Marc

Well I,ll probably give my stuff to Gollum, just trying to get a few other bits together.

Not that I am a fan of srt work positioning (i,m just an old dinosaur stuck in my ways:001_rolleyes:) although I will use it when I feel it suits the job. But I really think the RW and uni would make a great partnership for those that like srt for work positioning (if it works like I think it does in my mind) especially if it increases the life span as I know climbers who would burn through a uni in months.

It's a ticking time bomb that tree, liable to self demolition at any moment.

Oh so it spider jack users fault! God damn sj prima donna,s they are to blame for everything. My grief with it is that it gets caught up in my retrieval shackle rather than the ball and eventually gets pulled off anyway.

Is using the RW in combination with the uni reducing its wear rate increasing its lifespan? And are you privy to some prototype or something with this product that many of us would not be able to use?

Is that an sic pulley? If so the becket should rated and fine to clip into if the biner fits just like nemac

4kn is a shocking figure that's easier to reach very scary consider the thread subject, I think we all toss karabiners from time to time to think we could reduce the integrity that much..... But it's good to know these were loler fails and something experienced arbs should fail themselves during regular inspection. I will be in touch regarding my retired kit, I,ll also see if I can gather some other bits.

Pricesely we all know uv degrades plastics just by how much. I think I,m right in saying current petzl lids have a 5 year life span due to the effects of uv light, is that constant daytime exposure over 5 years? This guy I was talking has left rope outside and will do for the next year just to see how much the exposure has weakend an unused rope. And as for the dyneema slings a guy I meet called Roland from the German alpine team? Had seen a mammut sling fail from what he described a light fall 4kn or less it was girth hitched to a karabiner failing at this point, they all now refuse to use mammut slings in these situations. To be noted this was in extreme cold the sling was probably frozen still scary though. The notches in my dmm or best described as slight indentations from where it sat on the hitchclimber are these possible fail points? How much do they effect strength? I,m not to worried about the kit I use I,m very happy to climb with it, you got to remember how everything interacts together, I,m fairly sure the dmm oval will now fail at less than the stated rating in a straight pull test, yet a fall in my system with the absorption of my line, the tree itself, the fact it's part of a drt set-up etc.... In this scenario how much energy would the karabiner actually take and what would I have to be doing to generate these forces! So like I said I,m not to worried just curious.

A recent thread and a chat with a guy a climbed with a few weeks ago about testing old kit that been subjected to use and abuse. Now I have a art link pulley that I have regularly bombed out of the tree for 3 years I have recently straightened it in the vice and inspected it, but have now retired it. I also have a ring which has impacted Tarmac time and time again. A dmm oval biner that has notches worn in it from use with a hitch climber. I,d be happy for anyone to test these items to see what they fail at now, all 3 items are rated.

No offence but this is not really cool without at least putting forward how you came to this. There a many things I,ve seen that would put people off using many components. Things always need to be put in context. Especially when you state failing at 4kn which is very low and easily achievable, although in a drt system it would need to around 8kn fall.

Where in essexs?

Do you use the fishermans technique! And why only one GPRS aye.....

Imagine its simply for clipping the block to his harness. Nice work Reg.

I wouldn't consider a spider jack an upgrade over a vt/hc combo, just different, although I am curious as to how these new mods really change things I,m sure I,ll get a chance to try them soon.

The cracka jack bag is Marcus,s I really want one to great little rope bag no fuss no pointless frills just well made, bit like my black diamond haul bag. Things were getting silly when we tried attaching toolboxes and the combi can to my harness, I just did not have enough tool clips. The kit on my harness is fairly light.

I think the camp variant is slightly different, it was possible to release under reasonable load but not you full weight, but it was hardly comfortable or precise. I rate the cinch, but honestly a ce lanyard is the bees knees to me, I always wanted an art positioner again a great tool but now I,ll probably bodge together my own version of the ce lanyard they are a good option.

