Jamie

Any work yet? I'm going for my 3 this year. Offshore is a very tight knit community. if you're willing to go on long trips, good money can be made working offshore in africa. i know a few boys out there, 71 days on 30 off. Jamie

different industry but in rope access the wages for a 3 man team come in at c. £450 a day, add onto that travel, insurance, kit and profit and it keeps climbing. tree surgey should charge more than it does Jamie

XTC and other 16 strands are a bit different to double braids. the crossover (of the buried sheath and core) is the tricky bit to perfect. rigging lines are generally slightly baggier than prussic cords and climbing lines and therefore a bit easier. whoopie slings and the like made out of hollowbraids (tenex, yalex etc) are super easy too. If you're just after rope to practce on head to a chandelers and pick up lengths and practice practice practice. get some 8mm/10mm cord and make prussics from it. Jamie

oh, go to the bosuns locker in south queensferry for any kit, they usually have some stuff. Jamie

if you want a hand with any of it gie us a shout. Jamie

You dont need to be a climber to fell a tree, does the guy ordering instructions have years of experience felling to know how to read the subtlities of directional felling. A lot of reading between the lines and scenario creation always occurs on here. I'm sure few other people know the exact situation and experience of the team and the situation. Maybe you need to man up, maybe he needs to let you get used to halving trees by taking them in thirds, maybe he needs to listen to you. You made a call, no matter what the oucome you walking away is ALWAYS better than taking a chance and cocking it up, even if you tail is between your legs and ego bruised. Get your more experienced climber to coach you through things, read, observe, ask and learn as much as you can, learning never stops. As a more experienced climber i'd say its his duty to help you out, talk you through things. After all i'm sure he doesn't want to recover your body after you sucummbed to pressure, cocked up and barber chaired a spar. Hope that rant was productive. Dont beat yourself up, you're alive. Jamie

It's good but I'm getting soft Jamie

I wear one everyday, many hours in suspension, and they do hurt, just need to get on with it. Jamie

I rarely splice any more drew, i do on average one days tree work a month now. my day to day life is working in rope access and they dont splice kernmantle ropes, all fig of nines. ropes are now consumable items, some only get used once. Jamie

I'm doing it as a standard class1, and were you meaning on the original bury or where the core passes through the throat? admitedly i've only tried the once and had to go do something else. Jamie

I thought cs 39 was one of the few legal requirements (the others being 30/31 and 38) for training not just a recommendation. If it is a legal requirement shouldn't there be a requirement for an IRATA style use of a saw from rope and harness. But then again i did do a lot of bush and coppice felling while on Geo squads, hardly technical saw work. Jamie

As i'm well out of the splicing mindset, was anyone doing anything special when splicing up 10mm ocean poly, just found it brutally hard (or maybe i'm just really soft these days) jamie

Yeah, so taking the core out will significantly reduce the strength of the rope. Jamie

how do you use a doublebraid as a whoopie? jamie

here are some steel snatch blocks perfect for dragging through the mug, over rocks round trees, not quite as precious as the dmm blocks jamie

and provided you work off two ropes not just a shunt (ASAP / rocker or whatever else come along) line. The level 2 is a good course, I'm looking for my 3 soon. Jamie

I've thought that too Spruce Pirate, but as i have all the above tickets, my ass is covered. Using a saw from an IRATA harness is the same as from a tree harness, but with more chance of cutting ropes as there is a slack line flapping around. Jamie

Some geo companies i know accept NPTC systems and have guys trained in it but other rope companies dont. admitedly those that dont accept it dont do geo. I think it will always be a blurry grey area Jamie

I'll echo those statements little tree as its exactly the situation i've found myself in. Some rope companies dont understand tree climbing techniques there fore dont use them. Jamie

My IRATA log book has over 2000 hours in it spent on a rig, never once did the gate open. ropes occasionally rubbed over it with no adverse effects. crolls and jammers are only considered a point of contact if weighted. jamie

Billabong said exactly what i should have said. We use gri gris as additional bitd of kit, I've had no issues with the latch on a rig opening, the fact its attached to a krab makes it a lot less likely to be dropped. Jamie

i've only ever had one creep that wasn't fully loaded, the RIG is a nice bit of kit and can be locked very easily, unlike a grigri which requires a knot or a stop needs a loop of rope. Jamie

if you are going down that route, i'd say a rig is a much better bit of kit for it, much easier to install and it has a lock so it wont creep. the rig isnt much bigger unlike an ID. Jamie

Thats how we rig up silos to rescue, a couple of stops at the top, one on each line so someone can be lowered out / hauled up. thats a derail though. Jamie

isnt boa a prussic cord? if its the same boa i spliced ages ago it'd be a class 1 double braid jamie