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Simple SRT video

celestialproduct said:
Did my first ascend on my rather large tree in my backyard using just a prusik and "sling"(aka climbing webbing with a water knot)

One thing was it was kinda hard to throw a line. I used Paracord and I needed my muddy carabiner to get it over the crotch of my tree. At first I had a small lighter carabiner on there but it wouldn't make any distance. My wife laughed at me. I will need to sew up a throw bag.

First impressions is I love this method! Quiet and fast. I was able to make it up over 10' with minimal effort and sweat. I thought it was going to be hard being it's all friction knots. Boy was I wrong.

Im not in the greatest of shape unless you consider round. I'm 5'6/7"ish and over 180lbs. Yup! A certified chubster who loves french fries. The "hardest" part to get used to(2-3step ups) was standing up straight with the sling. You have to commit 110% and trust your gear and kinda just have to give the rope a good humpin'.

So without all the fancy ascenders, it's very doable for little cost.

Thank you jcline84 for posting those videos and donnieballgame for all the tips and answering newb questions. You both are definitely an asset to the community.

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A throw bag would be easy to diy. I'm just wondering if paracord would work well enough to use as throw line. Throw line is super slick and slides over limbs so well but man does it tangle if you dont practice good rope management. I may have to try some paracord just to see how it works for our relatively short throws while saddle hunting
 
JCLINE and Donnie-

Would appreciate your input on your progression once you reach your hunting height. I assume, after you set your foot platform, whatever that is, that you attach your lineman's belt and set your tether before disconnecting from your grigri? Thank you for the post, I'm absolutely going to incorporate this method into the rotation! Love this site...
 
JCLINE84 said:
A throw bag would be easy to diy. I'm just wondering if paracord would work well enough to use as throw line. Throw line is super slick and slides over limbs so well but man does it tangle if you dont practice good rope management. I may have to try some paracord just to see how it works for our relatively short throws while saddle hunting
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I use one of these hand fishing reels to manage my throw line. Helps with tangles and weighs nothing.
https://www.amazon.com/Challenge-50...=1540581341&sr=8-6&keywords=hand+fishing+reel
 
Todd said:
JCLINE and Donnie-

Would appreciate your input on your progression once you reach your hunting height. I assume, after you set your foot platform, whatever that is, that you attach your lineman's belt and set your tether before disconnecting from your grigri? Thank you for the post, I'm absolutely going to incorporate this method into the rotation! Love this site...
Click to expand...
I SRT up to the height I want my platform and attach it then SRT on up to where I can stand on my platform. I put my lineman belt around the tree then I put my tether on the tree and attach it to my normal bridge. I then adjust my tether to where I want it. After that I loosen and unclip from the SRT system and put it all away in my backpack. When I'm done hunting I put my climbing rope back on the tree and set up my SRT system. I clip into my SRT system and tighten it enough to load the rope and take the weight off of my tether. I unclip from my tether and take it off the tree. Now I'm ready to rappel down. I rappel far enough to stop and take my platform off the tree and drop it to the ground. I use a ring of ameristeps. Then I rappel to the ground.
 
JCLINE84 said:
A throw bag would be easy to diy. I'm just wondering if paracord would work well enough to use as throw line. Throw line is super slick and slides over limbs so well but man does it tangle if you dont practice good rope management. I may have to try some paracord just to see how it works for our relatively short throws while saddle hunting
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I suspect the lack of slipperyness is what'll give you the most trouble with paracord. Even with the short throws it may require a heavier bag. Back before the wide variety of throw lines that are available now, I picked up a new line on the market that was more supple than the commonly used "slick line" at the time so it could more easily be stored in a line mug. It was more paracordish in it's feel and turned out to be a big pain in the neck to use. It somehow managed to find every possible twig on the jobsite to tangle on :D. Paracord is cheap though, it would be worth a try to see if it works for hunting purposes.

I can't find a video demonstrating it, probably because it's pretty old school these days, but the throwline technique I first learned was handcoiling slickline. You don't throw it off the ground as is the standard technique these days. Handcoiling worked because the line was large enough diameter and stiff enough that you could throw it off your hand and not tangle. You can't throw it super high that way but for shorter throws it worked fine. Looking at the current slick line that's available, the description says they've made it more supple that the original line. I don't know by how much and whether it can still be handcoiled effectively but maybe I can make a video with the old line to show how it's done.
 
The only thing I can suggest in addition to your setup is when getting ready to descend out a small Prussic near your girth loop(back several inches) and put your retrieval biner through it. This makes retrieval over limbs or rough bark trees a breeze. This makes the retrieval prussic and girth hitch come out parallel and friction is greatly reduced. I have had quite a few lines stuck in trees and have had to climb back up and get them a lot higher than the heights we typically climb for hunting(rec tree climbing).
 
sheesh, lurking around this place is dangerous. I read this and the related thread and must have blacked out. I woke up and have more rope, throw line and bag, and a mad rock safeguard on the way.

It's pretty rare for me to get more than 12 ft off the ground, just based on the trees we have here in North Texas and Oklahoma where I hunt. The ability to preset trees with just some paracord has me really thinking. And based off of your video, for the heights I need to get to, I think srt will be quicker, let me climb more trees without pruning, and be as quiet or quieter than I am with the WE stepps.

planning on using one of my ropeman's and some tubular webbing as the hand ascender and foot loop for now.

