Jamie

To my mind the area where its best to stitch and whip the splice is right up by the throat of the splice because: Thats where the splice begins As the splice is used and settles it may shift slightly as the fibres are run home throughly during use The rope has had less human interaction to the braid at the throat of teh splice, if you stitch it where the rope begins to taper there are less strands of the rope to help bind the stitching How to make the throat easier to stitch. Bend it baby, bend the splice lots every way, massage it some more and bend bend bend Take a rubber mallet and pummel it on a non abrasive surface Get some sail makers needles and a sailmakers palm and some pliers Sailmakers needle, notice the beefy eye and the slightly fatter nose they have. once the nose of teh needle is through they slide through pretty easily. sewing needles really ain't up to it. i've only broken one in 4 years of abuse. sewing needles i was breaking a fair few. A sail makers palm allows you to push the needle through, you wear it on your hand (they come in lefts and rights) they help a lot for tight throats My essentials, i've not put up a picture of some pliers as i'm sure you have all seen 'em before, i've missed out whipping twine, i use marlow no. 4 In all of that i'm assuming everyone knows why we stitch braided rope bury splices, just to make sure here is a very brief over view. A splice will hold under heavy load, the stitching is to prevent any slipping under low loads. more slippery rope fibers (often called class 2) have buries twice the length of standard splices as the fibers will pass over each other easier and a low load to those rope types may be a very substantial weight. Any more ideas? Jamie

i'm sure you could usea fig 8. drop Jonesie a PM and ask him think mine were around a fiver and work much better than i reckon a fig 8 would Jamie

Mr 18 stoner, yes that there is my splicing. Jeepster, the ring can be a bit tight, if you get a small bit of cord and attach this to the pully and your retrieval shackle this makes retrieval a lot easier than using the tail of the friction saver. this wee bit of cord i have covered in some excess airline to keep it stiff and out of the way otherwise i found it sometimes wrapping itself around the pully, not good. give jonesie a call about some 'large aluminium rings' think they are classed as cambium saver rings and only a fiver. Jamie

and i'm just engaging in debate. thats what we're here for......yeah? Jamie

never tried it i'm a big fan of Hotel Chocolat. I'f i'm in a sweet mood i'll go for the green and blacks butter scotch, my lady doesn't like butterscotch:confused1: so i'm onto a winner:001_cool:. Other than that i'm a preety dark guy. H.C. do (or did) a 100% cocoa bar, too bitter for me however. this year i stopped at cocoa mountain in Durness, they were quite good as were Maya belgium chocolates in strahpeffer. good good stuff. Jamie

no. i'd eat it, i do however have a bar of Maya gold from green and blacks just now. i'm becoming a bit of chocolate snob.....green and blacks is my cheap treat Jamie

Jomco, i'm not a fan of Jeepsters friction saver. i don't like using a carabiner to hold the pully because it will cross load the carabiner (never mind the gate) he shold be able to position the carabiner in good position. you'll notice in my picture below is use a solid aluminium ring to insert the pully through. All the life support items in my rope guide (and the ART ropeguide and cambium savers) are all rated for life support. there is no way my lifeline can 'roll out' of the pully. after my short 6 years climbing i'm well aware that a little friction can be good. no friction / consistant friction can also be a very good thing. since using the standard ring ring cambium saver i found climbing a lot easier on my body never mind the tree, when ever i can i'd rather have no friction. even my boss is moving towards a cambium saver as he has realised it's potential to save effort and he still climbs on nylon multiplait and 4 wrap prussics tied with 3 strand polyester. Jamie

I was wary at first and i was happy with my ring / ring cambum saver (i still am, in smaller trees). one day i stuck a small pully up a tree in a carabiner and realised how much easier it made my life, ever since ive stuck with it. one day i even intend on getting into advanced hitches I'll leave you to you leather rope protector which will not remove much friction. it has its place but i'm happy with my "complicated and pricey mess". Jamie

Hey yous lot, don't be so ruff on folks who dinnae ken proper ettyket. At the very least they should pull some (proper) clothes on over the top. As for eating the food pre purchase, i don't think i've done it, but i may have in a drunken haze. In fact i'm pretty sure I have, but not 100% sure, honest, i think. Standards are slipping, you lot should come to livingston....well most of West Lothian ain't to good. Jamie

my throwline has an eye splice and gets girth hitched to the ring on the bag. the bag gets removed and about 5 or 6 half hitches tied down the climbing line. sometimes it's easier to thread your climbing line backwards (tail first), it may even let any twists untwist from the length of the line. Jamie

Board sports (snow, skate, mountain and surf) are bad for collapsing your arches in your feet making you 'flat footed'. i have very low arches, i should really go and see someone about it. it only became a problem after i had been running a while and comuting on my bike (i was doing at least 150 miles a week). Jamie

after driving through perth and they have some big trees. would the botanics or that be up for it do you think? Jamie

when are ypu leaving the area. i'll need to pop up the road and see it. it looks real good Jamie

I can mind that feeling, my first day on spikes i think you could ring me out...before i left the ground (how times have changed) Jamie

sounds good, somewhere with big trees. Jamie

glenshee from yesterday at the top of the Cairnwell t bar looking south west to Carn nan Sac it was a nice day, one of my better days in a Scottish ski area. Jamie

thats crap, heal well mate Jamie

what attachment? what does it cover? would it be worth it for me, the only stuff i can't do is marlow braid Jamie

we have a bit of snow, only 3 inches and i was doing a burn (small river, for you southern types) clearance. Jamie

i'm gonna have to give the old inner tube a go. i made up a sling and some bungee cord but i've not yet had the oppertunity to try it out. i'll go and dig out an old one Jamie

i would say i'd come and do it but i'm not sure where i'll be then Jamie

a step by step would take a lot of pictures Jamie

Marlow D12 (this one went to Mt Everest) Jamie

My rope guide blaze, yale and mine Adline small stuff on my compass Jamie