Seedi

I would add a friction saver (cambium saver) and a throwline to the basic equipment. It's not too long ago I took my first climbing class - can't yet do any chainsaw work in a tree. And the basic equipment for the course was: - cambium saver - rope - harness - lanyard (3m should be enough - 4m is better IMO ) - krabs - lockjack or spiderjack or prussic loop - helmet - throwline (50m) and bag - small oval maillon rapide for removal of the cambium saver from the ground - gloves (highly recommended) - saw - only needed if you wanna do pruning of course - and a rescue set: chest harness, krab, whistle, medpack, F8, clip cheers, Philipp

Or go for a lockjack. I wanted a spiderjack but some mixed reviews about it and infos in this thread made me change my mind. Now I think I'll stick with my LJ. Fooled around with a HC-setup but the faster knots like a VT are too long for my taste and have too much sit-back. Cheers, Philipp

Didn't have the time to post this earlier - the job was done on friday. One of my colleauges and I had to remove an art installation that was installed for the "Landesgartenschau" (roughly translates to county garden festival) - unfortunately I don't have any pics of us climbing - just some "before and after" pics : The installation consisted of some mesh wire and hundreds of cable retainers. Most of the time we spent messing around with the throwlines and bigshot since those forest trees don't have all that much limbs on the lower part of the trunk. Then we simply cut the cambium savers - the morons who installed it used some small nails to secure them - yeah, right - I use a cambium saver and then nail it to the trunk . cheers, Philipp

Thanks for the info guys! I think I'll stick with the LJ for now - 'cause next on my to-buy list is a new harness. cheers, Philipp

I'm also contemplating getting a SJ - at the moment I use a LJ but sometimes the descent can be a little jerky. I have one question though - how easy is it to use the SJ with your left hand? I mainly use my left hand to operate the LJ on descents and limb-walks and judging from pics it looks like this might be a little more complicated on the SJ because the standing part of the rope or the dyneema cord (depending on the model) might get in the way when using the thumb break. cheers, Philipp

In lovely Bamberg. Cheers, Philipp

It's a floating crotch system and I guess the tie-off is just a stopperknot - just in case the friction hitch should slip or move. A little youtube-vid: [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8r6yI4q8-go]Floating crotch system | Advanced climbing techniques - YouTube[/ame] cheers, Philipp

I was pruning this little oak today: One of my colleagues on the left side. The rest was rather boring - raking some leaves and chipping the cut-off branches - there were a few more trees in the garden which my boss and two colleagues pruned. cheers, Philipp

Yes, I tried it with a swabish today and it worked much better. cheers, Philipp

Hi, newb here - this is my lanyard - a 4m XP-e Highlight from Edelrid, two Petzl krabs and a Petzl pulley "Fixe" - for the prussic I use an 8mm Gleistein "Inco" prussic cord - I think I'll change to a swabish or distel however as the prussic binds up too much sometimes: cheers, Philipp

I have no clue. Some things just take forever here. It's only legal to work with a chainsaw on a rope since 2001 in Germany AFAIK - pretty ridiculous. Of course people have done it before but it was not legal and if something happened it always happened on the ground of course (or you'd lose insurance) - never in the tree . Seems like there is no certified SRT climbing system so far. cheers, Philipp

I wonder, too. So far working SRT is not really legal in Germany - more like a grey area. Neither Hitch Hiker nor Rope Wrench can be used without risking to lose insurance if something happens. To quote from an article published in the German "Kletterblatt": c) Rope Wrench translation: "Climbing with the rope wrench is problematic in europe (maybe just Germany:confused1:). At the one hand it doesn't need to be certified as it's not used for securing the climber but only for friction and as a supporting tool, on the other hand there is no EN-certified climbing system for SRT with a short friction hitch or appropriate equipment like the Lockjack or Spiderjack. Therefore there is no certified application for which the Rope Wrench could be used unscrupulously. Like always: It would work but it's not allowed. Maybe there is a manufacturer that will go the extra mile to have the climbing system (with the RW) certified." So since ART is a German company - hopefully they'll be the ones who might one day get SRT-equipment certified together with an appropriate climbing system. But as long as the legal situation is as it is I don't think ART will develop something specifically for SRT when using it for work-positioning and not just access. cheers, Philipp

Excuse my ignorance but how do you have to set up the HH to use it DRT? I only saw it in SRT setups so far. I wish SRT was allowed in Germany as it seems to be the future of treeclimbing. Maybe they'll get the stuff certified one day, like the Hitch Hiker and Rope Wrench. cheers, Philipp

Forgot to add - I think I'd go with a slightly longer lanyard - mine is 4m. cheers, Philipp

Maybe a bit of technora for the friction cord? Or a mix of polyester and technora. Should be much more heat-resistant then. I'm pretty new to tree climbing myself - so far I'm using a lockjack but sometimes I find it locks up too much - maybe because of my weight (205 lb). At first I used a standard friction saver with rings - I've switched to a selfmade pulleysaver now with a Petzl "Fixe" - works better now with the LJ but I also bought a DMM hitch climber rapide to try out - I also wanna try the o-rig system - didn't have the time so far however. I bought a friction cord with 50% technora. Will try it next weekend. What are you using for the lanyard? I used the ART positioner first (my boss gave me his for some time) but IMO it releases too easily - it happened to me that it snagged on things and released by itself - so now I'm using a prussic and Petlz "Fixe" for positioning - the prussic does bind up too much sometimes - so I'll probably change to a swabish or distel for the lanyard. And I just love the petzl oval krabs - really nice. cheers, Philipp