Getting a Unicender, what else is needed?

[Momp]

Hello treeclimbers

 

Ive been climbing for around half a year using the frog system. My current gear consists of the Petzl Avao harness with the Top Croll as well. Im using a Petzl Ascension with a footloop and a backup 8mm rope to the Croll. A Petzl Grigri for descending. Also im using the Petzl Grillon to assist in changeovers and as a lanyard. I also have a Pantin + a bunch of carabiners.

 

All in all im very happy with my Petzlified bag of gear, and the Yale XTC 11mm rope works good with all my stuff.

 

But, im just looking for a better way to ascend / descend where i dont have to do the changeover, and was thinking about the Unicender in a frog setup.

 

What kind of gear do i need apart from the Unicender?

[conallb]

If you don't want to do change overs your going to need a big shot for your throwline.

[rumination]

I think by changeover, he means changing from ascending to descending mode, and vice versa.

 

 

Momp, you seem to be quite sorted out with all the mechanicals. Have you considered trying any hitch based climbing systems? You might be interested in something like the Hitch Hiker, which functions for ascending and descending on a single line, without any need for a changeover. A simple rope walking setup can be put together with just the footloop and Croll that you already have, plus a bit of elastic cord. This simple rope walker should also work with the Uni, although I haven't tried the Uni myself.

 

There's a readymade version of this system called the HAAS, but you can easily make your own version. This video shows it demonstrated with a Rope Wrench, but it should work just as well with the Uni or Hitch Hiker:

 

[Momp]

I havent considered the hitch climbing systems, although ive checked out some of them, and i love the simplicity of it all. The system you posted looked smooth, easy, and safe, many thanks for the video rumination

 

But i kind of have a thing for the mechanical stuff, im not sure why though. Ive seen on some videos that they are also using an adjustable tether with the unicender, depending on the current setup. Anyone got more info about those?

Im thinking about putting the Unicender in place of my Croll.

 

The setup would be the a hand ascender on top, a backup rope down to the harness, and a foot loop as well.

Unicender with a bungee cord to advance it.

And a Pantin for a walker setup.

 

Or would it be possible to ascend using the Unicender in place of the hand ascender? The only thing to disconnect would be the Croll to come back down..

 

Any thoughts from you unicender users out there?

[Thatoldchestnut]

I've got the abr tether for the unicender which is a nice piece of splicing and adjusts nicely however I find that you can't get it close enough to you when it's at it's shortest point check out the videos that Richard Mumford has done on YouTube on the uni. When I asked him about adjustable tethers he said that he is currently using a device similar to a kong duck to adjust his tether and it works very well

[Old Mill Tree Care]

I've got the abr tether for the unicender which is a nice piece of splicing and adjusts nicely however I find that you can't get it close enough to you when it's at it's shortest point check out the videos that Richard Mumford has done on YouTube on the uni. When I asked him about adjustable tethers he said that he is currently using a device similar to a kong duck to adjust his tether and it works very well

 

I've also been thinking about a Kong Duck/tether to go under my Hitch Hiker. I saw a video of someone using a Metolius Daisy Chain thing as a tether and that worked well but I like the idea of finer adjustability.

Only thing stopping me is the cost of the Duck. If it turns out to be more hassle than its worth (for me) it will be yet another piece of gear relegated to the box.

 

 

Sent with my iPhone from me, to you!

[Thatoldchestnut]

Yeh I'm the same old mill. My mate has got a petzel shunt which I think I'm going to try out over the next couple of days the adjustability of that seems to be very good

[Old Mill Tree Care]

Yeh I'm the same old mill. My mate has got a petzel shunt which I think I'm going to try out over the next couple of days the adjustability of that seems to be very good

 

Yep, the Shunt is good but the Duck is smaller.

DEcisions, decisions.

[mike t]

Try this Momp. Don't know much about the uni, the few tries I have had, revealed a very smooth running piece of kit. Slinky up/smooth down, also compact!

 

[Momp]

Thanks a lot for all the excellent replies! All of them and the excellent videos from mr Mumford has made me come to the decision of ordering or not, and its already on the way here

The store i contacted had never sold any of these before, but they are a dealer of Rock Exotica and they ordered it for me. Many thanks to vpg.no