How does this look for a first climbing kit?

[Rupe]

If you are climbing with a prussik and you then want to add a pulley (or start with a pulley, whatever) then the hitch climber pulley IS NOT the one you want!

 

Any small pulley will work with a prussik loop, and in fact the hitch climber will not be that great, at best it will just be too big, its designed specifically for use with hitches that are made of legths of cord not loops (except blakes its not designed for that either).

 

So starting with a prussik loop is perfectly good and if you want a pulley under it then great, a petzl fixe or an ISC basic pulley works best, and in my experience attaching one of the simple gold pulleys via a horse halter clip thingy to your krab works really well as it give some rotation to the pulley so it work whichever direction you are pullign in.

 

 

Also hitch climbers are expensive, they are good for what they are designed for but addign a pulley to a simple system does not need to start with a hitch climber.

[Le Sanglier]

Get a shorter length of rope as well, 15 to 20 mtrs. Nothing shouts "Newbie" more than spending all day untangling 160ft of rope up a 40 ft tree.

Oh and spikes.

[LewisPH]

Rupe, I can't quite imagine how it'd work with a single pulley, where the DMM HC uses multiple holes. Do you have a picture you could show me so I could understand the layout?

[Rupe]

Ill dig one out, but your right the hitch climber has multiple hole but they are there for a different reason, if you were using a prussik the holes wouldnt be where you want them and there would be too many!

 

The hitch climber is designed to have the end of your rope clipped to it aswell (so you need two karabiners) and if you did that when using a prussik you would have a difficult job attachind the prussik in a way that keep it all aligned.

 

Cant find a picture at the moment.

 

With a basic prussik you just put the tail end of rope onto the same karabiner as the prusik so no need for pulleys with lots of holes, then you can add a basic pulley onto the same karabiner, so only one karabiner needed and no expensive pulley.

[LewisPH]

So I have the eye splice/term knot of my climbing rope, the prusik and the pulley all on one krab, and that krab on my bridge? Sounds simple but I can't visualise it. Is there a name for this config? Struggling to find a photo of this layout.

[Rupe]

Yep, its the simplest way to do it, and the way everyone gets taught. In fact you would be taught without the pulley to start with.

 

It helpp if the bridge of your harness has a sliding ring or "D" so that the one karabiner sits sideway on, then the prussik goes on the karabiner, the the pulley if your using one anf then the termination splice. A larger karabiner is required, the oval type ones are really for use with the hitch climber, but a large ish pear shaped karabiner will do fine, and they can be cheaper than some of the oval ones.

 

Of course if you move to a fancy hitch you can use a hitch climber but you still dont need to, pasic pulleys will do the job for now.

[morten]

Rupe, I can't quite imagine how it'd work with a single pulley, where the DMM HC uses multiple holes. Do you have a picture you could show me so I could understand the layout?

 

Here are a couple of videos that shows the setup with Prusik and a slack tending pulley:

• Advanced climbing techniques | Prusik hitch with slack tender
  
• [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=COnJtt4Jf-Q]Using a Prusik hitch advanced with a micropulley | Arborist climbing techniques - YouTube[/ame]
  

 

You can use a piece of "shoelace" tied in a loop, rather than an ascender to attach the pulley to the standing part of your life line, as in this illustration (shown with a Blakes knot rather than a prusik):

Edited June 18, 2013 by morten

[Rupe]

thats good. Thats the horse lead clip I was on about, I think for starters it should just be clipped to the main karabiner between the prussik and the spliced eye. It works a treat.

[LewisPH]

Excellent stuff. Lots of food for thought there!

 

Thinking of going down to Honey Bros in Guildford to get all my gear, do they have a proper showroom where I can test a harness out?

 

Would you suggest any other retailers? I'm in Kent.

[Barry_Skyland]

This is a climbing kit we have put together for the starter, as climbers we recognise that pulley systems can confuse a newbie (confused me until the last year and I have been climbing for 18 years)

 

Its a simple prusik loop climbing kit with everything you need to practice climbing, rec climbing and small pruning jobs, its also very reasonably priced

 

Start off with a prussik or split tail and in time work your way up to a 'VT' or spider/lock jack, zigzag2. I'm sure there are stll alot of guys on here still climbing on a prussik. I do now the zigzag has gone back...

 

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