Rope questions…

[LBF]

So I’m not sure if this is the best place for this, but I’ll put it here, lol

So I’ve tried to do my research but I’m almost more confused than when I started so I’m here now to ask in hopes of better answers than I’ve been able to come up with so far. I have nearly all of my intended gear and down to needing rope. I’m not a professional tree guy but I appreciate good gear. I’ve done some rock climbing in the past so I understand a bit and I’ve done a lot of research. Also have a family friend who used to be a tree cutter, but he climbs (rarely) using three strand with a Blake’s hitch over a natural crotch (DRT) with a basic Weaver saddle (4 rings) and just hip thrusts to advance, so he’s been little help to my adventure. I’m intending to use this all mostly for work around my property and my parents, clearing widow makers and taking down trees that need to. Went a little overboard probably in my gear, but it is what it is. I prefer quality gear.

I’m intending to do most of my climbing SRT with a friction saver and Rock Exotica Akimbo with a Notch Jet Step ascender, but I also have a hitch climber system and prussics and not opposed to doing DRT and/or natural crotch climbing as needed. If I have any long descents I’m inclined to use a figure 8 for that, which I have. I have a Petzl Sequoia SRT saddle with the matching chest harness. Got all the other stuff (two fixed and one adjustable friction saver, throw line and weights, micro pulleys, chainsaw lanyard, couple Petzl OK carabiners, cable lanyard, etc). I got a grab bag of rope that had a 40’ length of Sterling Scion and a 50’ length of Notch Banshee, but I need some longer stuff. There’s a few Shagbark Hickory and some big Oaks around here. My original idea was to buy a spool and cut a couple lengths (100’, 150’, 200’) but not sure if that’s necessary or if it’s wise to have different ropes so when you have multiple ropes in a tree it’s easy to differentiate or what. I’m going to be the only climber most of the time.

So do I get a spool or just buy one rope and what rope would work well with everything that I have and intend to use? I’m trying to work off the table B for the Akimbo to leave a large safety margin since I’m figuring me and my gear will be somewhat close to the 220# limit for table A. For those not so familiar, I’ll attach it below. I’m also open to any suggestions and advice you all have for a newish climber.

 

[LBF]

 

[Bango Skank]

I’d wager that Yale Blue Moon and it’s many different color variations is the most popular and best seller on that list, and for good reason.

I use XStatic, Fly, and Samson HyperClimb with my Akimbos. I know HyperClimb isn’t on that list, but it wasn’t on the market when that table was written either. It’s not much different than BlueMoon/ Poison Ivy. Between Yale and Samson, there’s probably a couple dozen different colors and names they’re all very similar. 24 strand 11.7mm double braids with polyester jacket and polyester core.

It’s probably the oldest rope on the table, but I really like Fly and it’s other color variations. It’s a lovely DdRT/ MRS rope as well, but so are alot of other ropes on that list.

Regarding your question about whether or not to buy a spool, it’s all up to you, but I wouldn’t unless you’ve tried a bunch of different ropes and found one that really stands alone to you as the Holy Grail of climbing lines. I like trying a new rope every few years.

You’re not too far from me, and we probably have the same trees. Speaking from around 21 years of climbing experience with thousands of pruning and removal jobs, I can say that I’ve never needed more than 2 climbing lines at a time, 150’ lengths are more than enough, and 120’ lengths are enough probably 99% of the time unless you’re really going bonkers eating up rope with multiple SRT redirects. A rope being too long for the job isn’t a problem though. Rope bags are nice for keeping it tidy. I’ll use my 150’ HyperClimb for a 30’ tree, no problem. The bag just feeds out what I need.

 

[LBF]

I’d wager that Yale Blue Moon and it’s many different color variations is the most popular and best seller on that list, and for good reason.

I use XStatic, Fly, and Samson HyperClimb with my Akimbos. I know HyperClimb isn’t on that list, but it wasn’t on the market when that table was written either. It’s not much different than BlueMoon/ Poison Ivy. Between Yale and Samson, there’s probably a couple dozen different colors and names they’re all very similar. 24 strand 11.7mm double braids with polyester jacket and polyester core.

It’s probably the oldest rope on the table, but I really like Fly and it’s other color variations. It’s a lovely DdRT/ MRS rope as well, but so are alot of other ropes on that list.

