best ascending and transition method

Fairfield

Ok guys and girls, Let's see what we all can come up with. What is you're best way to to ascend a line (drt/srt dont matter) and make a smooth transition to come back down? This is mine.
ascending on Yahoo! Video

all it is, is a hand ascender to my micro (double eared) pulley with a any kind of foot loop on the asnder also. a VT hitch like normal on the same micro pulley. Then at the bottom my foot ascender. My hand being above the hand ascender does nothing more then keep me close to the rope with my chest. no pulling up, that is all for the legs to do.

__________________
Hi yes you know me I am B.A.M.F nice to meet you

newguy18

lately i find myself going back to where i started with a tautline.Not the best hitch but i still like it.i've also used the vt,distel,blakes,swabisch,prusik,klemheist and some hitch i made the descends srt.

__________________
Have your say join us today.


old schooler

quercus

I believe there is no best way to ascend or descend... There is however a worst way and that's descending without the use of rope...
Everyone has his primary reasons as to why he uses a certain tech. Far experienced climbers whom are in good condition are footlocking on double rope because it's fast, other older climbers find that too much of hard work and go for mechanical advantage.

newguy18

footlocking ain't to bad when you get the hang of it.I practiced doing it without a prusik for about a year.The reason being that if for some reason when i used a prusik and it failed[unlikely]i could keep going or at the least hold myself fast to the rope.i do not do it unbelayed for work though.

__________________
Have your say join us today.


old schooler

Eric Frei

Kanga elevator by far.

__________________

Fairfield

I was going for methods that can use the least amount of energy but still has the climber doing the work.

__________________
Hi yes you know me I am B.A.M.F nice to meet you

newguy18

how about a helicopter?

__________________
Have your say join us today.


old schooler

quercus

YUP A HELICOPTER LOOKS GREAT ON YA CLIMBING HARNESS... Don't even have to get out of it to do some major crown thinning. Just fly inverted and descend a bit over the tree. Guaranteed succesfull...

Did you guys know an apache helicopter can clip a pine of 20 cm in diameter in half without getting a blade broken?

quercus

amazing how them ole fella's seek ways to haul themselves in trees, nowadays...

just kidding, mate... just yankin' yer chain a bit.

newguy18

Nah i was thinking maybe get 30' above the tree and jumping into the treetop.

__________________
Have your say join us today.


old schooler

Aerial

I've been lurking and learning of late. The opening poster's video was impressive and I've been working with emulating that method.

As quercus said:

As a Master Parachute Rigger and parachute jumper with 2K+ freefall jumps, I've been interested in combining modern parachutes with age old forestry techniques (ie Smokejumpers). Here is the result of my research so far:


Great way to set a top rope. Notice the effortless transition to decent!

Aerial

Aerial

Do you guys know they have these things?:


My wife and I actually saw one of these things at work while whitewater canoeing in the Laural Mountains.

Clearing the Railroad right of way for the tracks that ran down the valley alongside the river.

Awsome, the pilot had a smaller version of the unit in the video, and on a much shorter tether. He flew right over the river to scope us out. Nearly triggered nasty flashbacks for me of friendly fire.

It did give me a close look at his rigging. It had a two point cable attach to keep the saws orientated. Pretty effective for controlling the slung saws. We eddied out (took cover?) and watched when he went back to work.

Aerial

franc

Definitely- Prusik & huit , 8 ? -at the begining I been working only with that metod and I was lighter than air !!! ...now I got - monkey,shunt,grigri,&crol,-and i'm look like christmas tree......
..foot-lock it's also ok, but wearing technik..

-- equipment ++++technik...!!!.

Therrin

Yeah mine's pretty different. Probably won't find it in a manual.

I use a Petzl Minitraxion and Tibloc (or prussik) to ascend. When at the top I slip in a figure-of-8 descender and just "unlock" the minitraxion, leaving it on the line. (removing the prussik or tibloc, of course).

If I need to stop somewhere while descending I just flip the springlock on the Minitraxion back into place and it holds me wherever I want to stay until I'm ready to move again then I thumb it to "unlocked".

Works well for me. Maybe not as simple as a hitch that does it all, but I've never had my system jam up either, and it's got the backup built in.

Very little effort involved too. The ascent technique can take you 150' in less than 5 mins with a simple "standing and sitting" motion, but very little effort.


Cheers

vitex42

When I work-climbed every day I just used to prusik up the rope and down again (sometimes even tied the prusik in the tail of my climbing line). Simple, foolproof, and not lots of gear. I didn't often need to use any fancy gear to get in the tree - most work climbs weren't that high!

Less stuff to get dropped, covered in resin or worn out.

Now that I'm old and tired I'm using Petzl ascension and pantin combination which is easier, but you need time to fiddle and think about it. I notice Fairfield you were struggling to get the Pantin unhooked - something I'd noticed too.

System of ascenders (and footlocking and prusiking and everything else) works much better on SRT or when belayed by a groundie.

Does anyone have a way of anchoring a rope to the ground for ascent, so that you can undo it from up top (i.e. climbing solo)? Only purpose of the anchor is convenience - to make climbing easier - not safety.

I've heard of tying rope to a chainsaw as an anchor, but when I climb it's mostly to inspect a tree or for fun, so no chainsaw required.....

StrictlyPalms

well how about a gallon water jug? good for drinking after your climb, 1 gallon of water = 8.33 Lbs, not so difficult to pull up and untie, dump the water you don't want and drop the empty to the ground.
(thinking of hot air balloon ballast), I suppose you could use a waterbag from camping too, or a camelback type, this way you could keep the water with you if you wanted or just empty it and sling it over your back instead of dropping anything on someone below.


Just brainstorming

__________________
Strictly Palms, Inc.
Orlando, Florida USA