limb walking: a few questions

[Raymond Eade]

I have been playing with my Captains Hook, throw it out and hook it on the tip and off set myself from my tie in point and pull myself along towards the hook with a micro and VT.

 

[benjo75]

How do you kike the Hook? I've been thinking about getting one.

 

[ropensaddle]

I used to fool with all that stuff but I sprouted wings in 96 no need for it now

 

[benjo75]

I had a 6 ft pine yesterday that was damaged from the storm Friday night. Had to go all over it removing hangers. Some if them were 14 inches dia. I was pulling myself all over it. A hook would have been nice. I used an extra 20 ft lanyard with Hitchclimber setup. Worked pretty good. The bad thing about using the tail of your climbline is you create a loop of rope that is attached to you. I didn't want a 500 lb limb snagging it on the way down.

I use to practice limb walking on a small log on the ground. A short piece of railroad iron works good too. I would place it under a limb about 20 ft up. And maybe off to the side a few feet. Cinch up my rope just like I'm in a tree and walk all over that log. It's pretty easy. It's the same thing 70 ft up. That's when you realize most of it is in your mind. Rope walking on a very low and horizontal limb with the climb line as high as possible was the best practice for me. You quickly learn the importance of keeping 90% of your weight in the climb line. I used to try to balance on the limb with hardly no weight in the rope. That doesn't work very well. Stay low and lean opposite of the angle of the climb line. Even bordering on being almost horizontal yourself sometimes. With most if your weight in the saddle, it doesn't take much effort to pull yourself along the limb with your hands. I'm no expert at all but that's what I learned early on. But a set of wings like Ropensaddle has would be nice too.

 

[Raymond Eade]

How do you kike the Hook? I've been thinking about getting one.

It works like in all the videos, I got the kit with the tool bag and rope and it is long enough to get where I need to

Raymond Ease
Tennessee Landscaping and Arboriculture

 

[BuckmasterStumpGrinding]

I like throwing my tail over the brush at the end of the limb I'm going out on and having a ground guy hold it. It is usually the quickest and simplest solution to prevent the big swing, but not nessisarily the safest.