Marc

Nice one, and its good to see dead eye slings/topping strop being used for snatch block so much better than whoppie/loopies in the long run. Looks like your in good hands to.

I was just curious I wanted to know what it felt like, now I feel ashamed and betrayed, you promised me you would not tell anyone about my jackery, i think i need counseling, maybe Dear Deidre has a leaflet she can send me on coping with jackery.

Its the pull and thrust bit that I hate as I cannot body thrust for love nor money as i lack the muscle in this area these days. SRT is so simple and better in the wet as the rope stays static and does not run against branches increase the "goo" and gunk etc. Also the added benefit of SRT is you will not have to isolate a limb enabling you to throw higher easier. Once your up you get the best anchor install your friction device and this will help to keep your ropes cleaner and make them last longer as rope over rope on limbs will wear your ropes faster. Once you get into SRT and zip to the top of the tree in no time you'll be wondering why yu did not do it sooner, and eventually once you get past body thrust for ascent you will A: become a body thrust weakling, and B: find climbing a whole lot easier.

You will be using a rope lanyard the majority of the time, wire cores are good for spiking poles as they flick up easier and have the "added" safety of a steel core as you will be doing cuts close to your line in this situation, steel core fliplines are not cut proof but may take a little longer to cut through along with the fact you should feel the saw hit the wire inner be warned it is very possible to cut through a steel strop so close attention at all times! CE lanyards are great but pricey, if you can afford it I think they are a great bit of kit. To make your own just buy 4+ meters of some nice 11mm line, 2 3-way karabiners I like oval style biners personally, a small prussik pulley and you will need just over 1m of friction cord to make a hitch so buy at least 3m this will make 2 friction hitches. There is a knot guide section here go for something like a VT or Knute, been a while since I looked at prices but should be cheaper and leave you some cash for other bits.

I actually thought Drews looked well thought out and simple, the problem with yours DeerMan is you have no real back-up other than the lock, Drew is backing his prussik up with a further lock behind the disc. The only downside is the extra kit needed not everyone has that much bling lying around although I appreciate you could adapt other bits to do same job. Drew have you tried that system out? What I've always wanted to try in an SRT set-up is the ability to slip something on to the the line at the base or say you had a suitable midline knot pre tied, then for another climber whilst on the ground clip his climbing system into that and either cut below the midline knot or have some system that could be untied under weight? There by belaying the climber on your system/aerial rescue kit. The srt line going through a crotch should give enough friction to counter any weight discrepencies between rescuer and rescuee. Always been curious to the fesabilty of the idea just never got round to giving it a go.

I rarely hump so elogation is not a problem:confused1:

Saw Pod is where its at!!! Boom. Not so sure about the spiderjack though, you would never see me use one!

WoW I missed it first time round so thanks for the bump.

I've dabbled with SRT for work positioning but haven't really got it yet, I almost bought a unicender after climbing with softbankshawk. If I am deadwooding lots of tall skinny pines then i'll use a rads system for ascent and work positioning although thats a pretty poor SRT positioning system it just makes life quicker only having one line to pull out and no pulley saver. Another reason i've not been to quick up the SRT for all route is I just do not find climbing that difficult on a Ddrt HC, and i'm kinda waiting to see how it progresses with you pioneers first. Also i hear on the rumour mill that another device like the jacks by another company may! come about but that could be a few years.

Its self tending is a thing of beauty, but i do not find it hard to tend slack you need one hand to help feed the rope into a spiderjack in most parts of the canopy anyway, i only need one hand to tend slack. As for descent its finger tip control hardly a stress or strain. There are othe positives of a HC over a Spider I just do not want this to derail the thread to much. Maybe one day we could all meet up for a rec climb some day, as long as you promise not to string me up in the tree for disrespecting the Spiderjack:thumbup1:

No they do not, when used with a pulley saver you will find your ropes last longer.

