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Tether handle

Scott F

Scott F

Well-Known Member
Joined
Feb 15, 2015
Messages
766
Location
Tampa, Florida
Okay, I have an idea and need to know if this will work or is the concept only working in my head...

To start, I am waiting on a Treehopper 20HC to use as the bottom portion of a climber in a similar fashion to a LWHC, I just ordered it last night. It is rated for 400 lbs and admittedly weighs more than a LWHC, but it is alright by me at ~8 lbs and appears to have less issues that require mods. I will use this when hunting pines and other poker straight, limbless trees.

My question is, what I can use as the upper portion of my climber, which leads me to the point of this thread. I want to use a lone wolf stick cut off or similar aluminum rod/tube as a handle that I will attach to my tether via prusik or other friction knot. In my head I can 'tether up' when I first step up on the platform with the tether as high as I can reach, then attach this handlebar (tetherbar? hahaha) via friction hitch to use as a means to pull my legs up. Rinse and repeat until I am at height.

?Will this tether handle concept work or am I imagining success too soon?

I know Mark sent a video to me using some climbing aid he sold with his Quick and Quiet Treestands that was a short length of pipe with a rope running through the ends. He girth hitched it to the tree and oriented the handle as if he stabbed the trunk (not laid flat against the trunk) and worked his climbing base up the tree; for those that don't know Mark he is in great shape and this method would likely be physically demanding to some. It was slick and must have been light; certainly was compact because you could easily fit it in a side pouch on your pack. I figured I can use his concept and employ a tether at the same time for safety.

?Has this been tried, did it work?
 
Use a tether with the JRB ascender hitch with a carabiner handle. It really works.
 
@John RB - you have a great option with your JRB Hitch, but I don't think I need it in the application I think I am looking for. I always like watching your videos nonetheless; learn something each time.

My goal is to have a small prusik knot attached to my tether that I can clip a small handle to, in order to simply gain a handle to pull on as I advance my climbing base up the tree - it doesn't need to be able to slide easily at all because it's placement on the tether will not dramatically shift even if the tree diameter reduces significantly as I climb (as is the case with most Cypress Trees). The advantage of your 'toggle' included in the hitch could serve me well as the handle itself, but I was thinking of a small prusik attached to my tether that will remain on the tether 100% of the time. When I want to climb I would simply clip a carabineer on the prusik and attach that to a fixed loop of rope/webbing/amsteel that runs through my handle.

When I am standing on my platform/climber base I would clip this handle on the prusik, raise it to as high as I can reach, and start ascending.
 
Scott F said:
@John RB - you have a great option with your JRB Hitch, but I don't think I need it in the application I think I am looking for. I always like watching your videos nonetheless; learn something each time.

My goal is to have a small prusik knot attached to my tether that I can clip a small handle to, in order to simply gain a handle to pull on as I advance my climbing base up the tree - it doesn't need to be able to slide easily at all because it's placement on the tether will not dramatically shift even if the tree diameter reduces significantly as I climb (as is the case with most Cypress Trees). The advantage of your 'toggle' included in the hitch could serve me well as the handle itself, but I was thinking of a small prusik attached to my tether that will remain on the tether 100% of the time. When I want to climb I would simply clip a carabineer on the prusik and attach that to a fixed loop of rope/webbing/amsteel that runs through my handle.

When I am standing on my platform/climber base I would clip this handle on the prusik, raise it to as high as I can reach, and start ascending.
Click to expand...
Take a look at the Bachmann friction hitch!!

Sent from my SM-G975U using Tapatalk
 
Scott F said:
I know Mark sent a video to me using some climbing aid he sold with his Quick and Quiet Treestands that was a short length of pipe with a rope running through the ends. He girth hitched it to the tree and oriented the handle as if he stabbed the trunk (not laid flat against the trunk) and worked his climbing base up the tree; for those that don't know Mark he is in great shape and this method would likely be physically demanding to some. It was slick and must have been light; certainly was compact because you could easily fit it in a side pouch on your pack. I figured I can use his concept and employ a tether at the same time for safety.
Click to expand...
Scott, do you have a link to Mark's video?
 
Nah, sorry.
He sent it in a personal email and I am not sure what service he used but I looked it up just the other day and the link has expired. I'll reach out to him and ask if he can send it again and I'll push it to you.
 
I used to do something similar to this. There was a commercially available handle that kind of looked like a water ski handle. It slipped in a webbing tether that had loops sewn in to adjust for different tree diameters. This allowed me to make much bigger moves up the tree than the how most of us climb with the LWHC and saddle now. I wouldn’t do it now because bigger moves equal more slack in your tether.
I decided that more moves is worth a little more time and effort in the name of safety.

To answer your question, though- it worked great.
 
Put some webbing or cover in the eye to keep it from untying when not used, can cinch it up to keep tether loop from wanting to opening up, large carabiner for handle.
1E3768B4-6740-46BC-B425-AC5EE31FBB55.png
 
mtsrunner said:
I used to do something similar to this. There was a commercially available handle that kind of looked like a water ski handle. It slipped in a webbing tether that had loops sewn in to adjust for different tree diameters. This allowed me to make much bigger moves up the tree than the how most of us climb with the LWHC and saddle now. I wouldn’t do it now because bigger moves equal more slack in your tether.
I decided that more moves is worth a little more time and effort in the name of safety.

To answer your question, though- it worked great.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the suggestion, I value your experience, I think we all do on this forum. (althought I am still mad about your Edgun...still want one)

I may try it out with a simple webbing sling to see if that style of climbing is for me. If it works I will just make a special-purposed climbing aid because I love to DIY nearly anything. For what it is worth I was already planning on using a RCH as I practice this along with my harness because the RCH it is made for a fall, and is one of the only things I have that isn't:
-heavily modified
-DIY
-or both...
 
Scott F said:
Thanks for the suggestion, I value your experience, I think we all do on this forum. (althought I am still mad about your Edgun...still want one)

I may try it out with a simple webbing sling to see if that style of climbing is for me. If it works I will just make a special-purposed climbing aid because I love to DIY nearly anything. For what it is worth I was already planning on using a RCH as I practice this along with my harness because the RCH it is made for a fall, and is one of the only things I have that isn't:
-heavily modified
-DIY
-or both...
Click to expand...

Thanks. The Leshiy is a lot of fun.
Now that I think about it, there is no reason that I had to make such big moves up the tree and introduce that much slack when using that climbing aid.
 
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