New Zigzag, pics and info.

[Dean Lofthouse]

To be honest I didn't think much of them and thought the climbers in the petzl demo vid must have been practicing the leaps from branch to branch over and over for the final take.

I soon realised that the zz can be as variable as a hitch you just need to know how to use it.

I have found if you completely depress the little toggle lever at the very top, you can then use it just like a hitch and it can be as variable as a hitch, just grip the whole zigzag bit and treat it as you would a hitch

You will have to give your hitches up at some point, everyone will be laughing at you in years to come.

Its a bit like someone I know who has a favourite shovel, he won't give it up and get a new one (neigh lad, they dont make em like they used to Lad, it's a reight shovel this un), it's that worn its about a third of the size it was when new, meaning he has to shovel three times as much.

 

.....and you lot reckon I'm the heathen lol

[18 stoner]

Having never seen one, let alone used one, I'm a little in the dark on the technical advantages/disadvantages over rope hitches.

 

BUT, one thing concerns me about a huge lump of iron on my bridge. That is, if standing up on a branch with any level of speed, can this thing not swing like a huge wrecking ball and pendulum straight into your plums?

[Marc]

That's right Dean Petzl have really tried very hard to emulate a Hitch because a hitch and it's action is very intuitive to us. And to be fair the Zig Zag was perfect in its response and control. And of course the video is going to show lots of well practiced leaping, look at Joe Harris everyone saw Spiderjackry and thought wow if I buy a Spiderjack I'll be just like Joe.

I climbed on a Prussik but I don't have the ability of Grahame from Sherbroke, it's not the device that's important it's you.

[Dean Lofthouse]

Spot on Marc, I fell for the lock jack vids and I could never...no matter how much I tried...get it to work on a swing. It was jerky and went from full friction to no friction in a very tiny movement, so control is very difficult

[kevin bingham]

Friction hitches have friction every time you fight friction you are losing energy. Elimination of friction is the name if this game. The zig zag with a rope wrench the one time I tried it was a dream on SRT.

[Mark_Skyland]

I agree with the above in regards to the zigzag being the 'norm' in the very near future.

 

It does have its faults as every bit of kit does, my 'fault' being that it needs to work better with 13mm rope.

 

This only goes for the original ZZ as I havent tried the new one, but the difference between a 11.5mm rope and a 13mm rope is quite unbelievable.

 

I prefer to climb on 13mm hence my 'fault' with the original ZZ.

 

Although I would choose the ZZ with a 11.5mm any day of the week.

 

Scotspine1, try it, I bet you will like it mate.

[JimM]

I agree also that the zigzag, and devices like it, will become the norm.

Some of the work I've done in the past few months has emphasised for me how important it is to have one in my arsenal of climbing kit. I'll climb happily all day in hardwoods with a hitch-climber and distel knot on an eye to eye. But my big concern was during full spread Sitka dismantles. Three quarters of the day through doing one my hitch was so jammed with resin that I was fighting to free it off with almost every move. And that was with a cambium saver in place to try and reduce the effects.

I was actually getting quite stressed with the fact that if something went wrong my ability to get out of the tree safely was compromised.

We are seeing more work in removing inappropriately planted large pines from gardens up here, I guess from a time in the 70's when planting them in your garden became more commonplace.

So, for me, getting the Zigzag back is a way of mitigating a risk when working in these trees.

I am also appreciative of the fact that climbers have worked in these trees for decades and I am probably missing a technique that reduces the resin effect.

[Adam Bourne]

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

[scotspine1]

Scotspine1, try it, I bet you will like it mate.

 

Like everyone here I began treeclimbing with some kind of rope hitch.

 

I started on 3 strand nylon with a 3 strand prussic, then moved onto a braided Prussik loop on 13mm New England, then the Blake's split tail 13mm on 13mm Yale XTC, then various VT/Distel setups until for the last 10 years I've been using a 5 wrap 10mm swabish with micro pulley on 13mm Yale XTC.

 

In all that time I got to know these various setups inside out, the adaptability of them, the pros and cons, this on the job learning was invaluable, you can't take it for granted, you should value it very highly, it's got you through many years working at height and you're still here.

 

I just feel when you buy and use a zig zag you're thowing all that learned experience with your hitch out the window and letting Petzl take over this part of your personal safety. They've been proven to be lacking in their understanding of treework and specifically DdRT with the catastrophic failure of the zigzag 1. They've tried to mimic the actions of a hitch, which they achieved but they failed to thoroughly test the one of the anchor points.

 

The zig zag is a nice idea, and look's the part, but when I'm here in a tree like this I don't want to be looking at or climbing on a mechanical hitch designed and built by non treeclimbing experts, I want to see my own hitch setup that has evolved over the years to the point where I don't even think about it when climbing. I know a lot of folk here will know what I'm talking about.

[silky fox]

ZigZag or Spiderjack for me.......but you do make a very good point Scotspine:thumbup::thumbup: