Another retired blakes hitch!

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gitrdun_climbr

gitrdun_climbr

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After some low and slow rec climbing in the backyard yesterday I brought my Distel to work for the first time today. Project: to inspect and clean a huge Deodar Cedar tree right over Lake Washington. The hitch performed perfectly! Grabbed every single time without touching it. Tended well, though not on it's own until about 60 feet or so. Nice short design.

Using a new 200' hank of Arbormaster and new 24" eye-to-eye piece of 3/8ths Ultra Tech with fishermans. I can't see why to ever use the blakes again other than maybe chunking a spar? Is the blakes more pitch-resistant than the distel? I'll keep the steelcore flipper and macrograb for those pitchy firs out here. Otherwise, also converted lanyard and adjuster to a 30' length of arbormaster with distel adjuster. Can be interchanged from hip Ds to center Ds on the fly. Super light and versatile.

Climbing just got a whole lot funner...is that a word?!

http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/treemonkey2/1238471706.jpg

http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/treemonkey2/1238471502.jpg

http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/treemonkey2/1238471090.jpg
 
Nice work. I wasn't completely convinced on my first climb with the vt. Just wait till you use it a week and then tie off on your blakes for ####s and grins. I was hitting myself in the head for not trying it sooner.
 
Thanks guys! A little shorter, I will try that...the shorter build is why I tried it over the VT in tje first place but I will be trying the VT out in the next few days. If Roger calls it the king of all hitches you'd tend to believe it if you've seen him climb.
 
gitrdun_climbr said:
Thanks guys! A little shorter, I will try that...the shorter build is why I tried it over the VT in tje first place but I will be trying the VT out in the next few days. If Roger calls it the king of all hitches you'd tend to believe it if you've seen him climb.
Click to expand...

He is a crazy old fart, ain't he :laugh:
 
beautiful view.


awesome to see you using a new way.


maybe might i suggest to you switching the biners so that pulley and prussic are facing the other way (to the tree not to your chest).

thanks for sharing.
 
Ha! He climbs circles around these young bucks. Worked with him a couple years back and remember thinking, "what's that weird hitch with the cord?" I should have been a more astute student...my punishment: two extra years of air-humping!
:laugh:
 
Thanks for the tip oldirty, now that I think about it that really makes sense! Bout to tie into my living room ceiling and try that out. Also just realized I had an extra braid in that hitch, isn't it usually 3-1? Guess the 3-2 works well but no wonder it didn't tend till 60'.

Do most of you guys just slack tend with your hand? I have a pantin but didn't seem to use it with the distel first time up, maybe I will in the future. During the rec climb we did inchworm up with a right-hand petzel ascention up top, pantin down low and distel in the center. That stand and sit method seemed about as fast as you can get in a 1:2 system.

I researched the 'hitchclimber pulley on a bridge' method some of you guys use and it looks very appealing but at the same time adding more gear to a pretty gear-intensive setup. Hitchclimber pulley seems so big, anyone ever try that double tie-in micropulley?

TITS
 
Last edited:
gitrdun_climbr said:
Hitchclimber pulley seems so big, anyone ever try that double tie-in micropulley?

TITS
Click to expand...

whats tits?

i think the double holed pulley rolls right on the bridge allowing for the 2 biner connection.

you can do it the same way with the hitchclimber and have 3 biner attachment spots. but i dont run it that way.

not too bulky at all that setup though. all lined up nice and clean like when you do it the recommended way.
 
Originally Posted by Blakesmaster
Nice work. I wasn't completely convinced on my first climb with the vt. Just wait till you use it a week and then tie off on your blakes for ####s and grins. I was hitting myself in the head for not trying it sooner.
Click to expand...
bout time. lol.
Click to expand...

He will have to change his name to VT Master :laugh:
 
Funny! I think we all mastered that durn blakes hitch, at some point!

Yesterday was a nice climb REtopping madronas on a steep, sandy hillside covered in poison ivy, in the rain. I couldn't do the three furthest in the distance cause when I got down there they were sitting in a 2 foot tall thatch of it. Those will have to wait till dead of winter next year.

http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/treemonkey2/1238693862.jpg

Once again, the distels worked great! I shortened them and faced the micropulley out and it was dialed, thanks guys! I did find that the climbing line one wrenched down a little tighter after swinging around a bit and getting it wet. Also, assuming because it was wet, the rappel was almost all or nothing so I backed it with my brake hand and a loop on the foot.

TITS, a reminder for myself to 'tie in twice stupid!'
:cheers:
 
I'd get comfortable with the distel before I jumped right into the VT. The VT is a great knot but it has some weaknesses that people on this site don't ever talk about like the fact that it needs to be tended during the climb else it'll slip before grabbing, and that it's difficult to tie compared to many other knots, this could create problems if you're tying it in a tree and make a mistake.
 
update after breakin

Well now that this setup has seen some work and the rope and cord have broken in the hitch got really slippery to the point it would even grab without tending every time and would even gently slip an inch here or there.

I added a wrap today and it was much firmer though not a chance for it to tend itself without some serious height.

For now I'll take sticky over slippery and keep trying to find the middle with length adjustments.
 
Man I'm so ol' school I guess.
Looks like ya guys just see how complicated you can get it. :dizzy:
 
Raymond said:
Man I'm so ol' school I guess.
Looks like ya guys just see how complicated you can get it. :dizzy:
Click to expand...

I hear ya, Ray, and those were the same words coming out of my mouth less than a year ago before I gave in to the dark side of micro pulleys and prussik chord. I'm so far in now Idon't think I can go back to the light. :confused:











...and thank god for that.
 
Blakesmaster said:
I hear ya, Ray, and those were the same words coming out of my mouth less than a year ago before I gave in to the dark side of micro pulleys and prussik chord. I'm so far in now Idon't think I can go back to the light. :confused:










...and thank god for that.
Click to expand...

Hey, I'm listening an learning... Good thread.
 
Blakesmaster said:
I hear ya, Ray, and those were the same words coming out of my mouth less than a year ago before I gave in to the dark side of micro pulleys and prussik chord. I'm so far in now Idon't think I can go back to the light. :confused:











...and thank god for that.
Click to expand...
I bought a micro pulley a couple years ago but it didn't seem to help at all with my (do I dare say) taut-line hitch.
Got'er hanging on the wall right here in front of me. Hasn't been any good to me yet but it sure looks cool hanging there.

No it's not for sale, I think I'm gonna look into some new tricks soon.

If it's all that, I want in on that action. :cheers:
 

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