advice on climbing

[charlieallen78]

my first post, hi everyone. I have been climbing for about 7 months on the "traditional system" and am looking to advance to using a more up to date method. I was wondering if anyone could give me some pointers on kit . I have been looking at the A.R.T rope guide and would like to know peoples opinions on the best friction hitch to use. Basically any advice on climbing in general would be appreciated, ( I'm a Brit so excuse my ignorance of terminoligy!!!) thanks

 

[M.P]

climbing

hi i have been climbing for 3.1/2 years and the best system for me is a komet butterfly harness with a split tail with a Blake's hitch, you can adjust the length, long for climbing up and shorten it for working out on limbs, i also have positioning strop witch go's from (d-ring to d-ring) with a pulley and a v.t tress so you can adjust it with one hand, my advice is keep it simple don't over load you harness with gear you dont need. m.p

 

[vharrison2]

Hi charlieallen78, welcome to the site. I am sure lots of folks will chime in on what is best. I think Sherrill (one of the sponsors here) sells a complete kit with everything you need.

 

[moss]

I'm enjoying learning how to climb using a Knut hitch after climbing for a year on a Blakes. Any of the popular advanced hitches will have similar qualities, it's a matter of playing around with different configurations and finding what works best for you. This is an excellent article about climbing hitches and includes the so-called advanced hitches, good stuff to experiment with to add to your climbing skills:
Climbing hitches

And of course you have to see what Tom Dunlap has to say about SRT for arborists:
Intro to SRT

 

[charlieallen78]

thanks

cheers to everyone who replied, that article on hitches is brilliant. I already have the butterfly harness and use a positioning strop with a pulley but have seen lots of people using a "hand over hand" technique on their climbing line with a pulley. thats the system I am trying to get together.

 

[iain]

gear

hi charlie n welcome to AS

i climb on a komet with a mainline + blakes sometimes a prussik also with an itermediate line/strop + blakes for re postioning & 2nd anchor when im not using the other end of my main line,also a 4m wire strop for take downs
personally i keep it as simple as pos the less i drag through the tree the better imo + less to go wrong/fail and replace

 

[charlieallen78]

is it just me or are we way behind the americans?

hi Iain, looks like we both use similar kit, I can't help feeling there must be a better way. I have been looking at how the competition climbers climb (especially the americans) and they seem to expend much less energy and have more fine control. I realise that this will be largely down to technique but the kit and knot selection mustr be a factor surely?

 

[iain]

equipment

which rope do you use ?

 

[charlieallen78]

rope

I don't know! Boss bought it, I know its new england 13mm but thats it. must be bottom of the range though. milks really badly and fading fast!! Was looking at getting some edelrid experience or maybe yale blaze, any thoughts?

 

[Fireaxman]

I just made the switch from "Traditional" with a Blakes to "Hand over Hand" with a Knut, with a LOT of help from several people in this forum. Also tried the VT, but settled on the Knut (for now). Search "Blakes to Knut" if you are interested, and you will get the full history of my change over.

I'm really glad I made the change, and a big "Thanks" to the guys who so patiently coached me. Climbing 60 feet of clear stem, even on a leaner where I can't reach the stem for a body thrust, is no problem with the "Advanced" technique. I was just SOL on a lot of trees with Blakes and a body thrust.

By the way, a pair of latex palmed gloves (like the "Ugly Gloves" sold by Sherrill) are a big help in handling the rope hand over hand.

 

[iain]

I don't know! Boss bought it, I know its new england 13mm but thats it. must be bottom of the range though. milks really badly and fading fast!! Was looking at getting some edelrid experience or maybe yale blaze, any thoughts?

both are v,gd ropes
Yale Spearmint is a decent affordable line
blaze is 11mm 24strand so less stretch but reduced strength due to diameter, i understand the xtc fire is also a good rope 13mm 16strand so a bit more stretch than the blaze but only marginal however a better load capacity the edelrid xp is 12mm has similar strength / stretch to the fire

i'm deciding which to rope to buy into stock i seem to be coming down on the Yale side at the moment, depends on what sells really i suppose! although i don't supply poor quality equipment, the bargin end of the market were marlow, however they've been bought out now so who knows what will happen there the last rope they had was a vast improvement on theT16

anyway hope that helps
iain

 

[charlieallen78]

yet more good advice

thanks all for the continuing good ideas and stuff. I have been hearing things about the lockjack sport, anyone had any experience using it(good or bad)!!