• The SH Membership has gone live. Only SH Members have access to post in the classifieds. All members can view the classifieds. Starting in 2020 only SH Members will be admitted to the annual hunting contest. Current members will need to follow these steps to upgrade: 1. Click on your username 2. Click on Account upgrades 3. Choose SH Member and purchase.
  • We've been working hard the past few weeks to come up with some big changes to our vendor policies to meet the changing needs of our community. Please see the new vendor rules here: Vendor Access Area Rules

No stick climbing with aider

justsomedude

justsomedude

Well-Known Member
Joined
Sep 10, 2014
Messages
2,514
Location
Nashville, TN
IMG_0963.JPG
The disadvantage to this method is that unlike climbing sticks, steps, etc you have to climb up and down every time. Don't forget anything on the ground! Advantage....it's just the weight of a tether and an aider. You can carry a saddle and this rig in a pack and ground hunt if you want to and then break out the tree rig if you want. NICE.

I haven't tried this on a fatter tree. I haven't tried it with the Sit Drag. Used an Aero

Yale Bandit Tether wrapped once around tree (for easy up and down) Pear shaped locking biner backup clipped into tail of tether Fig 8 on a bight and a Ropeman 1

Foot tether is Assault Line wrapped once, locked into a Prusik and the tag end of the tether. Black Diamond 5 step aider clipped onto the biner.

Put a leash on your aider with paracord or something so you can't drop it. A daisy chain and a single loop as a backup would get you down in an emergency. The daisy chain is good to have on hand anyway (more on that later).

Using the Aider is MUCH faster than one foot loop as you don't have to do as many rope moves to inchworm up the tree.
The Aider is 5 feet long. Set your main tether as high as you can reach and the foot tether just below that where it won't get stuck when the top tether gets loaded. Shorten your bridge if you can. Let the rope man out so you can clip in at ground level.
Attach your lineman belt loosely around the tree and make sure the Aider isn't twisted.

Climb up a few steps on the aider and you can already start to move the top tether up. Take out the slack on the rope man so you would be supported if you fell or needed to adjust something. Tighten the linesmans belt enough to start to be useful if you need it.

Climb to the top step of the aider and push the top tether up as high as you can and adjust your ropeman so you can hang there. Now with the Top Tether supporting you, take your feet out of the aider and you can slide the Foot Tether all the way up under where your top tether is. The bottom step of the Aider should be right by your feet and will be easy to get into (the first foot anyway).

Use your Lineman's belt to your advantage when you are moving the top tether. Move your top tether as you are halfway up the aider and again when you are at the top. That way, if you want to rest you can just hang from the top tether and then start again.

TIP: Before you extend onto the top step of the aider and go up on one foot, loosen the top tether so it is ready to go when you and up. It is fatiguing to mess around with that while standing on one foot.

The hardest part to all of this is getting used to fishing your feet into the Aider. You have to stand on one leg in the aider to get the most extension. Your foot needs to be nice and deep into the aider and your foot needs to press STRAIGHT DOWN. Not uncomfortable at all in decent boots.

If you need to pass a branch, simply clip into a daisy chain wile you first move the top tether past the branch.

You do need some leg strength for this. But it is basically the same as when you go to set your tether after climbing.
I don't find it any more fatiguing than carrying and setting up sticks . EASIER than screw in steps. A LOT easier than carrying my old boat anchor climbing stand.
 
Last edited:
Tried that last yr, didn't go well. Aide was too close to tree and nothing but back of tree to hold onto. Might work for others.
 
kenn1320 said:
Tried that last yr, didn't go well. Aide was too close to tree and nothing but back of tree to hold onto. Might work for others.
Click to expand...
It was your posture causing that problem. You don't want to lean back.
Sometimes you just need to turn the aider a little to get the loop to stick out. Others on here have modded aiders to keep them more open.
 
justsomedude said:
It was your posture causing that problem. You don't want to lean back.
Sometimes you just need to turn the aider a little to get the loop to stick out. Others on here have modded aiders to keep them more open.
Click to expand...

Might have been. I got kick outs and with nothing to hold onto it didn't feel safe at 6ft, let alone 20+. Ive had lots of issues with aiders, others haven't. Ill have to look at my body position like you said.
 
I used a black diamond 5 step, very difficult to get in/out of for me. Im more of an inline ladder guy. Lol. I wanted this to work for me cause the advantage seemed huge, just didn't. Ill have to look at my posture like you said.
 
Try it at ground level. You want to get your hip above your foot before you put weight on it.
Drive your foot straight down while keeping your weight directly above your foot. With practice, you learn how to relax and only use the muscles you need to hold your self up. It's interesting to watch a REALLY good climber and how easy they make it look. They are extremely strong but they also know where to put their center of gravity and which muscles to use.
 
