Killbilly
New Member
I believe a prusik type hitch on the tether above the rope man is the safest way to back up the rope man. Make up the prusik to have a longer loop then normal and leave it slightly loose in carabiner to prevent prusik from loading up with weight applied this allows for plenty of ropeman adjustment. If a ropeman were to somehow come apart from the pin/bolt that holds the thing together, a loop in the end of a tether ran back into a biner would do nothing as you would no longer be attached to the rope at all. On a side note if you are using a eye on the end of your tether to put back into a biner, I feel a alpine butterfly knot tied in the tether is a safer option because the distance of drop can be lessened verses using a loop way at the end of your tether with a lot of slack(especially on smaller diameter trees where less tether is consumed). Each time you setup in a tree tie the not at your lowest preferred sitting/leaning height and you can adjust up from there, my prusik is long enough to get 7-8 inches of one handed operation out of ropeman before having to slide the prusik up the tether further allowing the ropeman to advance up the line. Pull the tag end raise up 7” ,slide the prusik up, pull the tag end again raise up, slide prusik. Prusik never gets loaded so it move easy.
