Joe Newton

The problem I had with alternating my ropes ddrt was the downwards curve of the branches kept causing my line to slide away from the trunk out towards the tips. Once I'd got up there I had a whale of a time! You're right though, I could do with practicing with my throwline. Marcus, I won't be able to get down to the 3atc, but its a shame, I could do with getting some skill!!

Haha Old Mill, I know you like your shinies, I can't rightly judge as I'm somewhat similar, but theres no way I'm shelling out for a RopeKnight when I can usually miss just as accurately with a £10 throw bag! I need to practice with my throwline, and a big shot, but it ain't easy when you're under the gun. Even if it takes the same amount of time faffing with a big shot as it does to climb my way up I think my employer feels more productive to see me make a very slow progress past the first few branches than to see me spend 20 minutes with a throwline and then quick progress into the tree, if that makes sense...

So I was given my first proper Wellingtonia job today! Just pulling a few branches away from a house where a car had previously been clobbered. It was an estimated 100'. I don't know exactly but I had to recrotch to get down! Thoroughly enjoyed myself (once I'd got my top anchor in) though I found it a bit hairy. I enjoyed my cuppa and ciggie even more at lunch! The problem I found though was on making my way to my top anchor. None of us are too handy with a throwline, and it must have taken me half an hour to get into the tree from a ladder! I found that the alternating your ropes didn't work too well due to the downward nature of the branches. Anyone have and handy hints or tips I might be missing? I ended up throwing a rope over an above branch and sinching it tight with a running bowline, then just progressing using alternating single lines. I got lucky in the second one with a flukey big shot attempt and managed to isolate a decent branch reasonably high.

I believe it is... There was another recent thread about this on here. I miss good ol' tuttle:001_tt2:

ready when you are

Fair point, but we were all shocked when that happened, as the majority of us trusted petzl to have been thorough. In the same way which we trust our art, teufelberger, dmm etc products. At least with Petzl there is a sort of fall back (if you'll pardon that) in that they now have to compensate everyone who bought the Zig Zag as well as those who had the accidents. I think its different when you're buying from a user name on ebay.

No-ones saying they're shite, but for peace of mind personally I'd feel safer climbing on something thats certified. After all, like has already been mentioned, whats your life worth? Anyone is well within their rights to question the safety of a product that has no certification. Or maybe we should all trust everyone, ask no questions, and chance it?

Its not for me to say wether his kit is safe or not. It should be certified though, if it isn't then maybe its best to use something that is? Personally I'd feel happier using a length or certified friction cord. I just buy a few metres of sirius at a time. Lovely cord, and its cheap enough that you don't mind chucking it when it starts to get glazed (Which will happen more if you're using a pulley at the top with a vt )

That e2e looks suspiciously like something a former member of arbtalk was selling on ebay. His name was Tuttle on here and I think he got banned. Maybe one of the mods could tell you why. I Climb in 11mm Velocity with a hitchclimber vt set up and for the cord I use 8mm Sirius, cut to a length that suits me. I just use a double fishermans instead of a spliced eye for the cord. With the 11mm line I sometimes find that you have to really jerk your weight into the harness for the knot to bite, similar to a spiderjack, but once you get a feel for it its great!

If you're that worried about the long term effects on your body then this industry as a whole can take its toll. Its the use of varied techniques (i.e. footlocking on a long ascent as opposed to thrusting up) that can help prevent repetitive wear on the most used joints. Footlocking over a large distance uses a much larger muscle group then body thrusting, which can absolutely shag your elbows. [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cPL_PrcGII0]Ropewalker setup with hitch climber pulley SRT to DRT in a snap - YouTube[/ame] As for my question, this shows someone using a single line with a vt hitch on a hitchclimber. It seems to work okay, though I don't fancy buying two ascenders and a chest harness. perhaps a soft link to move the hc above you and a neck loop to keep it there could work with footlocking? If I get a chance at work when there's not too much pressure I'll give it a shot and post feedback later.

