New to DRT and climbing ropes in general

[Diesel JD]

Hey guys, I have a couple of questions about the DRT, the bare bones basic one...with your prussik loop for foot locking, do you use just one loop or one for each foot, or is it a matter of personal preference. I'm also curious as to how one can install a cambium saver from the ground, seems like that would be quite a task. I have several trees whose bark may be damaged by the DRT without one that I am planning to prune on my property. A loquat and a swamp maple. I think the spruce pines, cedars and laurel oaks won't get burnt too bad.

 

[Ekka]

Sure, you need to check out the video section.

But here's the link to the friction saver one.

http://www.arboristsite.com/showthread.php?t=35202

 

[Diesel JD]

Ekka...that was an awesome video, looks easy if you know how to set a rope in the first place, which I do! The one question I have is how do you attach your blakes to your saddle. It looks like you have it attached to some sort of snap. Any additional info would be nice. When I tried to get into climbing before, I just tossed a rope over a crotch or branch and pulled myself up, but I know this was bad for my trees and worse for my ropes. So I really want to learn the Blakes before I try to climb anymore.

 

[Ekka]

I tie the split tail to a biner with a double fishermans knot. That grips the biner hard and doesn't move around much.

The terminal end of the life line I tie a figure 8 knot, you should girth hitch that knot to a biner as well so it doesn't slide around much.

Oh, the pice of rope that the blakes is on, that connects you to the lifeline, is called a split tail.

 

[moss]

Hey guys, I have a couple of questions about the DRT, the bare bones basic one...with your prussik loop for foot locking, do you use just one loop or one for each foot, or is it a matter of personal preference.

Check out this nice footloop setup, it's a double:
footloop prusik

The double footloop is nice because it distributes the load across both legs (and knees).

After you use that a few times you'll want to learn how to grab the tail of the rope (below the Blake's) with your feet, classic footlocking. Using the prusik footloop is a good way to easily get off the ground and build your skill and strength gradually.
-moss

 

[Diesel JD]

sounds good guys, I'm going to get out there and try it one of these days real soon.