Ankle/Foot Ascender

[DDM]

Ankle Ascender

Has anyone else tried one of those ankle ascenders sold by Sherrill? I bought one and i like it better than footlocking it takes a lot less effort.

 

[Rob Murphy]

Petzel pantim?? It seems to be lessing the need for SRT which I will be using only on really big climbs. Seems a must have piece of gear......
Rob Murphy

 

[Kneejerk Bombas]

I thought this thing was used for SRT. Are you using this to advance one rope in DRT, instead of hip thrusting?

 

[Tom Dunlap]

The Pantin [puppet in French] is a great tool!

I bought mine as soon as it came out and it is always in the pouch on my saddle. The best application is in SRT but it does work if there is a long body thrust too.

The pass through buckle on the ankle strap is a nuisance to me. I dug around in my sewing stash and found a metal spring loaded buckle to replace the Petzl buckle. With this buckle it is much easier to take off the Pantin in the tree since I can do it with one hand.

Unless the SRT climb is more than about thirty feet, I footlock. The only time I body thrusting is for positioning, never ascent. Body thrusting for ascent is so ineffecient and will add too much wear and tear to climber's bodies.

Tom

 

[DDM]

I guess i'm getting lazy ive been using it for almost all my climbs! the biggest trick was learning how to keep the rope from getting out of the catch but Ive gotten Used to it and it seems
to be the fastest ascent for me now the best system ive found is to use a blake hitch fairlead thru a Micro pulley. sometimes i'll leave the blake hitch a little loose for a safety and use a hand ascender above connected to a runner to my saddle. So i lift my leg step up raise the ascender and do it again.

 

[Kneejerk Bombas]

Where I don't know what is best, is when i'm working my way down the tree and I need to go up again just a few feet, like maybe 10 or 15 feet.

 

[Tom Dunlap]

There are times that I leave the Pantin on my ankle when I'm climbing.

If there are a lot of short yo-yo climbs and the ascent is away from limbs and the trunk I would consider the P. Against the trunk, for short hops, body thrust. It all depends on how much air I have to climb through as opposed to vegetables.

Tom

 

[DDM]

Did you notice In the box with the ascender the
warning that came with it? >Do not use as a single
ascension device must be Used with another type of ascender< I just wonder if they actually had a case where someone tried that.that puts a scary picture in mind.

Later,
David

 

[X-man]

Pantin

The Pantin has been very usefull in my climbs. It works even better with a bridge extension(eye and eye cord around 25 inches long to extend friction hitch up higher). I really enjoy it on a 2/1 mechanical advantage setup with the bridge extension, this is my idea of an easy ascent! On higher climbs, your pantin foot may get tired by itself, I found if you put the other foot ontop of the pantin foot, you can use both legs. After a few feet the Pantin seems to self tail on its own(nice!).
X-man

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

2:1 MA setup? we dont have many 80ft pitches around here.

I love the Pantin too, like Tom sais, those up and down jobs. We have a lot of wide open old silver maples here whenr your doing one cut on a branch, go down make a cut, up and over to do it a again. I work my way down to go back up the SRT after a water break.

 

[Rob Murphy]

Originally posted by Mike Maas
I thought this thing was used for SRT. Are you using this to advance one rope in DRT, instead of hip thrusting?

This is right Mike!
Upto 30' Footlock(rarely),mostly self lead body thrust which I think is easier on the body than footlocking. I am self taught footlocker so probaly not so efficient!
Upto 60' Drt with pantin on one side with fair lead distal hitch
Over 60 Srt.....

 

[Greg]

Petzl pantin

I've been eyeing the pantin for a while now, who uses it, and how. I could see it being great for DRT instead of trying to footlock the line. I climb mostly double rope, would the pantin be a good tool to have, or is it mostly used/more effective on single line.
Greg

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

If you are on the traditional working loop and have long pitches of up and down, it can come in handy. Just remeber that it is a climbing aid, not a self belay device

 

[Drummer]

JPS

I'm know this is fundamental to you (et al), but would you explain what you just replied to Greg?
Thanks,
RogeR

 

[DDM]

Yeh John!

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

When i say the working loop, this is the rope draped over a tie in point and one end secuerd to the saddle and a friction hitch to the other end. What most everyone climbs on while working. I state it this waht to sepparate it from the DdRT and SRT rope asscencion methods.

Long pitch is taken from rock work, meaning you are moving verticaly for relatively long distances. Say I'm in a silver maple, tied high. I climb down making a few cuts here and there. climb out a branch down some more. then I want to climb back up to transfer over to another stem. I may need to foot lock 30 feet or so. Or I may be in a situation where it is easier to set a redirect rappel down to a lateral to work it then climb back up to retrieve the redirect. The Pantin ames it a little easier to do this because it self tails, or the rope runs right through it after a few feet has been fed through.

A self belay is a secondary ascender used for backup and rest. The Pantin being on the anckle and having no locking mechanism is designed for assisting in a climb only. Not for sole support or even backup of a primary ascender. In case of primary ascender failuer, one would be lucky to be hanging upside down with one as a backup.


Any questions? ask away.If I'm not around, there are others here who can expound on the subject.

 

[DDM]

Much better John i even understood that.

I use the Pantin every time i go up a rope i Dislike the foot lock so the pantin works well for me.

 

[Rob Murphy]

I consider it to a foot ascender now to be standard tree climbing equipment. I like and use a Pantim mostly because of its small size. There is an ability to lock it on the rope by cliping into the hole behind the cam. U have to have the right size clip. I do this myself on long pitches.

As JPS said it is only a climing aid and should be only used as such!!

I do have to make my self footlock occasionly just so I don't forget how mostly because it took me so long to learn it.

 

[Tom Dunlap]

They foot stirrup on the P [Pantin] slips sometimes. I've fixed that by getting a small metal plate that the strap threads through and then doubles back.

You CANNOT use the P if you climb with a DdRT [do a search if you can't follow the acronyms, we've coverd them before] and a cord loop. If you pull on one leg of the rope you risk releasing the sliding friction hitch's grab on the rope. If it releases, you take a grounder...ouch!

Make the shift to SRT, its much safer.

Tom

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

I was jsut talking about while moving up on the working loop