The safeguard looks like it should be the ticket for saddle guys. Same thing as the lifeguard, minus the spring. You can't feed rope like you would need to for belay, but b/c of that it looks like it should lock up automatically as you advance.

safeguard
 
How bout I just blow all of your minds and show you this little nugget I just found that might replace the hand ascender and save a lot of money
 
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Tartan said:
sheesh, lurking around this place is dangerous. I read this and the related thread and must have blacked out. I woke up and have more rope, throw line and bag, and a mad rock safeguard on the way.

It's pretty rare for me to get more than 12 ft off the ground, just based on the trees we have here in North Texas and Oklahoma where I hunt. The ability to preset trees with just some paracord has me really thinking. And based off of your video, for the heights I need to get to, I think srt will be quicker, let me climb more trees without pruning, and be as quiet or quieter than I am with the WE stepps.

planning on using one of my ropeman's and some tubular webbing as the hand ascender and foot loop for now.

The safeguard looks like it should be the ticket for saddle guys. Same thing as the lifeguard, minus the spring. You can't feed rope like you would need to for belay, but b/c of that it looks like it should lock up automatically as you advance.

safeguard
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Man that safeguard must be new. Never seen it. But I like the idea of it even better than the lifeguard.
 
Tartan said:
sheesh, lurking around this place is dangerous. I read this and the related thread and must have blacked out. I woke up and have more rope, throw line and bag, and a mad rock safeguard on the way.

It's pretty rare for me to get more than 12 ft off the ground, just based on the trees we have here in North Texas and Oklahoma where I hunt. The ability to preset trees with just some paracord has me really thinking. And based off of your video, for the heights I need to get to, I think srt will be quicker, let me climb more trees without pruning, and be as quiet or quieter than I am with the WE stepps.

planning on using one of my ropeman's and some tubular webbing as the hand ascender and foot loop for now.

The safeguard looks like it should be the ticket for saddle guys. Same thing as the lifeguard, minus the spring. You can't feed rope like you would need to for belay, but b/c of that it looks like it should lock up automatically as you advance.

safeguard
Click to expand...
Been using the Safeguard all year. Have previously used the both the GriGri2 and Lifeguard but the Safeguard is the ticket. You won't be sorry.
 
Instead of tying the knot in the rappel device to be hands free, couldn’t you use a auto block connected your lineman’s loop on right side for right handed people.

Seems simpler Saw it used this way in a earlier video.




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tider said:
Instead of tying the knot in the rappel device to be hands free, couldn’t you use a auto block connected your lineman’s loop on right side for right handed people.

Seems simpler Saw it used this way in a earlier video.




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
It definitely can be done this way. The reason I don't use this method is that I use my rappel rope as my tether and if I tie off to an autoblock on my hip the loose tag end of the rope is hanging away from the tree trunk straight down off my hip and moves when I do. Then if I swing around the tree the rope swings near the ground. Using the Madrock Safeguard I just tie a slip knot under the Safeguard and loop it through my bridge carabiner. It can't go anywhere if I do something stupid while hanging there. Additionally the rope drapes really close to the tree trunk and I route is behind my hanging pack limiting its movement when I move.

During descent if I need to stop to take off my platform or climbing device, the Safeguard is always fully loaded so I have faith it won't release on its own there so I don't back up for those occasions. It's when I'm on platform and may take load for some reason that I want to be sure it can't inadvertently slip. This was my biggest issue with the Madrock Lifeguard because the cam spring was strong enough to uncam it and it didn't always recam simply by loading it.

1540899190267.png1540899219944.png
 
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boyne bowhunter said:
It definitely can be done this way. The reason I don't use this method is that I use my rappel rope as my tether and if I tie off to an autoblock on my hip the loose tag end of the rope is hanging away from the tree trunk straight down off my hip and moves when I do. Then if I swing around the tree the rope swings near the ground. Using the Madrock Safeguard I just tie a slip knot under the Safeguard and loop it through my bridge carabiner. It can't go anywhere if I do something stupid while hanging there. Additionally the rope drapes really close to the tree trunk and I route is behind my hanging pack limiting its movement when I move.

During descent if I need to stop to take off my platform or climbing device, the Safeguard is always fully loaded so I have faith it won't release on its own there so I don't back up for those occasions. It's when I'm on platform and may take load for some reason that I want to be sure it can't inadvertently slip. This was my biggest issue with the Madrock Lifeguard because the cam spring was strong enough to uncam it and it didn't always recam simply by loading it.

View attachment 7378View attachment 7379
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So it seems the Safeguard is a huge improvement over the Lifeguard?
 
bowhuntr09 said:
So it seems the Safeguard is a huge improvement over the Lifeguard?
Click to expand...
Remember the primary design intent of the Lifeguard is a belay device for top rope climbing. For that purpose the ability to feed rope for the climber is key, hence the spring on the cam. The issue with the way we use it is that the spring can keep the cam in the free position when unloaded.

I actually was able to just walk backwards on the ground away from the tree with the rope routed through the Lifeguard without it caming over and the rope just played through it. That made me nervous. I ended up giving the Lifeguard to a friend who ice climbs so he could use it for it's intended purpose. Great device for that.

For reference the GriGri has a lighter cam spring and it camed over doing the same test but if I went slow enough it would feed at least some rope before locking. The Safeguard has no cam spring and it takes almost zero friction to cam the device over and lock it up. I could not get rope to feed back through the cam unintended in any way. That said, I still back it up with a separate knot when hunting.
 
Safeguard has been ordered! What length rope would be good for a SRT rope?
 
bowhuntr09 said:
So it seems the Safeguard is a huge improvement over the Lifeguard?
Click to expand...
For our purposes the safeguard is perfect. I'll keep using my lifeguard because it works just fine and I already have it. But the safeguard is what I would buy if I was putting together an SRT setup
 
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