Friction Saver Through Tight Crotches?

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TreeViking

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Hey all,
Ive enjoyed reading all the posts and learning so much from the knowledgeable climbers here. One thing that I cant seem to find, is an answer to this - When installing a conduit style friction/cambium saver, how does one pass it through a tight natural crotch? Is this better achieved with the use of Ring-Ring?


Ive gotten lucky with a few high, small window shots to a great TIP, but the crotch itself was just a tad too tight for the cambium saver to pass. Not sure if a ring-ring style would slip through better, if there is a technique that can be employed or if its simply a non-starter.
 
It's best to avoid the tight crotches. You'll get hung up nearly every time. Even without a friction saver, the rope would most likely get stuck too. If they're tight enough even the throwline will hang up. It's best to shoot for a better spot.
 
It's best to avoid the tight crotches. You'll get hung up nearly every time. Even without a friction saver, the rope would most likely get stuck too. If they're tight enough even the throwline will hang up. It's best to shoot for a better spot.

So in forest growth where majority of lateral branches are upright forming tighter V crotches, best option would be straight up SRT, avoiding having to install cambium saver through it in the first place?
 
I'm nearly 100% srt now anyway. It's so much easier and more efficient. If you do get a line through a tight crotch and manage to get it pulled back to the ground for a base tie or even get it pulled back up top for a top tie, once you load it you probably won't be able to retrieve it. You would need to climb to the crotch and try to get it unstuck then re tied in a suitable place. After all of that you would be better off to try to hit your optimal tip before the climb. On the off chance you do hit a tight crotch and get stuck there are ways to get it unstuck. Like throwing another throwline higher and retrieving the stuck line with the second. I've seen very few trees that didn't have at least one optimal tie in point that was reachable with the throwline. Though it may take a few tries and more than one throwline. I keep at least 3 separate throw cubes on every job. Each of which has a bag on each end of the line. All lines are at least 200 ft. So I can get hung 6 times before I have to do something different. And that's never happened to me yet. It probably will tomorrow since I've said that.
 
Thanks for the insight Benjo75, I’ll carry around some extra line to mitigate that future problem... cuz it’ll probably happen! I’ll try to just hit whatever the best crotch is that is wide enough and avoid it where I can altogether.
 

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