PTS
ArboristSite Guru
I climb traditional style. However I am always trying new things. I just got a new Ascender (a right hand blue Pentzl) and really like it. It greatly increases my vertical ascend time. However I am not sure I am using it right. I tried ascending only using the ascender but then needed to tie in while hanging and then needing to take the weight off the ascender and transfer it back to my Blakes hitch. Then I tried setting up with the Blakes hitch and putting the ascender above it also attached and moving myself up a ways and then moving my blakes hitch. That works but I feel like I am waisting a lot of time trying to catch my blakes hitch up.
The disadvantage I find (which may be caused by improper use) is that I don't just ascend to the top and then come back down I may go up and then come back down a few feet and then up some more. I find with the ascender that I have to hook it up and then un-hook it and back and forth. Yesterday I decided to just take it off. I reached that point of frustration. The perfect tool would allow you to ascend and descend effortlessly. The Blakes hitch is just that but it isn't effortlessly. It doesn't advance on the ascend anything like my new ascender. Maybe this tool it is out there and I just don't know about it.
The disadvantage I find (which may be caused by improper use) is that I don't just ascend to the top and then come back down I may go up and then come back down a few feet and then up some more. I find with the ascender that I have to hook it up and then un-hook it and back and forth. Yesterday I decided to just take it off. I reached that point of frustration. The perfect tool would allow you to ascend and descend effortlessly. The Blakes hitch is just that but it isn't effortlessly. It doesn't advance on the ascend anything like my new ascender. Maybe this tool it is out there and I just don't know about it.