SRT training?
- Thread starter rmihalek
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moss
ArboristSite Guru
moss
ArboristSite Guru
moss
ArboristSite Guru
moss
ArboristSite Guru
Bob and I had a good SRT climb session today. We checked out a new area and decided to climb the most gnarly big white pine in the grove. It had interesting features like a huge hanger at around 60 ft. and a very narrow window through the understory for throwing. First throw with the slingshot cleared the target limb but bounced off a limb above and behind it, end result being we couldn't get the 10 oz bag to drop, 4 shots later right on target, similar results. 5th shot in with a 12 oz bag up higher around 90 ft. Bag came down, everything's cool. Over a couple good-sized limbs but my 200 ft. static wouldn't reach the ground since the anchor leg was coming out at an angle and was eating up footage. Tied on a second static and we were good go. Did a ground tie on 16" diameter red maple. I climbed up Tree Frog style, cleaned out a few dead branches in the climb path and trimmed two branches from the big hanger that crossed though the route. The hanger was stable but even more huge up close, it was a near-vertical forked limb about 14" diameter that had ripped out right at the trunk, dropped and then hung itself upside-down on a good sized branch 10ft. below. To be removed another day.
Bob did his first SRT climb on a RADS or Yo-Yo system, basically a Grigri is installed on the rope below a handled ascender, the tail of the rope goes back up to a micropulley attached with a biner to the upper holes in the ascender. The climber moves the ascender up and then stands on a long footloop attached to the ascender, one hand on the ascender, the other on the tail of the rope coming out of the micropulley. After a couple of pulls Bob looked shocked and declared it too easy. Hey, it's not cheating to climb more efficiently! The RADS is excellent climbing on the trunk, it's easy to squeeze through tight spaces and work around deadwood below the crown. The Tree Frog is better in an air climb away from the trunk but is doable for a trunk climb. Cool thing about the Tree Frog is if you decide you're working too hard wiggling past deadwood you can convert to a RADS mid-climb, or visa versa.
Nice surprise near the top, it turned into a twin tower with a pair of leaders going up side-by-side, this was invisible from the ground. Rough estimate of the height, 120-125, will have to do a measurement on the second climb. Since we worked so hard getting the TIP we left a haul line in for the next visit.
-moss
Bob did his first SRT climb on a RADS or Yo-Yo system, basically a Grigri is installed on the rope below a handled ascender, the tail of the rope goes back up to a micropulley attached with a biner to the upper holes in the ascender. The climber moves the ascender up and then stands on a long footloop attached to the ascender, one hand on the ascender, the other on the tail of the rope coming out of the micropulley. After a couple of pulls Bob looked shocked and declared it too easy. Hey, it's not cheating to climb more efficiently! The RADS is excellent climbing on the trunk, it's easy to squeeze through tight spaces and work around deadwood below the crown. The Tree Frog is better in an air climb away from the trunk but is doable for a trunk climb. Cool thing about the Tree Frog is if you decide you're working too hard wiggling past deadwood you can convert to a RADS mid-climb, or visa versa.
Nice surprise near the top, it turned into a twin tower with a pair of leaders going up side-by-side, this was invisible from the ground. Rough estimate of the height, 120-125, will have to do a measurement on the second climb. Since we worked so hard getting the TIP we left a haul line in for the next visit.
-moss
Last edited:
treemandan
Tree Freak
Ahh, you must have been in a vortex where the camera didn't work? I would like to see Bob's way.
moss
ArboristSite Guru
Shot some video hiking in and then got too busy to do more. I'll post up some pics showing the RADS.
Bailey's has a small diagram here, I like the micropulley better than a Fixe:
http://www.baileysonline.com/itemdetail.asp?item=27920
Some climbers use a Revolver biner instead of a pulley.
-moss
Moss and I had a great time. It was a bit frustrating having a great shot bounce off a limb and come back at us, but switching from the 10 to the 12 ounce bag did the trick and (oddly) we didn't seem to lose any altitude with the heavier bag. The tree was pretty gnarly and the throw bag had to bust through a lot of stuff to drop on the other side of the tree.
The RAD system was pretty easy to set up and really easy to ascend on. Like Moss said, the first few pulls on the rope I had to do a double-take to make sure I was really going up. It felt like I was just pulling slack through the Gri-Gri without actually ascending, but the double-take verified that I was indeed going up.
We kind of started running out of daylight because the dense understory complicated our throw line placement. I think when we revisit the site, we can get more video and show the SRT systems being used.
Thanks Moss!
Bob
The RAD system was pretty easy to set up and really easy to ascend on. Like Moss said, the first few pulls on the rope I had to do a double-take to make sure I was really going up. It felt like I was just pulling slack through the Gri-Gri without actually ascending, but the double-take verified that I was indeed going up.
We kind of started running out of daylight because the dense understory complicated our throw line placement. I think when we revisit the site, we can get more video and show the SRT systems being used.
Thanks Moss!
Bob
treemandan
Tree Freak
Do you need to use the Gri Gri or can a regular pulley be used?
moss
ArboristSite Guru
The Grigri (or Eddy, or Petzl I'D) is used as a progress capture and an inline decender so a pulley as a replacement wouldn't work. In the system the Grigri is your ascender and descender. The handled ascender is only being used to support the footloop and to hold the pulley that tends the tail coming out of the Grigri. I don't tether the handled ascender to my harness, the Grigri is what's holding you on the rope. One of the good things about the system is there is no need to tie off with a lanyard to change to descent mode. Just take the ascender and pulley off the rope and you're ready to descend.
Other SRT systems are more efficient to climb but the RADS is easy to use and is a good intro technique for SRT.
-moss
2009 Master catalog
If you guys have a 2009 Sherrill master catalog, check out page 49. In the lower left corner is the description of the Petzl I'D. The illustration shows the system that Moss set up for me to try with the exception that we used a Grigri and not the I'D.
If you guys have a 2009 Sherrill master catalog, check out page 49. In the lower left corner is the description of the Petzl I'D. The illustration shows the system that Moss set up for me to try with the exception that we used a Grigri and not the I'D.
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