So, it's still my favorite thing I've ever climbed on. Just switched over from poison ivy to vortex, and I didn't even need to readjust it. I'm surprised that the rope runner is showing very little grooving after so much heavy use, but I think I can probably wait a couple more months before having to rotate any of the components to even out the wear. Nothing has gummed up with dirt, sawdust, or leaf litter yet. Not sure how it would be dealing with sap, because I'm not in conifers.
I lost the little lanyard attachment. FYI, don't just clip your lanyard to your attachment carabiner instead. The two can and will interact, causing the rope runner to fail (hence the funny little attachment doohicky that comes with it.) Usually, this is just momentary, but it's possible for the gate of one to get wedged between the gate of the other and the pulley on the rope runner, thoroughly preventing the device from engaging. Bad scenario. I just replaced the attachment plate doohicky with some throwline, and that solves that issue pretty well.
Quick question: recommendations for attachment carabiners? I have tried 4+ different triaction carabiners, and only one of them has the right dimensions to work with the rope runner. Even it is annoying to get in and out of the device. I'm pretty sure there are some better options out there.
Tips: I find that when attaching it midline, starting by attaching the bird (rope wrenchy component) first, it just sits on my line, freeing up my hands to attach the rest of it. Most of the time, though, I don't bother and just thread the non-spliced end of my rope through. When pulling my rope out through a tree with multiple redirects, the rope runner works just like an ascender to allow me to really haul on the line, too. :-)
