Rupe

In the last year I have started building/restoring retro mountain bikes, and riding them all of course. Did 22miles yesterday on the '92 cannondale in the foreground, which was the bike I could never afford in '92 but always wanted. Will be riding in a retro team at mayhem in two weeks time.

There is no "s" on the end of rupe, unless your my mum! Mr Pottsssssssss. See you at the Arb show, might do some climbing if you'll let me.

I have a long, four inch, eye splice on one of my ropes and the eye then bends nicely around the ring/krab on the bridge and th erest of the splice is kept away and is therefore not bending. Bending the spliced section wont weaken it, but it just doesnt sit right.

Just make a short enough prussik.

Yes, I suppose so, didnt think of it at the time, but wouldnt have made a lot of difference in my case anyway.

Where you allowed to use the spiderjack then? I had one in my bag I could've used.

Do you mean seperate belay with the climber just climbing the tree? i.e. the old way of doing it? If thats what you mean then, yes it is fun, but it has no industry relevance.

I only got round to filming one clip, and its of the speed climb, or slow climb in my case!! Self belaying this year. I understand the complication of having groundbelayers taking in the slack, but I think a good compromise would be to have your slack taken in for you for the first 20 foot or so, and after a certain point (and well before first bell) you are left to tend your own slack from there on. That would be very realistic to a work situation, but this climb in general was quite realistic, especially as it wound round the tree. I think JT did this is half the time that I took!! [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=glnrB3uGFyU]Rupe speedclimb at UKTCC 2012.wmv - YouTube[/ame]

I'll help if and when you need it.

Another more fitting for us lot, (and easy lift guy your welcome to try) is to get a blank map of Europe and try and fill in all the countries in the right places. Or maybe to keep it similar try and just name all the 50 countries. (including principalities)

I agree with huck, that it is your thread so go for it. Please note that my last post was at 3 miutes to midnight on the last night of a five night bank holiday!! (I gave it a rest on the sunday night) I also agree with Stevie about the cuts, and I would add that its all about the cuts AND the groundie. The kit inbetween is the least relevant of all. Someone asked me recently if he should buy a GRCS so he could hire himself out with it as a more expensive freelance climber. We chatted about the benefits of the GRCS for a while, but on reflection my advice should have been, if you buy a GRCS you should then hire yourself out as a more expensive groundie. Groundies do the rigging, the climbers just do the cutting, and I think we get too involved in how good various climbers are, or how good they will be with various bits of kit, but its the groundies and the climbers together that make a good rigging job, not the kit.

I didnt mean to be sarcastic, I'm sure I could if I tried though. Thing is, rigging is not about the kit, its not about what the basic kit is, and then what the expensive kit is (my GRCS comment was sarcastic). And its not about what numbers add to upto this/that or whatever. I have seen (and died of boredom) a number of rigging classes/seminars/workshops etc. and none of them have taught anything about rigging. Rigging is about using the tree to dismantle itself (sometimes using other trees) its not about pulleys or ropes (yes you need a rope, but you should have one with you already ......) its about using what you have already. Any thread about rigging that invlolves showing different bits of kit will just make people want to buy more kit, so unless you are a supplier its a bit pointless. Please put up some pics of some well documented rigging methods. That would be useful to everyone, myself included. The best instruction information I have seen recently is Gerald Beranek's DVD on rigging.

I dont understand anything so far, please slow down. Surely you start with a GRCS, then see how much you can drop on it before it beaks, then when you crap yourself before it breaks you know you can then do anything and it will be ok? All I was ever taught in rigging was there are two options. It wont work. It will probably work. As long as you have the latter then its all fine. Please dont complicate rigging with maths and numbers etc. rigging its not about that, its more to do with what you feel is right.

Gay compared to shackleton!

Thats the way I try and work. I have to be cheaper sometimes to get the work but there is no way I want to earn less per hour/day than the muppetts I am quoting against. I charge a lot per hour and deliver the goods, even though I am not a really fast climber, I run a very efficient crew and the work just gets done effortlessly. Of course it doesnt always work like that, the less skill required for a job then the less likely I am going to be competitive with everyone else, but the bigger the trees the more likely I will get it.

What I mean is, its a lot of money if you dont get much in return. 850 for three days is not cheap if no real work has been achieved in those three days.

Not if you cant do 2 trees in that time, then its really expensive.

3 days to prune two trees???? You must be joking. £650 sounds bang on to me, one days work, happy days.

No worries, it was all getting a bit blurry for me by then, so I made a grown up retreat and left you crazy kids too it!

MOG honeys brothers is west of London and proclimber is west of everything!!! About as far west from london as you can get before you fall off wales into the sea.

Good to meet you Tom. Thanks for a great weekend to all involved.

Good work! And nice to meet you as well!

Outdoor shops sell millions of different rucksacks.

Good point!!! Never ever put anything other than water in them!!!! They do new inners now with much easier to open lids.

Yes, I use one but not too often TBH. I bought it ages ago, the smallest I could find which is 1.5L and has a tiny zip pocket but no other storage so its not a backpack with hydration it is purely just for hydration. At first I didnt use it much, but on some days it was invaluable. I found the straps kept dropping off my shoulders due to the movement in climbing, so I have bodged up a chestrap for it to keep it in place and its ok now. I never really take it up a tree but on a hot day I'll have it sent up when I need it, and keep it till its empty. I do also have other water bottle in my climbing bag, or in the truck so if really thirsty one can be sent up and drank in one go, or clipped to the harness for later, and these do get used more often TBH than the camel back, but on some days sips of water all day long really is essential, especially if you have been out the night before!! Ultimalty drinking water is good, camel backs dont make water any better for you or the act of drinking any easier. An old evian bottle with a hanging loop gaffa taped to it will do, but if you like kit then camel back are pretty good. My groundie likes water in a glass bottle, and brings it in a massive vodka or rum bottle, even though its tap water it tastes beter in a glass bottle. Gets some funny looks when driving though!! (i've told him not to when drivng my truck!)