New Zigzag, pics and info.

[colemanjessenz]

Can't see it being the norm myself, for the simple reason that the most basic of friction hitches the Prussic is still taught and still used to this day.. Not only the older generation even still prefer to use this but some of the younger too. The lockjack and spider jack have been around long enough now to prove this theory also!! There not the norm!! I was a lockjack junkie for nine years after coming from the likes of a Blake's then distel and loved every minute of the jack, having ventured into the world of SRT I have found my love for the hitch once more. I've had a couple of brief goes on the old zigzag and was very impressed, but again it's not for me either.

 

The variations in techniques and gear our industry has to offer is what separates us from most, as climbers where like finger prints!! All unique in our own way. This is what makes the job sooooo enjoyable. Being different is the new norm

thats not entirely true adam , although friction hitches are standard learning in most places , here in Germany all the schools teach people to use lockjacks. I'm not entirely sure as to why but i think it has a little to do with money and a little to do with being able to have a base for all students. you have your basic A level tree climbing in which you are allowed to climb with a handsaw and this is taught with lockjack.

 

I am a huge fan of playing with knots and materials i always change to find different combos and it keeps it interesting but i will have to agree with the idea of mechanical devices becoming the norm.

In this day and age of health and safety there will always be a quest to find a governed and standard device or devices that can be used for our industry.

Some countries will jump on this bandwagon faster then others but i think it will happen at some stage , friction hitches will ,in the foreseeable future be the norm but i do think that mechanicals will be making more of an imprint in the years to come

[josharb87]

Personally i think friction hitches days are short lived HSE wise, all it will take it is one person falling after climbing on an over worn hitch rope failing for HSE to look at what else is on the market.

Think about it, try explaining to someone not in the industry, that you trust youre life in an 8mm bit of rope that you rub and deteriorate its condition everytime you move ...

[scotspine1]

If mechanical hitches become the norm it will be because the industry allowed it, in the UK that would never happen because unlike Germany we don't naturally veer toward uniformity and being boring.

 

British people are inherently independently minded and any notion of trying to implement a Euro style blanket ban on hitches would be kicked so far into touch you'd need the Hubble telescope to see it.

[colemanjessenz]

If mechanical hitches become the norm it will be because the industry allowed it, in the UK that would never happen because unlike Germany we don't naturally veer toward uniformity and being boring.

 

British people are inherently independently minded and any notion of trying to implement a Euro style blanket ban on hitches would be kicked so far into touch you'd need the Hubble telescope to see it.

 

I'm from nz where were leather boots , chaps and top handles on the ground

are completely normal thing and allowed.

I know a few of you on here would scoff and say that all of these things are inherently dangerous and bad practise but each country is different and when it comes to ppe i think that the uk would defiantly be one of the front runners to try and wean out friction hitches due to the human error side of things.

[coleman]

I'm from nz where were leather boots , chaps and top handles on the ground

are completely normal thing and allowed.

I know a few of you on here would scoff and say that all of these things are inherently dangerous and bad practise but each country is different and when it comes to ppe i think that the uk would defiantly be one of the front runners to try and wean out friction hitches due to the human error side of things.

 

the only people worried about the human error side of things would be managers of big firms that employ numpties with little experience imo.

[DrewB]

Petzl will have the industry strength to get it specced- a company purchaser needs to get gear for a new climber but there are so many options OR gets a sequioa, zig zag, zillion, ok carabiners, petzl approved rope, vertex helmet. makes the gear buying a very easy choice. Im not saying i like it but all the gear is designed to work with each other, all rated etc i firmly believe its what will happen, same as CE climb from teufelber etc... pretty sure the manufacturers will be lobbying HSE to only allow gear that is designed to work with appropriate components. goodbye innovation. though i may just be being negative today

[Dean Lofthouse]

Companies won't want climbers pishing about wasting time deciding whether to have two braids three wraps or three wraps two braids, 10mm or 8mm, liros or ocean, round crab or oval, gloves or no gloves.

 

Just get up the bloody tree and prune it

[scotspine1]

Companies won't want climbers pishing about wasting time deciding whether to have two braids three wraps or three wraps two braids, 10mm or 8mm, liros or ocean, round crab or oval, gloves or no gloves.

 

then they'll get the staff they deserve.....climbers who lack the creativity and imagination to solve problems and find inventive solutions to the countless number of treework situations.

 

It'll show on their balance sheet as well, unenthusiastic workers who just turn up and go through the motions, happy to assimilate into the ranks of 'the workers', happy to follow company protocol, they'll never move a company forward, they'll hold it back, seeing out their bland existence waiting tragically for retirement and the pension at the end of it all.

 

Enjoy your zig zag Dean

 

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Edited November 24, 2013 by scotspine1

[Dean Lofthouse]

Just because a climber chooses to use a mechanical hitch doesn't mean him or her lack imagination or problem solving abilities.......your grasping at straws Tim

 

Next you,ll be telling me they'll lose the ability to tie their own shoe laces

 

Grasp away my friend, you'll soon have enough straws to make something from the blue Peter archives

[Adam Bourne]

Next you,ll be telling me they'll lose the ability to tie their own shoe laces

 

 

Isn't that how evolution works?