Nutcracker

Spot on Logjam that's exactly where I'm going wrong. Rainy day today here in SW Wales but I'll take your advice and have a go tomorrow. Thanks for the advice👍 This is the kind of thing I used to do - built the platform first as the ladders didn't turn up till after it was finished. 40metres to the first branch. Bear in mind I started using SRT around 1988, no multiscenders in those days, couldn't have done it without the Croll. I was well aware of it's dangers and even a small fall on a static rope from that kind of situation would have been a problem. Used to preload the rope with two or three people before I dared to climb it.

Spot on Logjam that's exactly where I'm going wrong. Rainy day today here in SW Wales but I'll take your advice and have a go tomorrow. Thanks for the advice👍

Thanks Rich Some good advice, I’ve left a line in a big oak next to the house so I’ll try again tomorrow. I think crabbing up the rope for so many years is proving a hindrance when trying to learn a different technique.

Hi Joe I’m only using the croll to climb the rope not for working in the tree. I think it’s the old cavers technique for ascending a rope and I don’t want to spend hundreds on mechanical devices or rope wrench etc. The problem that I have is to do with my body position whilst ascending and I can’t see that changing the croll for something else will change that - just cost me a load of money. Maybe I just need to keep plugging away and work out what they’re doing in the videos that I’m not getting right.

Hi Dan As you can see from the videos both legs are used, but for some reason I can’t seem to walk up in the same fashion. Just been out and tried a chest tether but it was so uncomfortable I couldn’t climb with it. Having watched the videos again I see that neither of them is using one. As this is mostly recreational I don’t want to splash out on a load of new gear when I have everything in the featured set ups. Thanks to you and Steve for your replies, hopefully we can work out where I’m going wrong

Good idea to post the videos that I’m referring to so I’ll try to attach them here. The set up is virtually identical to the one I’m trying out. I’m not using a knee ascender - if I can ascend like these guys I may get one later.

Hi folks, Getting a bit long in the tooth for this lark but I only climb for fun these days. I started out 51 years ago with a rope and harness and our tree gang used to fight over who got one of the carabiners (there were only two between half a dozen climbers)! About 20 years later I was introduced to SRT which I used for climbing really tall trees, then reverted to doubled rope when working in the tree (for the most part). For SRT I used a Croll, chest harness and hand ascender with two foot loops attached and frogged up the rope. I was only shown once how to use it and never had any feedback regarding technique. Anyway it got me up trees OK for the best part of 30 years. I always fancied giving rope running a go but when I first tried it I didn’t get on with it. Recently I bought a foot ascender and watched a few videos of people ascending using one in conjunction with a croll and hand ascender. Tried it out today and I’m really unhappy with the result. Basically I seem to be using my arms just as much and my body position is not vertical but more like the sitting down / standing up position in frogging. I know it’s hard to judge without seeing someone in action, but I’m hoping someone had similar experience when they first tried rope running. Wondering if I need a chest tether or if I’ve just got so used to frogging that I can’t unlearn it.