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For you guys that rappell down your tree....

justsomedude said:
For the quick and dirty...could I just put a cover on the girthed part of the rope like a sleeve style friction saver?
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Sure....and for cheap diy you could use (hollow) tubular webbing for your protector.
Im an old hand to rope work but im brand new to using ropes in gear for tree saddle hunting. My Trophy Line brand Tree Saddle came with super heavy duty military webbing for both the tether and Linemans belt. Im just now on a rope tether and need to make a rope L belt. Anywho:

I dont know if when you get on the ground and begin to pull the rope down if the girthed loop will loosen and let the loop slide all the way down the tree. If it would....yeah the rope protector would prevent the rope from being abraded. And that might be the case on a really smooth barked tree. But im betting id never be so lucky as to have it happen that way.

I bet the rope will get stuck on the bark and not come down out of the tree till you pull all your line down out of the biner...then it would come down. And pulling the whole rope down out of the tree would/could abrade your whole rope. Which is not the end of the world, it just means youll sooner need to replace it.
 
justsomedude said:
Oh yeah...

8mm single rope should be OK on an ATC right? The only extra rope I have right now is dynamic climbing rope. It'll work but it is heavier and springier than I need for this. I think I'll only need 30' including knots and an extra safe tail (figure descending 20')
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Its up to you to decide what is safe and has enough saftey factor built in.

For me and me alone at my 250lb body weight I would feel confident and safe to rappel on an 8mm rope that was in good shape and had been properly cared for.

Per your question about using the ATC I *think* you'll have enough friction for a safe easily controllable decent using the ATC with 8mm.

Experiment....see if the atc provides adequate friction with the 8mm from/off a very low something.
 
The specs for ATC say it is good for 8mm. I've only used it with Assault line and my climbing rope.

I was thinking about getting some Petzl 8mm Conga technical hiking line. Treestuff might have a better option though
 
justsomedude said:
The specs for ATC say it is good for 8mm. I've only used it with Assault line and my climbing rope.

I was thinking about getting some Petzl 8mm Conga technical hiking line. Treestuff might have a better option though
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Cool.
But IF 8mm is the minium your ATC is rated for or near the minimum I'd still experiment with it from a safe level.

Have fun youll do great!
 
I haven't tried rigging an Autoblock on the NewTribe but I think it should work ok. Even for a short descent, I might want one. Especially if I need to pause to remove installed gear on the way down.
 
One trick to figure out...you have to lower yourself a bit to remove your platform. But then you can't stand up to unweight your tether for descent. You would need to already be on your descent rig before you take off your platform (unless you had aiders or something to stand on).

How do you guys address this?
 
justsomedude said:
One trick to figure out...you have to lower yourself a bit to remove your platform. But then you can't stand up to unweight your tether for descent. You would need to already be on your descent rig before you take off your platform (unless you had aiders or something to stand on).

How do you guys address this?
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Im climbing with my tether and just an aider.(until my 1 helium stick arrives in the mail.)
With climbing with a tether and aider I just climb down to my platform on the aider. I hook up my L belt and unrig the platform and stow it in the bag on my tree saddle belt. I unhook and stow my L belt and climb down with the girthed aider and tether.
For 10 years I used tree climbing gaffs and the L belt to climb. That was easy. Stomp the gaffs in the tree just below the platform. Hook up your L belt and untether. Climb down to the platform with the L belt and gaffs. Unhook and stow the platform and climb on down.
If I was rappelling out of the tree... Id get my weight on the rappel line then untether.
I'd rappel down to where I could work with my platform..and lock off my decender so I could work hands free off the decender allowing me to unhook and stow the platform with both hands.
If your using an ATC for rappelling you simply take a leg a wrap it around the rope hanging below you a bunch of times terminating with the rope below you running down the inside of your boot and off the instep. Then you place the the sole of the other boot flat footed against your other boot with the rope pressed into the boot of the leg your rope is wrapped around. Its safe. I have worked on rope many times this way and at great heights.

If your rappeling with a fig.8 decendar its even easier. All you do is make a upward hopping motion with your weight and bring the brake rope up, over and to the complete other side of the decender effectively hitching it off. Then you can work hands free to unhook and stow your platform.

Yeah I know folks will need a pic or vid of how to lock off an 8 decender....
I'll look it up and post something next.
Locking off - figure eight: http://youtu.be/YQoUejJaVaE

This shows a FULL lock. I have never had to use a full lick. A "half lock" has always held me fine. When you pull the brake hand up and over to the other side that is the half lock. Wether you need full lock or half lock depends on how much friction your getting in your system.
Experiment with your set up and see if half lock suffices or if you need full lock.

Hope this helped,
Umbra
 
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justsomedude said:
So if I ran an Autoblock with my ATC I would just do that. Got it
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No need to spend the money unless you just want to...a leg wrap is perfectly safe freeing both hands from an ATC. I describe it above.
Either way... Good luck on your next hunt.
 
justsomedude said:
One trick to figure out...you have to lower yourself a bit to remove your platform. But then you can't stand up to unweight your tether for descent. You would need to already be on your descent rig before you take off your platform (unless you had aiders or something to stand on).

How do you guys address this?
Click to expand...
I can generally take my platform off with one hand while hanging, but you can also anchor your brake hand to your harness.
 
Depending on your comfort level, you can also do a body lock. Wrap the tag your rope several times around your leg. You see a lot of guys do this to clean anchors rock climbing (including myself before I updated my gear). Or just cinch yourself tight to the tree with your linemans belt. Lots of options. Just need to find something you feel safe and comfortable with.
 
OK...just got to play for a few minutes.

5 Step aider on an ameristep strap. Climbing rope with a Fig 8 on a bight with a Carabiner clipped in the end.
Climbed to top of aider and attached Linesman's belt.
Ran Climbing rope around tree and clipped carabiner to the rope and clipped Bow tow rope onto carabiner.
Rigged rope to ATC and clipped onto shortened bridge).
You have to keep tension on the climbing rope with this setup as it will easily slip down the tree until it gets loaded.

I repelled down the tree pausing to undo the ameristep strap one handed (I will have an auto block for sure).

After on the ground, I just tugged the bow rope to the side a few times and the rope fell down. I tried it on a few trees. EASY.
The only ones that would hang up are the shagbark hickory which I avoid anyway....you'll get BANGED ON THE HEAD this time of year from falling nuts. Thousands in my yard....

Will get some static line and I think it will be easier..this rope was stretchy
 
Stuck working. Want to put pictures on this thread but stuck with google. This is one popular option I didn't mention.

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Here is a good basic video that shows a few ways to slow your descent, Z Brake etc...
And with an adjustable bridge, we can do 'extended Rappel' to sharpen the angle on the ATC
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="
" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
 
What he calls an extended rappel, is what I've always called a spider rappel. Just to clarify my post above on how to improve friction on on cold icy ropes.
 
How about using a Petzle Piranha... this looks super easy hook up, and to lock down. All you need to engage it is a loop through it and the carabiner, rather than needing ends. It has 3 friction levels, and seems to be easy to tie off...




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
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