Best way to decend ddrt?

[ATH]

I looked into those art positioners as well but not being able to release under load kinda turned me off, at least that's what some of the reviews said.

It is absolutely able to release under load. It does take a little touch to not let it out too quickly, but that is the case with anything.

 

[jaystihl]

Damn I wish I would have ordered one of those, I must have been thinking of something else because it says right in the description it can be released under load lol. I might just have to get one and find another use for my pinto pulley. Have you ever accidentally hit the button and gone for a ride unexpectedly?

 

[ATH]

.... Have you ever accidentally hit the button and gone for a ride unexpectedly?

A couple of times. Tied in twice, so never a big deal.

 

[jaystihl]

A couple of times. Tied in twice, so never a big deal.

, It would be awesome if they came up with a double action lever to avoid this from happening. Maybe like a button that you can push on the lever before you can release it, that way you can still use one hand. All these gadgets keep evolving, looking forward to what they come up with next

 

[mac56]

Hey guys just wanted to get some opinions on the best way to decend ddrt . I'm using the hitch climber set up with a friction saver as my main TIP. Obviously I can decend just using my prussic cord but if I need to bomb out of a tree It would burn up the prussic pretty quickly. I know I can use a figure 8 but was hoping for something a little more advanced as there are so many new gadgets out these days. Is there something that I can use that would stay on my climb line all the time in case of emergency?

I think someone else had mentioned it in this thread that if it's an emergency don't worry about burning up your hitch cord, they can tolerate some serious abuse before failure... you may have to replace it though since it'll be glazed to hell. In fact, I've seen a similar scenario play out where an old coworker BLASTED out of a tree from 70' up after encountering a wasps nest in a cavity; we later looked at the hitch cord and aside from some minor glazing, it was fine.

Also, I'd suggest to keep your climbing systems and gadgets as simple as possible. Since you say you're getting back into climbing after some time, you might want to just keep things simple and basic for now. While those shiny new anodized knick-knacks are enticing, they do add a certain complexity to your climbing system that could later become a hindrance or limiting factor in your climbing. What I'd recommend is to just keep climbing for a little while longer and keep a running list of everything you hate about climbing... then figure out which things you hate occur most often when climbing, and then start looking for those fun new gadgets that solve that problem.

I'll get off my soapbox now and provide some recommendations:

1. The ART Positioner 2 is worth it, and probably one of the best climbing-related purchases I've made.
2. The Yale BlueMoon 11.7mm with a tight-eye splice is an awesome rope if you do a mix of MRS and SRS.
3. A medium or large rigging thimble/ring. These are super useful when climbing SRS. If you are doing a canopy anchor tie-in, tie an alpine butterfly in your climbing line, thread the ring into the loop of the butterfly and snug it down, then pass the end of your climbing line through it and send it up. Alternatively, if you do a basal anchor you can do the same thing on the rope going up in the tree so that if you need to be rescued and you happen to be floating (no lanyard attached and you're not stuck), another climber can come over and thread their climbing through the ring and lower you via MRS.
4. If you get into SRS, a SAKA can be made relatively cheaply with a chest ascender, Purcell prusik, and some bungee cord.
5. If you find yourself climbing a lot of conifers or other resinous trees, mechanical prusiks like the ZigZag really are worth it. They won't gum up on you as bad as a hitch cord and are cleaned pretty easily.
6. I also really like to have the Notch Rook pulley on my bridge in place of a ring. If you can get it on sale or for cheap, I'd recommend it, otherwise I'd wait or not get it.
7. Chap pants! Although not directly climbing related, they are well worth the price. I have a pair of the Clogger Ascend and Zero chap pants, and they are 100% the best overall piece of gear I've bought in my career. Highly recommend.
8. If you want to preserve the life of your hitch cords a little longer (especially since you're using a friction saver), whenever I do a long descent I'll attach a carabiner to one of the side rings of my bridge and tie a munter-hitch with my climbing line below my hitch-climber. I'll then fully compress/disengage the hitch and lower myself via the munter. There's still some friction being put on your hitch, but the overall friction is distributed between the hitch and the munter. You'll get some pig tails in your rope, but they go away once you start stacking your rope back in a rope bag.

