expanding climbing stick

[Scott F]

Alright - who here is going to invent a set of climbing sticks that extend out to full length, but retract back down to a manageable size for packing in/out of the woods? Lots of folks buy sticks only to cut and modify them to a more easily packable unit. Etriers are nice, and they do work, but I am still lugging some LW sticks to climb trees with.

I can imagine something like the bottom portion of a set of crutches, but instead of the ol' pin and spring, it may have a cotter pin or other grade 8 bolt alternative. If I had two or three of these, each with a 4-5 step etrier attached that collapses to about 18" long but extends to 30" or so...

First of all, does this already exist?
If not, what are the downsides to trying this? Weight, noise, safety, etc??

I am living in an apartment right now as a geographical bachelor because I've pushed my family out as advanced party to my soon-to-occur retirement so I can't do this (afflicted with no-tool syndrome). Someone should make these so we can all murder board the concept, then I can make a personal bootleg copy when I am reunited with some tools!!

 

[justsomedude]

You would want the 'batwings' on the extended sections for stability. Loose cotter pins would be a hassle but spring loaded pins would be great. I think the only way it would be worth it is if you could carry at least one less stick because of the expandability. Theres no way to keep the weight down and it would be a bummer to have heavier sticks just so they could be smaller when carrying them.

For it to be worth it, I would think it needs to have 3 long steps...a 60" stick would be getting crazy

3 60" sticks with 20" in between gets you up 20'.

4 Lonewolf sticks won't get you quite that high unless you add aiders

 

[justsomedude]

Do you use long aiders on sticks? Transitioning back and forth from sticks to aiders felt bad to me. I might try it again though.

 

[Scott F]

I'd only want (3x) sticks, the challenge for me is the length of each stick because it makes it difficult to negotiate through any thick stuff. Hunting field edges or walking down a well groomed path as you see on TV is easy, hunting fairly deep on public land or in my case on a Marine Corps Base is a different animal - the sticks may not be loud but my cussing from getting caught on every branch seems to scare away the deer I am trying to kill !!

My last season I had a 2 step strap on my bottom LW stick, and an additional single foot strap on the other two sticks. I can get high enough to hunt, and really don't care to get my @$$ higher than 20 feet in a tree. (lol) I just think it would be very convenient to have sticks that are easier to carry in (read as: compact) but extend to about the normal length stick when you use them (read as: ~32")

Re: the weight issue, I can carry a house on my back so it isn't really a concern but I wanted to put it out there for the ounce-counters among us. I started down that lane with some backpacking plans but quickly snapped back to my own comfort zone. I wondered if the stick would have to be made out of thicker walled aluminum or some other material to handle the stress of being compactable.

 

[redsquirrel]

Being compact can sometimes be a positive tradeoff vs weight IMO.

 

[justsomedude]

I HATE my current climbing sticks because they don't pack well (Big GameX) so I am biased against "weight" but it is actually the packability that is the real issue for me. It causes me to look for creative ways to not use sticks.

For a fun experiment....hang one aider on a cam strap and practice climbing it.

 

[EricS]

It would be relatively easy to add an extendable step to the bottom of a large ne wolf stick. The problem would be the hardwear that runs through the stick to attach steps and batwings. They would have to be welded on by someone who really knew what they were doing. Then they wouldn't pivot to match the tree. You would also add as much weight as another stick by the time you put an extra step on each stick.

 

[kyler1945]

One stick climbing with homemade two step aider was a royal pain in the first half of season 1. Second half of season one (10 hunts in maybe), I started to notice muscle memory taking over. Second season I flew up the tree. Same with SRT - RADS. I felt like a newborn horse the first few times, the next 5 or so went much smoother. Fortunately I started ahead of the season and will be well practiced when it rolls around.

Our bodies are pretty amazing. Honestly it was a lot like snow skiing for me. Year one to year two difference was huge. By year three i actually had fun. My initial reaction to the distaste for aiders is that they don't fit your stride/you haven't practiced enough/aren't confident and instinctive enough yet.

https://www.amazon.com/Xtend-Climb-...1503436072&sr=8-3&keywords=telescoping+ladder



This weighs 36 lbs and gets you to 15.5'.

If you beef up one tube to support the full body weight of a person, you're probably close to doubling the wall of the tubing, and arriving at same weight. You'd save some on whatever step mechanism because it now would have one connection point. A safe bet puts you shaving 5-7lbs at best.

I don't think there is a lighter, more packable, more versatile solid component than the sticks available today.

 

[justsomedude]

Kyler

That's how one aider climbing was for me. I haven't been practicing though....

 

[Scott F]

That ladder is pretty slick, but it isn't really what I was trying to explain -- maybe it was.
I use (3x) LW sticks with some etriers. I would really like to use sticks that aren't fixed at 32" long or whatever they are. If I could shorten these to about 20" or so, they would be much easier to handle with my homemade universal strap carrying system that I like to use.