Last edited:
By the way....the ultralight version of this is on YouTube. The guy tied up his own aider and it has more steps in it than you would often need. The whole thing is webbing and he just girth hitches it on a tree. On a bigger tree some of the steps are wrapped around the treee, on a smaller tree the aider hangs down lower. The upside is that it doesn't use a carabiner and is all one piece.

The downside is that with constant use, the webbing would start to fuzz up. Assault line will likely last longer in this application than my body will :)

I have done this using a heavy duty Yates daisy chain instead of the tether and it works well. But most of us already have an extra tether
 
Good to know. I'm looking forward to trying it! I already had a 5 step etrier but have yet to find a single climbing stick to buy to hook the aider too.

It still seems like one stick with the aider would be a bit easier since the aider would not be right up against the tree, but I bet with a little open minded practice your method is manageable.

Thanks for the write up.
 
When I first tried this a few years ago I was only using a single foot loop...you just couldn't move very far at a time and I gave it up. But this way it seems like a viable option. If I am going to carry a climbing stick, I think I would just go ahead and carry a set. I generally only climb 15'...my goal isn't to climb higher, but I like not having to carry an extra 12-15 pounds
 
If you watch this guy's video, he isn't putting his foot deep enough into the loop :)
But it works
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="
" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
 
TIP: On slanted trees, you will swing towards the back slanted side (remember gravity?) when you stand on the aider. Set up on the front or the back....not in between or you'll swing sideways
 
Last edited:
Update: I just did a slanted tree to see how big of a pain it was. Took me 15 minutes to climb up, look around a minute and then climb back down. This is definitely a skill you have to learn....but when you are at your best, it isn't hard. When you're not, it is tiring
 
Thanks for the info justsomedude! I have been playing with the one stick method for a few years and have always been concerned about loosing a kidney if I slipped and fell on to one of the metal foot pegs during a climb... No metal on an aider seems safer in this regard .... Has anyone or would you be willing to post all the different measurements of your aider? I have enough webbing to sew one up. I have tried making one with knots like (diysportsman youtube video) but it never seems to hang right. Thanks
 
Last edited:
I experimented with this technique for a little while sunday evening. It works fine, but I was a SWEATY MESS and had only climbed about 10 feet. I'm hoping it gets better with practice. But in fairness, for the last 10 years I climbed trees with Sport Climber tree climbing gaffs- that always made me sweat pretty good also.
 
I never gave the aider alone a really solid chance. I used it a couple times scouting in the spring, and every time I had the thought "what am I doing? Could save so much time by just carrying a couple sticks". Even now, I still look at it as a tradeoff that will work for some but not everyone. Where I hunt, 10-15 feet is the norm. And multiple branches on the way up are more the rule than the exception. So it never really works out in my favor to use the aider over packing two sticks. But I think it still has value in the right circumstances. It definitely favors those with leg strength and balance.

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk
 
Passing branches is pretty easy if...instead of girth hitching your tethers, clip the line on itself with the carabiner. If you clip the wrong direction (non locking) the rope can pull your carabiner open. Also note that ropes will slip down the tree easily when unweighted

Any way, the carabiner instead of girth Hitch makes it easy to unclip and reattach above the limb. And because I'm using long aiders, it's easy to set the foot tether above the branch and climb past it.

My main attraction to ultralight climbing methods is that I often ground hunt and might want the option of getting in a tree.
 
So I've messed with this a little more.

This entire rig with Harness, sitdrag, tether,aider/tether, descender, ameristep platform, linesmans belt and all biners and ropeman weighs 8lbs.

Could easily shave 2-3 pounds with careful biner selection and 8mm Canyon rope and by rigging a Linesmans belt on my harness (I use a Treehopper).

That is everything needed to climb any tree you can reach your arms around, as high as you have energy for, hunt and get back down. Not bad!

Just did a practice run on a crooked tree.
I had my tether chin high at 23' in about 6 minutes. Hung out for a few, switched to rappel and was back down by 10 minutes.

I FORGOT my Linesman's belt which would have made it easier...oh well.

GEAR:
Alpine Bod,
30' (after knots) Yale Bandit Tether, Ropeman, Petzl William Biner
8' (after knots) Assault Line Tether, Prusik, Neutrobiner, Black Diamond 5 Step Etrier
Sterling ATS Descender and Petal Attache Biner, Biner and Sterling Hollow Block (for Auto Block)

From the ground you set the tether as high as you can reach and the Aider tether just below it.
For each 'move' you want to move the aider up as high as you can reach which will put the bottom step near your feet.

Rather than trying to 'step' into the aider, just grab the top of the aider in your hands and pull it onto your feet and then stand up. EASY.

During descent I just clipped the etrier on a gear loop so it was there if I needed it for self rescue during rappel.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top