No offence, just trying to keep it real have you ever seen me say its rubbish? I think it is a great tool, what i have a problem with is the idea that this is simply the ultimate tool out there. I consider myself fairly progressive as a climber, for a start i've not seen a ladder in many years SRT is my sole means of access, i do not consider myself backwards or afraid to chuck money at kit if I feel it is going to make my life as a climber more productive and effcient. I think it is important to not under estimate just how good a hitch climber is when utilised well the 2 tools HC and SJ side by side there is little between them both have pro's and cons. So do not get me wrong Spiderjacks are great as are Hitchclimbers it just means we as consumers now have a greater choice of eqaully good yet different products to choose from, happy days.

I am utterly amazed at what climbers can do with a HC that i cannot understand why climbers are so obessed with the spiderjack:001_tt2:

Thats a hell of a statement, that you cannot back-up, so i have to ask do you climb for a living?

A little bit about the price, those E2E cords aree like 27 quid approx you only need a little over a meter so tie your own cord and you will save 20£ right there. But I am also sorry to say if you want to take full advantage you will need a pulley cambium saver to really make it shine, so more expense. As for how it makes it easier to climb thats a hard one to explain, for a start I cannot go back to a prussik it would probably take me 6 weeks to develop the muscles to use it again. With a pulley cambium saver i hardly feel i have a rope on, as i'm not having to stress much to ascend or descend, i find I rarely body thrust using the tree to my advantage just with the HC to one hand tend the slack. Its a brave new world beyond the humble prussik.

You will be fine, perhaps i'd suggest a knot like a knute and not a VT to start with as its less precise to set-up and will not twist your rope up like a VT can. Your climbing will alter in a positive way over time so just go for it.

Yep that is a great video and really promotes the spiderjack as a great tool. Joe as a climber has a lot to do with it he is very talented i'm sure in a mere mortals hands like mine i'd certainly not turn into Joe I certainly could not pull this off! [ame] [/ame] maybe shinanigans like this is for the exclusive spiderjack club? For now i'll stick with me Hitch Climber

Certainly puts the spider jack in its place BOOM! HC for the win

I bet i know where this will end up:lol: I hated prussik terrible knot, klemheist (made with a loop like prussik) is better or a Blakes (split tail). Myself i quickly moved onto a hitchclimber with a basket style hitch - Knute or VT.

you will like this video then [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WDIo-WZkSaM]Yale Cordage Ultrex vs. XTC Rope Static and Dynamic Test Demonstration - YouTube[/ame]

Also consider are climbing lines are static not dynamic so about equal in the stretch, so food for thought to all you homemade rope guide users who are using a dyneema sling as the prussik pulley adjuster!!

Harness Spares | Clark Forest : Climbing Equipment I actually liked my old Tree Magic it was a great harness and i still have it as a back up. I've heard lots of positive things about the sequoia to. DMM make sexy karabiners but can be maintenance intensive all mine require constant attention to keep the gates closing smoothly, my Petzl's on the other hand have required no maintenance and they are some of my oldest karabiners. All my karabiner purchases will now be Petzl untill DMM improve the gates i just do not love i-beam construction that much.

Unless I am being special and that's a distinct possibility, I do not see how you can attach the green ring mid line as it's on the dynamic side of your line, with the hitch climber you can add it anytime or simply leave it on for quick safe set up at any moment without ever having to unclip your main line. So BOOM advantage hitch climber

It can do, sometimes I think the rope needs to bed in to using a VT, but I am a lazy one so use a Knute with stiff 10mm cord. OP used to be good but they,ve changed now it seems to wears quicker and is more supple so no good for me sigh. Stiff large diameter cord seems to stop it binding tight on 11-12mm lines it also does not seem to get as hot on those quick descents/jumps and works better in the wet. This is why I love the hitch climber so much it's tunabilty and versatility beats anything art has at present but the spider jack is closing the gap.

Great promo video, i really enjoyed as it has some originality with the documentation, as for the one handing 660 meh there is a lot worst shown on here that barely raises an eyebrow, if you got the chainbrake on and a comfortable position its no biggie but obviously far from ideal, just glad it made it into the edit as it shows a realistic view of real tree work.