system for that tree

[Marc]

Having a base anchor you can belay a climber with is a good idea, working off the srt line seems to me to be losing one of the key benefits I,e it is the access line if your using how can the second climber access the tree? If I eventually do go to srt for working positioning then I,d still use an access line then install a work line.

Most climbers I work with are good at srt access and have their own srt kit so if the need ever arises they can get access to the tree as quickly as is possible, it's also very common to have 2 to 3 climbers in the tree at a time unless it's a take down

[Paul Smith]

If a second climber needs to access the tree why can't he use is own line as normal? You could install an emergency access line if required. Can't see why you would access on one line then install another to work off though, line in get to work!