I love amsteel bridges. They are pretty small diameter, light, super strong and they roll through the carabiner easier than any other bridge that I have tried. They are pretty hard to adjust once they are weighted but some of that is also the friction hitch you use. Different hitches have different levels of “slip and grip”. There are several companies out that make and sell adjustable amsteel bridges. If you do make your own be careful with the splice. Make sure it’s long enough to hold and be careful not to snag the inner fibers as you pull it through it’s self. Outside of them being a little hard to adjust, I think you’ll like it.
Just curious what makes you say this? I climb on ropes almost exclusively and it’s why I went with an adjustable bridge. I can shorten it during the climb then lengthen it once I am at height. Why would I run two separate bridges to accomplish what one single bridge can do?
What hitch do you recommend. What about whoopie sling bridge any thoughts on those?
Next year I want to use ropes. Seems like a truly safe way up and down. Using presets seems like the way to go if you can.
I personally wouldn’t use a Whoopie sling because it only holds when it’s tensioned. I don’t want to sound biased here but I prefer the Blake’s hitch so that you can use two identical sizes of amsteel to make your bridge. I also found it is easier to get to move after being weighted than a prusik is…. But some of the double eye hitches such as a distel or schwabisch also are easier to break than a standard prusik loop.
Because of the aforementioned locking down of fhe prussic when weighted. At least on amsteel. Id rather not fight it at height. Just easier to use a short bridge then hang off the adjustable
So doing Blakes hitch. Do you use single length and tie the Blake’s on each side? Probably stupid question…lol
Yea it locking down was why I went with a different hitch altogether. Once that 6 wrap prusik sets, it’s not fun breaking it loose. I started with a regular non adjustable rope bridge. Then was hooking on small eye to eye secondary amsteel bridges. Eventually I went through the cycle until I settled on the adjustable amsteel. Thanks for answering lol I thought the appeal of adjustable bridges were geared towards comfort and rope climbers. I guess it’s true what they say about no two people ever like identical things
I guess i could use my linesman's to unweight the bridge once my tether is set but i just found it easier to convert the linesman's to a short bridge.
No I splice the rope almost all the way back through itself. And leave a 7” eye on each piece. I make one piece with a finished length of 38” (so that I can tie the stopper knot and still have a 32” piece. I do the other piece exactly the same way almost full bury with locking Brummell and a 7” eye but with a finished length of around 22”. I perform a double girth hitch (4wrap prusik) on each bridge loop, Then use the shorter piece of amsteel to tie the hitch onto the longer piece. Finish it off with a stopper knot. You end up with a hitch that is slightly larger than a prusik, your bridge loops are always proportional since the amsteel legs are the same diameter. And the hitch is easier to break and handle than a prusik hitch.
Awesome thank you for that!
Worth noting the bridge on my saddle is 2 seasons old and it has seen some wear down here in the Florida swamps and palm hammocks. We go through nasty stuff but she’s still holding very strong. The top picture is what you start with. I use 15’ of 1/4” amsteel cut it to 6’ for the short piece and 9’ for the long piece. I measure out 42” on the long piece then the 14” for the eye. Fold it back and bunch it up for the locked Brummell. I then bury the entire splice and cut the outer piece 4” longer than the bury. When I am done splicing it, I pull the free tag end back into itself as well to lock the thread in. This allows you to not use heat shrink to secure the ends if you don’t want to. I start with 22” on the short piece plus the same 14” for the eye. Make the Brummell again then splice the bury, again leaving the cover piece 4” longer than the inner piece (core). I pull the free end back into itself. Since you aren’t selling yours and having to worry about ridiculous “patent pending” nonsense, you could go ahead and just cut the core and the cover even and heat shrink the ends. Double Girth hitch the eyes onto your bridge loops and tie the Blake’s hitch. I have even came up with a way to make it an openable bridge that still holds your position on the bridge loops if that is preferred.
My second short bridge is girth hitched on one end with a biner on the other…..I keep it hooked on my right side til I’m ready for it. My main bridge is long and I use it for climbing (1stick) and hanging out at height. When it’s time to rappel I add my belay device and connect to the short bridge . This allows me to switch over without ever untethering and is very simple.
This year I've been climbing exclusively on my one adjustable Oplux bridge on my CGM Sidewinder with Amsteel prusiks for the bridge length adjustment and it has worked fine. Last year I hunted mostly out of the Tactisaddle and added an adjustable Amsteel bridge to it using that for one sticking and then using the stock webbing bridge once at hunting height to hunt from. Two reasons for this.... first, it gave me confidence. Second, I could really torque down the amsteel adjustable bridge keeping it very short to aide in one-sticking and then once at HH I didn't have to bother with the adjustment. I just went to the webbing bridge which the length was perfect for me to hunt from. I think I didn't want to use my bridge for both one sticking and hunting as I felt it would beat on them too much. That was just me building up my confidence in the system. But now I just use the one adjustable bridge and have had no qualms whatsoever.