I had one although a camp version, you know I actuall quite liked it. At the moment I use a cinch on 6ish meters of 10mm ocean poly, I like that because it can be backed of under load and quickly converted into an srt set-up to allow me to use the full 6m as a secondary! Not life support work positioning aid. But I will be buying a ce lanyard from tefalburger or maybe make my own version of it, again it shear versatility lanyard, srt positioning aid, drt short second line, able to be backed off with ease under weight and fine adjustment. Once your used to one and how it can help you a rocker seems old hat. To be honest old mill I,m surprised you do not use one already, it will prolong your climbing career and you will feel less tired when you get home

I have it in green limelight I think it's called really nice line similar to tachyon, I,e tight and round, unlike Imori which is soft and erm flaccid. Blue is a great colour for visibility as its a colour you do not see often in nature, only problem is I hear blue dye is not so good for reasons I cannot remember.

What do I know about a spider jack I,m still stuck in my ways on a hitch, but I hear the longer lever makes fine control better and the half pulley (more like bump) really helps with fair leading into the jack. It's almost as a good as a hitch now

Nicely put, small and smooth is often faster, not sure on why you want a 60ton strop to secure the block as you do not want to generate that kind of force, and in my opinion blocks being so strong is to give more reliability and good service life not to actually go to those limits! I,d also like to point out, that the moment of stupidity in my previous post was the lowering of one wind blown limb on an emergency call out, it was top roped and pre tensioned, but pushed the entire system to limit. In 5 years in this job it's the only time I,ve seen rigging maxed out like that, and the only time I want to.

Will that fit in my GPRS ayeeeeeee, 16mm or even 19mm dead eye sling is good for most things and if you pop that you deserve the Darwin award. And lowering an 1800kg log is no biggie when top roped from a nice hefty anchor, I,ve/we lowered far heavier trashing a bollard and 16mm rope well it went to 12 under load in one moment of hell why not. That was on the Painshill park cedar of Lebanon for those of you who may know it. The weak link is usually the way you undertake the task not the equipment, I want a tough block for greater ability to handle repeated heavy loading, it's an relatively expensive part of a lowering kit so it's good to have a higher failure cycle by it being tougher than needed, a strop is high wear and cheaper to replace.

Well I,ve been climbing on sterling htp access line for a few years now, it's not ce approved (I heard it maybe soon though) it is ANSI approved I believe, and myself and other competent persons have deemed it fit for purpose. I include it in my loler and it is checked every time I use it. The rope has served me well and is upto the task I ask of it so I do not see the problem. Same as the rope wrench should we not use it, hell no, I,ve seen ce approved kit fail! Common sense should prevail, it,ll only cause an accident if it's not fit for use, or Inappropriately used then yes your responsible.

It's simple all you need is your gri gri, static rope, ascender left or right depending on your preference, micro pulley and a foot loop or make your own with some accessory cord. Install acces line/rope attach gri gri place handled ascendor above it with foot loop attached to bottom, place with offset karabiner snap gate is fine a micro pulley through top hole of ascendor capturing rope put tail of line throu that put your wait onto gri gri slide ascendor up stand in foot loop pull down on tail of rope which with the pulley will advance the gri gri, now repeat in a sit stand kind of way. It's not the most efficient, but it is easy and allows you to both ascend and descend, it's a great intro into the benefits of srt access of which there are many, drt with hitch is still my preferred work positioning. Again check out YouTube for some good videos.

I wish I could show you what I mean, I,m doing another video soon which will show a leafy suburb full of mature 30m oaks, beech and pines meters away from buildings and extending over them, really makes things tricky when having to carry out dead woods and reduction work, these estates are some of the most desirable places to live, the green monuments make the area. CO2....... green? I know what your getting at but for me it's more about the architecture of these living structures for me, they are older than us and our fathers and an important part of our landscape including urban and just as important as man made structures. At the end of the day I,m not an educated guy, just a humble climber who loves trees. But I.m also telling you, your tree more than likely has to go because of the problems you have shown and its location, if it was in your back garden and away from targets I,d probably try to tell you to keep it.

Lobbing off branches do not save lives, trees are not great evil monster killers, tree safety requires an in depth knowledge and not merely battering them in half or back. for most here that tree is a fairly straight forward job and not actually overly big, sure it's big enough. I can see from your view point as in your mindset being your not an arborist, So please do not think I am being patronising, just merely pointing out this is our area of expertise. Ladders are merely access for some, I prefer to not use them, working off ladders is extremely dangerous in this situation!! I,d probably just climb up it and cut it down piece by piece from rope and harness.