Maybe a better option for me is to just cut them in half and use a longer etrier on each one to achieve the same height in a tree. I just don't want to sacrifice them and upset some balance point that I am unaware of right now. I'm sure there are better sticks out there that would suit my 'wants', I'm just too frugal to buy them when my LW sticks work.

 

[kyler1945]

That ladder is pretty slick, but it isn't really what I was trying to explain -- maybe it was.
I use (3x) LW sticks with some etriers. I would really like to use sticks that aren't fixed at 32" long or whatever they are. If I could shorten these to about 20" or so, they would be much easier to handle with my homemade universal strap carrying system that I like to use.

Maybe a better option for me is to just cut them in half and use a longer etrier on each one to achieve the same height in a tree. I just don't want to sacrifice them and upset some balance point that I am unaware of right now. I'm sure there are better sticks out there that would suit my 'wants', I'm just too frugal to buy them when my LW sticks work.

Got it. Ok, lets start with a 30" stick. You'd add a third tree V at 15", and have the top 15" of stick slide inside of the lower portion. It would have a thumb knob or spring pin to click in place when you slide it up to 30" length. Here's the problem: It does what you want, but it weighs as much as two 15" sticks. Two 15" sticks get you 60" off the ground (with 15" spacing), and one 30" stick gets you 45" off the ground.

Telescoping gives up versatility, and height.

 

[Scott F]

Good idea. The weight isn't an issue, just the trouble busting the bush while carrying sticks.
Thanks for the post, I seriously want to try to build something like this someday...when I am reunited with my tools. Dadgum it.

 

[EricS]

That ladder is pretty slick, but it isn't really what I was trying to explain -- maybe it was.
I use (3x) LW sticks with some etriers. I would really like to use sticks that aren't fixed at 32" long or whatever they are. If I could shorten these to about 20" or so, they would be much easier to handle with my homemade universal strap carrying system that I like to use.

Maybe a better option for me is to just cut them in half and use a longer etrier on each one to achieve the same height in a tree. I just don't want to sacrifice them and upset some balance point that I am unaware of right now. I'm sure there are better sticks out there that would suit my 'wants', I'm just too frugal to buy them when my LW sticks work.

I wouldn't cut up my lone wolf sticks. If you do you would need to move the versa button to keep the same percentage of weight on the top and bottom bat wing. If all you cared about was shorter you could probably find a piece of tubing that will fit tightly over the existing tubing and cut the bottom section off and make it a two piece stick that pins together. It could possibly be noisy when climbing and you would have six short sticks to keep from bumping into each other instead of three. If you are hunting with a bow or rifle you are already carrying something as long or longer than the sticks. It would probably be easier to find a way to carry them in a way that your happy with than make them easier to carry. Or look into just using etrier to climb. Maybe with a small aluminum standoff to make it easier to get your foot in.

 

[Bigterp]

Alright - who here is going to invent a set of climbing sticks that extend out to full length, but retract back down to a manageable size for packing in/out of the woods? Lots of folks buy sticks only to cut and modify them to a more easily packable unit. Etriers are nice, and they do work, but I am still lugging some LW sticks to climb trees with.

I can imagine something like the bottom portion of a set of crutches, but instead of the ol' pin and spring, it may have a cotter pin or other grade 8 bolt alternative. If I had two or three of these, each with a 4-5 step etrier attached that collapses to about 18" long but extends to 30" or so...

First of all, does this already exist?
If not, what are the downsides to trying this? Weight, noise, safety, etc??

I am living in an apartment right now as a geographical bachelor because I've pushed my family out as advanced party to my soon-to-occur retirement so I can't do this (afflicted with no-tool syndrome). Someone should make these so we can all murder board the concept, then I can make a personal bootleg copy when I am reunited with some tools!!

Ok, I bought an API pack master (see pic below) & liked it ok , but it was a bit cumbersome to carry through the woods. The bottom section telescopes out like your describing. Maybe I could dig it out & see how it's made & possibly cut the stand off the top.......... I'll let you know how that goes

 

[Scott F]

Holy huge thing on his back!

When I started this post I was talking about a way to get a 32" climbing stick down to about 20" or so. I wasn't referring to a whole 20'(+) telescopic stick!

Perhaps my best option (next season) would be to get smaller sticks and just aider-them-up, or think about other climbing options (a la Stepps).

Then again, like many others I'm still waiting on Eberharts' 2018 Cranford promise...

 

[EricS]

Aiders are going to be the easiest way to extend a short stick. I like the stepps and will try to use them exclusively when solo hunting just to give them a fair chance. My lone wolf sticks are spending this winter in the shed but they are definitely not for sale. They are long but pound for pound they get you higher faster than any other stick or step when comparing apples to apples.