Friction hitches. Which one to use for different situations
- Thread starter Carter Simmons
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Carter Simmons
ArboristSite Member
By the way. Im 14 so thats why im not so smart on this topic. I know a guy who is a pro at this and he said 10 mm climbing rope would be fine. He gave me some lessons to get into the tree. I just do this for fun. Not a job.
Overwatch
ArboristSite Member
Get some real world lessons before you do any more rope climbing. This isn't the sort of thing you learn off the internut.
Do yourself a favor and forget about climbing on anything but arborist rope with a real saddle, not a rock climbing harness either. Definitely get some training from a competent climber who will watch you climb and give instruction- not to be a jerk but at your age I can't in good conscience recommend that you attempt to figure things out for yourself. You have a good long life ahead of you if you don't wind up dead from a fall- or worse-, crippled, comatose or drooling into a cup for the rest of your years. Is your life worth a couple hundred bucks for proper gear and instruction? Climb safe.
Carter Simmons
ArboristSite Member
Your right. Its just it takes me for ever and my grandparents offered to buy me rope when i was at rock creek. I just dont know how to earn momey to buy the right gear. I could buy my friends rope that is arborist rope that he has used once. the saddle os too much monesy for me though. Any ideas?
KenJax Tree
Terraphobic
All you need for a saddle is this. http://www.treestuff.com/store/catalog.asp?category_id=10&item=922#
Matt81
Bliss: Saw full of fuel and yard full of trees!
Well maybe give us the complete picture and all about your situation at the start. 20 something posts later we learn the relevant information.
Anyway, this guy who is a "pro" who you know can hopefully give you some more practical advice and lessons to help you out. It is hopefully clear from the melted hitch you experienced that really thin dynamic ropes are not so good for tree work. Yes the 10mm dynamic is kinda OK, but i would never climb on it myself. We are telling you these things for a reason.
Yeah i have an idea. If you cannot afford and don't have the gear you need DON"T CLIMB UNTIL YOU DO! You obviously don't really appreciate the danger you are putting yourself in if you continue to climb on unsuitable and inadequate equipment. I wish i was 14 again so i could not spend money on the things i bought that were not so good when i was starting out. I wish i had somewhere to go for experienced information like AS back then. Please don't disregard the sound advice we are giving you. Find a job you can do at your age and save your money to buy decent gear. Heck at 14 i was hand washing doctors cars and delivering advertising pamphlets around our town on my pushbike. If you want to work an employer will see that and hopefully give you a go.
You need a decent tree rope and tree harness and lanyard first above all else. Stop buying thin dynamic rock climbing ropes. They will glaze and melt easily compared to a real arborist rope. If you are short of money stop wasting your cash on the wrong stuff and save up and buy decent suitable gear first time round. You don't need to spend top dollar but buying something that you will have for many years is a better way to spend your money than wasting it on inncorrect and unsuitable equipment.
I wish i had something this nice when starting out. Good decent quality climb rope at a unbeatable price.
http://www.treestuff.com/store/catalog.asp?category_id=143&item=197#detail
Nothing wrong with Chris's suggestion. Very nice harness to start out on.
You can make a basic lanyard from some short length of climb rope and a couple of carabiners and a prussic loop. Doesn't have to be expensive or fancy just reliable and functional.
Carter Simmons
ArboristSite Member
If you guys are won
Griff93
ArboristSite Operative
If you're ever down near Huntsville, AL and would like to learn some tree climbing stuff, hit me up. I'd rather take the time to show you than to hear about you falling out of a tree. It's going to take some gear money to do it safely though. If you can't do it safe, don't do it. We have several arbor plex ropes that we use running our tree service. They seem to hold up well and they are cheap enough to retire without hesitation if they get questionable.
Griff
Griff
Carter Simmons
ArboristSite Member
Coul
Could you please send me a link for these ropes?
Griff93
ArboristSite Operative
Matt81 put a link to the rope I'm talking about in his post above mine. I'd call it good economical rope. I have some rope that's almost twice the cost and I really can't tell much difference between the two when climbing. We have one that is in use as a light rig line after being retired from climbing, that's about 5 years old.
Matt81
Bliss: Saw full of fuel and yard full of trees!
?
Sorry don't know what you are saying or asking.Won what? I haven't won anything since a raffle in the 3rd grade.
Carter Simmons
ArboristSite Member
What exactly is a lanyard used for
Do a search for the "Tree Climbers Companion", a book written by Jepsen. You can find it as a bit torrent and download it as a pdf. It will tell you answers to all these basic questions.
Second piece of advice - send an email letter nicely worded to all the tree service companies in your area an see if there are any of their climbers who like to recreational climb and would be willing to teach you.
Second piece of advice - send an email letter nicely worded to all the tree service companies in your area an see if there are any of their climbers who like to recreational climb and would be willing to teach you.
Matt81
Bliss: Saw full of fuel and yard full of trees!
You may know of it as a pole belt? It can have other names, but it attaches to the 2 side Dees of the harness and wraps around the tree to give you a second point of attachment apart from your climb line. I sometimes climb with 2 lanyards, one steel core, and one just a plain rope lanyard. The point of this is that as you are climbing and come to a branch, you can attach one lanyard above the branch and then unclip the lower one and keep climbing safely always attached.
http://www.treestuff.com/store/start.asp?category_id=19
Carter Simmons
ArboristSite Member
Could you use it to hang to set a second rope?
Matt81
Bliss: Saw full of fuel and yard full of trees!
I would not recommend it with the side dees. The side dees of the harness are not designed to support your weight vertically. They will not break but it would be very uncomfortable and probably pull the waist belt up into your ribs.
My rope lanyard has a prussik loop near one end so i can wrap the end with the rope snap around the trunk or a branch and attach the snap to this prussik and attach this to the main attachment point of the harness. Then i can unclip my main line and reposition it to a higher TIP or alternate route in the tree.
Carter Simmons
ArboristSite Member
I have some good news. My cousin has some tree harnesses that he wants to give me. He says they are in mint condition and he has 3 or 4 lanyards also
Matt81
Bliss: Saw full of fuel and yard full of trees!
Sounds good. Better to have proper gear and learn the right way to use it from the start. Problems can arise from old habits.
What brands and models are the harnesses?
Carter Simmons
ArboristSite Member
I don't know yet but he sent me some pics and they look like body harnesses
Carter Simmons
ArboristSite Member
And he is also giving me like 20-25 lanyards and 2 rope bags