Regarding your question about whether or not to buy a spool, it’s all up to you, but I wouldn’t unless you’ve tried a bunch of different ropes and found one that really stands alone to you as the Holy Grail of climbing lines. I like trying a new rope every few years.

You’re not too far from me, and we probably have the same trees. Speaking from around 21 years of climbing experience with thousands of pruning and removal jobs, I can say that I’ve never needed more than 2 climbing lines at a time, 150’ lengths are more than enough, and 120’ lengths are enough probably 99% of the time unless you’re really going bonkers eating up rope with multiple SRT redirects. A rope being too long for the job isn’t a problem though. Rope bags are nice for keeping it tidy. I’ll use my 150’ HyperClimb for a 30’ tree, no problem. The bag just feeds out what I need.

Blue Moon/Poison Ivy has come up a lot in my search. I’m just a little concerned about being close to the max weight rating for it with the Akimbo. Between me and my gear, it’s gonna be close. I was looking at the DragonFly which my understanding is just a different color variation of the Fly. These name variations for the same basic rope seem to add a level of confusion, at least for me.

That seems to be a good point about a spool that I didn’t think of.

The Sterling Scion that I got in the grab bag felt like an awesome rope to me, but a spool is over $700. A pre-cut may be an option though.

Good to know that a 150’ will do most around the area. Feel like I might be overthinking things a lot at this point. Perhaps I should think about picking say, two ropes and get a pre-cut of each and call it a day for now, then depending on what I like best, buy more or something else later?

 

[FordF550]

Buy Yale rope. Made in Maine. Used by climbers, the military, boaters etc.Your life is worth the best.

 

[CatMan Fetters]

150 foot is all I ever used here in Michigan.

 

[LBF]

So I found a handy branch (surprisingly hard around here, most are not anywhere near horizontal unless they are way up), and decided to do some testing/experimenting of my gear and the two known ropes that I have (Sterling Scion and Notch Banshee). Took a couple tries to get my throw line where I wanted it (didn’t drag out my cannon for the throw line), then tried installing one of my home made friction savers (bought rated rings and used some 16 strand braided climbing line, made one fixed and one adjustable, I tested the fixed). Friction saver went in nice and neat and I had to stand there and admire it for a minute. It was only up about 25’, but good enough for testing.

Started with the Scion and my Akimbo, used the Notch Jet Step. Liked the feel of the Scion in my hand and it climbed pretty nice. Not overly happy with how it knots or coils up but it works. And it’s the most expensive, of course. Ran through my gear nicely though. Didn’t think to try it with my Prussic cords though before I pulled it down. Went all the way up to the top and hung out a bit.

Swapped that out for the Banshee and it definitely seemed more stretchy and a little less for the hand even though it’s less than a millimeter difference (11.7mm vs 12.5mm for the Scion). Climbed well, knots well, and coils well, just kinda springy. Went all the way up, hung out a bit and came back down. Did try my Prussic cords and found that they didn’t seem to want to work as advertised. Once I weighted them, I couldn’t get them to slide (three wraps up and three down) and two wraps wouldn’t hold. Tried both the 8mm X 28” and the 10mm X 30”, so I’m not entirely sure what went wrong there.

A couple side notes… I need to set up a clip for making the Akimbo self-tending. It quickly became vastly annoying to have to hand tend it. That said, it may have been more self tending had I attached it to my chest harness (I have the Petzl Sequoia SRT with the correct chest harness that converts it to a fall arrest rated harness so I can use the chest ring) as opposed to having it attached to the rope bridge which made things rather floppy.

The other side note was that I found the Notch Jet Step foot ascender to be a slick bit of hardware. Easy to kick out of, easy to hook back into, doesn’t seem to easily slip out of unless you are trying to though. Most importantly, it became self tending instantly with no weight on the tail of the line.

 

[Bango Skank]

You’re not using those prusiks alone in an SRT/ SRS configuration, are you?
Not how it works, which is why the Rope Wrench was invented.
A friction hitch in a DdRT/ MRS setup will work though.

 

[LBF]

You’re not using those prusiks alone in an SRT/ SRS configuration, are you?
Not how it works, which is why the Rope Wrench was invented.
A friction hitch in a DdRT/ MRS setup will work though.

Yeah… apparently that’s where I went wrong, lol