Body thrusting with hitchclimber and distel

[will.morris]

I climbed on one today and liked it - dont think ill be buying one yet as I am happy with my HC set up but from what you have said it would deffinately solve your issue.

 

Until then it may be worth tying a knot that self tends, this would help you - a distel will self tend if tied on the 'sporty' side but its not ideal - but a VT deffinately will if tied correctly - theres threads on here about it

 

Just remember to set the knot before letting go!

 

This is an area that I've often wondered about with loosely tied VT's. I have asked loads of people this question but no one has ever really given a definite answer:

 

Your ascending on a VT that has to be set each time, you slip before you've had a chance to set the knot ... would you A) Slip a distance before the knot sets or B) Simply hit the deck

 

If the answer is B then surly it makes a 'sporty' VT a very dangerous knot to climb on :confused1:

 

With my distel occasionally it will creep before I set it but it will never just not grip like some VT's.

[skyhuck]

Paul consider the lj aswell if I was you I'd try them both before you buy. Plus the lj works a lot better with a sling as a bridge so you can pull from underneath. The sj has a habit of not locking off.

 

Interesting, can you elaborate further please.

 

I'm just starting to use a SJ, only had a play on a Sycamore in the garden so far.

 

Under what situation did you find it didn't lock off??

 

I've shortened my bridge, bringing SJ in very close in, meaning I can pull above the SJ, seem to work well.

[Joe Loggs]

Hi sky what I meant was adding a sling as a extended attachment from harness to sj so you can pull and thrust from underneath the sj, making ascending easier but problem with the sj when doing this it tends to not lock off giving you abit of sit back before it does lock off. One thing I did notice when lowering your weight onto the sj it's best to applying it firmly instead of easing your weight onto the cam as when they get worn they have a tendency to creep so jerking action locks the cam quicker. Just trust it👍. Plus shortening your bridge helps a lot and add a beal pinch to leg of sj to krab this also helps self tending as the sj won't be slapping about.

[Marc]

It's no good having an O rig , Pantin , Rope Wrench and a hitch Climber if you can't pull yourself up a tree .

 

Regarding ladder's if they use them a Kew Garden's then there good enough for me You need to try them as they'll be better than your 15ft throwline

 

Apbell honestly I cannot pull myself up a tree, years of srt access and using a hitch climber to allow me one handed tending has meant I,ve lost that muscle I tried so hard to gain when I body thrusted with a Prussik.

As for Kew well we should just use what suits us best, Kew are not really under any commercial demand or have to work on so many big trees day in day out, if they did maybe it would be different.

[skyhuck]

Yes this is what my climbing instructor told me, a good arborist always uses a ladder!!

 

Was he very fat????????

[Paulfreebury]

Was he very fat????????

 

No! Far from it!

His attitude is why over exert yourself when you could shimmy up a ladder to the canopy! Commercially it makes sense.

[Tom10]

No! Far from it!

His attitude is why over exert yourself when you could shimmy up a ladder to the canopy! Commercially it makes sense.

 

Factually he might be right. walking up a ladder is lovely...

 

But c'mon lets hold onto our morals ladders are the devils work

 

ps by the time the average man can hike a stupidly large ladder off the top of his truck, battle with the weight walking it to the tree, put the stupid thing up and walk up with with his lanyard getting caught on the rungs every 3 seconds... I could have throwlined in and dismantled half the tree

[will.morris]

One golden rule we all follow is remain attached to the tree at ALL times ... with a ladder your at height with no attachments at all.

 

No reason why you'd ever need one in my eyes, dense tree - do change overs, open tree - throwline ... sorted.

 

One of the guys I've worked for using them for every tree ... IMO it's just as pain in the back side trying to extend a 3 stage ladder into a tree, due to the leverage effect the tiniest branch can prevent the ladder from going where you want it. But of course he never had to worry about this because it was always me that had to put it in for him .... would much rather just climb up, install and anchor and say there you go mate!

[Bing!]

Carrying the ladder to the tree is all part of the trainees learning curve ; )..

If they wish to use a throwline, shinny up and put in my anchor then great, but they will still be putting the ladder up to save my ass from 15 foot of unnecessary hard work to the first limb.

[Joe Loggs]

Carrying the ladder to the tree is all part of the trainees learning curve ; )..

If they wish to use a throwline, shinny up and put in my anchor then great, but they will still be putting the ladder up to save my ass from 15 foot of unnecessary hard work to the first limb.

 

Agreed👍