Those are great questions! Let me start with Tim's excellent summary,
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by Tim Craig Maybe it can only be applied to certain pruning jobs? |
BINGO! We're not inventing an SRT device. We're shooting for a device that will go SRT
when we want to, like when it's taking you awhile to swing your shotbag and trace your line back. I personally love this part, but if I can't get the bag and line back down following the identical, parallel path it went up with, like in 30 seconds or a minute, I just drop the bag straight down, anchor to the trunk and go up SRT.
Personally, I like the 1:1 doubled line, or DbRt, where a dual-handled ascender is slapped on, set your security, and head up. Ascending SRT is identical in all respects to this, except there is a single line rather than a doubled. The rope does not move at the crotch, so there is no friction there, no need for friction savers. Nor is there any anchoring to the base of the tree with the 1:1 DRT. Nor is there any anchoring of one end of the rope to you, no tying anything. For those who think this is some complicated system, it's quite the opposite. It's as simple, quick, boiled-down and direct as it gets, with a minimum of gear.
Jim NZ: Can we design a device that does everything???
'everything', meaning
descending 1:1 doubled, 2:1 doubled and 1:1 SRT?
I am HIGHLY CONFIDENT this can happen.
Let's say the friction device handles the 1:1 parallel
doubled rope and the 1:1
single rope identically. The learning curve is rather short because when you 'get it' with one, you've already gotten it with the other.
Now to go DdRT, like you're used to, instead of having both ends of the rope on the ground, you pull one end up, anchor it to your saddle, as you're used to, and with the standing end, run it through the device as you would for SRT as described above. In other words, you use an SRT configuration to descend 2:1 DdRT. Counter-intuitive, I know, but that's what it is. At this point, though, the rope is in motion over the tie-in point. This is OK, I guess, but if you climb back up a ways, you have to pull
twice as much slack back through the device and it will take you twice as long as the other two methods. This IS what you're used to, though, with a 2:1 friction hitch system.