 

[jaystihl]

I think someone else had mentioned it in this thread that if it's an emergency don't worry about burning up your hitch cord, they can tolerate some serious abuse before failure... you may have to replace it though since it'll be glazed to hell. In fact, I've seen a similar scenario play out where an old coworker BLASTED out of a tree from 70' up after encountering a wasps nest in a cavity; we later looked at the hitch cord and aside from some minor glazing, it was fine.

Also, I'd suggest to keep your climbing systems and gadgets as simple as possible. Since you say you're getting back into climbing after some time, you might want to just keep things simple and basic for now. While those shiny new anodized knick-knacks are enticing, they do add a certain complexity to your climbing system that could later become a hindrance or limiting factor in your climbing. What I'd recommend is to just keep climbing for a little while longer and keep a running list of everything you hate about climbing... then figure out which things you hate occur most often when climbing, and then start looking for those fun new gadgets that solve that problem.

I'll get off my soapbox now and provide some recommendations:

1. The ART Positioner 2 is worth it, and probably one of the best climbing-related purchases I've made.
2. The Yale BlueMoon 11.7mm with a tight-eye splice is an awesome rope if you do a mix of MRS and SRS.
3. A medium or large rigging thimble/ring. These are super useful when climbing SRS. If you are doing a canopy anchor tie-in, tie an alpine butterfly in your climbing line, thread the ring into the loop of the butterfly and snug it down, then pass the end of your climbing line through it and send it up. Alternatively, if you do a basal anchor you can do the same thing on the rope going up in the tree so that if you need to be rescued and you happen to be floating (no lanyard attached and you're not stuck), another climber can come over and thread their climbing through the ring and lower you via MRS.
4. If you get into SRS, a SAKA can be made relatively cheaply with a chest ascender, Purcell prusik, and some bungee cord.
5. If you find yourself climbing a lot of conifers or other resinous trees, mechanical prusiks like the ZigZag really are worth it. They won't gum up on you as bad as a hitch cord and are cleaned pretty easily.
6. I also really like to have the Notch Rook pulley on my bridge in place of a ring. If you can get it on sale or for cheap, I'd recommend it, otherwise I'd wait or not get it.
7. Chap pants! Although not directly climbing related, they are well worth the price. I have a pair of the Clogger Ascend and Zero chap pants, and they are 100% the best overall piece of gear I've bought in my career. Highly recommend.
8. If you want to preserve the life of your hitch cords a little longer (especially since you're using a friction saver), whenever I do a long descent I'll attach a carabiner to one of the side rings of my bridge and tie a munter-hitch with my climbing line below my hitch-climber. I'll then fully compress/disengage the hitch and lower myself via the munter. There's still some friction being put on your hitch, but the overall friction is distributed between the hitch and the munter. You'll get some pig tails in your rope, but they go away once you start stacking your rope back in a rope bag.

Thank you for your detailed reply mac56. I did recently purchase yale blue moon 11.7 and really like it a lot. I like the munter hitch idea and will give that a shot. The art positioner seems like a love it or hate it between all the reviews I've read but would like to give that a shot as well. I was looking at the spiderjack 3 as it's on sale right now and seems to be great for ddrt. Was curious if you have any experience with this device?

 

[Lightning Performance]

Hey guys just curious If you have any peice of climbing or rigging equipment that you use all the time that's really helpful to have? Something you have that you didn't know how you did without it. I have some more money to spend on my tree stuff credit so trying to find something that will be helpful. Have to place order tonight as I need some of the items in my cart for a job later this week so kinda on a time crunch. I like the Omni block on the ultra sling but think I'm going to get another ultra sling with the rigging thimble, I have the small 1/2 inch version for lite rigging and love it but only downfall is it's not midline attachable like the Omni. Look forward to any recommendations!

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