Hitch Hiker thread.

[Old Mill Tree Care]

Hi Ewan

You'll get used to fiddly aspect of tieing the hitch. I'm sure every body finds it a pain at first, I did.

I know exactly what you mean about advancing it and I use a Lyon Sling Fig 8 across my shoulders to ensure it gets pulled up.

Due to the design it only really works by sliding it up the rope and no trying to employ the same technique as used on a HC system.

It certainly is different to the RW.

 

What rope are u using it on?

 

 

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[Adam Bourne]

Looks like New England fly to me Al,

 

Nice one Ewan look forward to more feed back!

 

 

[Ewan Murray]

Thats donaghys NRG way better than the fly its my short line so it was easier than dragging in my 70 meter kernmaster to take a photo haha

[Old Mill Tree Care]

I just looked at the photo again Ewan and you have one extra wrap and then have passed the cord under the first leg.

That would certainly account for it being stiff to advance.

 

I think there's a photo of mine and a photo of DMc's earlier in this thread.

 

 

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[D Mc]

... I hate the Dogbone not being able to use or tie e2es i think is a bit stupid i have had situations were i needed to retie cord and being able to quickly switch out my cord has been useful.

 

LOL! I love the dogbone, but I had the same thoughts as you the first time I used one. Let me add some counter points that become more obvious once you become accustomed to handling it.

 

It is the only tool, besides tying directly to the carabiner, that allows you to utilize the entire length of the hitch cord for its intended purpose. What that means is the hitch design does not have to compensate for the stiff legs that are created in the making of an eye to eye, whether sewn or spliced. The end result is a hitch that is shorter than what you would expect for the way it feels.

 

Tuning of the hitch is even more important in SRWP than in DdRT because it sees 100% of your weight as opposed to 50%. But you already know that. What is less obvious is how the HH and RW differ even though they are both hitch-based SRT tools. The RW adds a static amount of friction, that is gauged by the amount of weight applied to the tether, to offset the work load required by the hitch. This force will be there with or without the hitch.

 

With the HH all its load sharing is dependent on the hitch. This makes hitch tuning more noticeable and this is where the Dogbone shines. With fixed e2es your only tuning option is changing the hitch configuration. There are times that three wraps are not enough and four are too much. But with the Dogbone you can add or remove small amounts of line that have big affects on hitch performance, very easily, without changing the basic hitch configuration.

 

If you stick with it, tying and untying your hitch using the Dogbone becomes fast and easy and, in my opinion, well worth the effort. With a properly tuned hitch, the HH will tend slack very similarly to the RW. It's all about the tuning of the hitch with an understanding that the carabiner needs to move first.

 

Dave

[Ewan Murray]

I just looked at the photo again Ewan and you have one extra wrap and then have passed the cord under the first leg.

That would certainly account for it being stiff to advance.

 

I think there's a photo of mine and a photo of DMc's earlier in this thread.

 

 

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I tried the recommend hitch ans it wouldn't grab so I tied one that would will mess around with it more to find one that's just right .

 

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[BenR]

If you ever make it back to the uk can you bring that bad boy with you?! Would be really interested to have a run on one! Enjoying the thread, thanks guys:001_smile:

[High Scale]

Been using 6mm on a leisure/sports climb, works well and consistent unlike the supplied Beeline.

[D Mc]

I think it is important for first time users of the Hitch Hiker to understand that the recommended cord and hitch combination, though quite functional, is heavily weighted towards safety and not sport or comp type performance. The HH has similarities but is different than any other tool and it will take some using of it to understand what it can and cannot do.

But, it is a hitch-based tool so the same fine tuning in regards to rope and cord combinations will be just as important for maximizing performance as it is with any other hitch system. There is no need to settle for mediocre performance.

 

Dave

[Old Mill Tree Care]

Been using 6mm on a leisure/sports climb, works well and consistent unlike the supplied Beeline.

 

It's certainly good to try different things but those are long legs in your photo. I found long legs on the hitch meant more sit back, later disengagement and worse of all, unreliability in grabbing.