Is there an emoticon for banging your head against a brick wall?

If you truly think you can better the manufacturers design, go for it. It seems like you've made up your mind. The only problems mentioned have been cross loading and the screw gate coming undone. I'm sure you'll be able to find a way around this, and once you have, e-mail Petzl, they might love it and make it a standard, I'm sure they have nothing else going on...

Hey Wayne, yeah the sj has certainly left me with gear envy. The cocoon was lovely, if the pulley was wide enough for my retrieval ball I'd certainly swap my pinto rig for one!

Its a good idea Si, similar to what rupe suggested, but in my work kit I don't have a second line, certainly not one long enough. I used the method I mentioned in my first post on saturday, and it did seem to work fine, the klemheist gripped my single line well, but that was low and slow, and I don't fancy finding that it doesn't work when I'm quite high up This is proving to be a technical one, it would appear that my options are: Ignore all advice and go ahead with a klemheist on a single line Get better at isolating limbs (might take a while) Invest in some decent SRT gear (I wouldn't give Si the satisfaction:001_tt2:) Or finally struggle trying to throw my line a fair distance from branch to branch with lots or epi in the way!

Its rare that I need to use srt for access, most of the time the ladders will get me high enough so I can alternate my way to my tip, so its not really worth me shelling out a lot of money for the amount I'll use it Peter. I see what you're saying about the klemheist though. I don't have a spare line to use, my team leader will be using his line in a nearby tree...

Cheers Rupe, I have pretty dainty hands so I reckon I should just about be able to grip the rope to the top. Why isn't a klemheist on a single line good? Would you recommend any other hitch for this? Its only for ascending, not descending mind. And I'm afraid I can't quite picture what you're saying in the last paragraph, but it sounds like my line might be too short... And coleman, ideally I'd spend the time trying to isolate, but when you're as crap with a throwline as I am, and working to a deadline my older and betters won't have the patience for me to keep trying. I try to practice with my line but its something I can't do on the job.

Sorry to revive an old thread here for one little question, but I suppose its better than starting a new one. I've recently been thinking about footlocking since I spent about an hour trying to isolate a limb in a pretty tall lime with my throwline. I eventually got up there, and as I got my anchor point set up the job was called off because the wind was becoming ridiculous. Once down I decided to leave a throwline in the tree rather than risk leaving my rope in for when we returned to the job. Not sure how but my throwline seperated from my climbing line and now I'm left starting from scratch with no anchor point. I don't want to faff around for another hour trying to isolate the limb (again) with the throwline, so my plan is this: Fire the throwline over the highest limb, dont bother with isolating it, and just tie it off at the bottom, and footlock up a single line. Once up there strop in, and ask my groundy very nicely to untie my main line from the bottom. To cut a long story short (even though I'm way past that point) can anyone see any problem with this? Footlocking with a klemheist up a single line? I'm pretty sure it sounds fine in my head, but I don't want to be 80' up when I realise a problem. If anyone has the patience to read through this on a monday afternoon than I thank you. Any input would be welcome!

Marlow braided throwline 50m | F R Jones and Son There you go Si, treat yourself

Today has cost me a fair chunk of next months paycheck Great day though, really enjoyed doing a bit of srt, and everyone was very helpful with lending kit and explaining things! Good on you Si!

I suppose its gotta be a good thing, I cant afford to fall in love with any more kit! Well maybe a pantin, but thats it. Looking forward to learning some of the srt basics!

Bugger, i was hoping to see the sj and zz in action! Does this mean my hitchclimber will be the most advanced ddrt system? Looking forward to it guys!

De-rail here but has anyone used those Vibram Five-fingers? Someone once described them to me as "weird ninja monkey feet"...

I quite fancied Oenomaus/Doctore... Mind you, I think if he wanted me there really wouldn't be much I could do anyway...