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The Best Public-Legal Climbing Method

The aider/WE combo is not safe. That's why I pulled the video. The knaider is much more solid.

An aider on sticks is better, but still takes practice. All of these ultralight climbing methods have trade offs, give and take, pros and cons, winners and losers. It sure is fun playing with them all though.

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kyler1945 said:
wonder how much a tooth like that at the bottom of the step adds @DanO
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The old api skyhooks have a split tooth. I found them to help getting tight for straight down pressure but actually detracted for a ros. I think @DanO concluded the same thing in testing.
 
These are what we all want. Strap on sKY hooks. The straps were super thin and light. Wrappede/packed well, and we're light! Wish I hadn't sold all mine last year....

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Has anyone ever tried a lone wolf cam buckle on a Cranford step? Well, I did this evening. I made a larks head on the left side of the step and hooked in to the other side where the prong is open.

It's rock solid! The only downside is weight at 14oz compared to 9.5oz with that whoopie sling rope, but I'll take that when you compare how much tighter it is to the tree.
 
Nutterbuster said:
https://www.facebook.com/1707134642659182/posts/2516055325100439
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I can relate to that. I had a similar experience trying a five step aider. The only difference was I had a lineman's belt on and I was by myself. Ended up leaned out like you in your "hybrid camping position" except instead of the JX3 I was hanging from my lineman's belt with a foot even with my head tangled in the aider wondering how I was gonna get my old fat @$$ out of this mess? That was the end of long aiders for me.
 
I’m making a set of these ameristeps and using them with amsteel and a timber hitch.

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A one step aider with wild edge is pretty much as stable as the knaider by itself. The advantage of the knaider is you don’t have to physically remove it and reinstall every time you take a step. The advantage of the wild edge aider is you can sit the aider to lift your foot and really stretch the steps out if you have to in order to reach a certain spot in the tree. Where the knaider or single step aider used alone shine is the head high step you’re holding onto while trying to reach that step that’s at waist height. Even if you kick out with the knaider or aider you are still in a reasonable position to recover if you can do half a pull-up. I’ll definitely practice it a lot with the cranfords. Right now it appears to be not as stable as wild edge with a single aider but more so than a five step aider. I think aiders make just about everything better except for maybe spurs and bolts. As long as your happy with 18”-20” per move it’s easy.
I have 5 skyhooks on an ocb and removed four to use it for comparison. It’s definitely faster than tying the timber hitch. At least on my smooth bark light pole tree. You don’t have to cam it with the perfect tension like with a ring of steps. Just place the hook give it a tug, and cam it. I just wish I had bought more of these steps in the 90s when no one wanted them.
 
Vtbow said:
Yup. Notice the sharpnbite in the rope and gap? I think you could get them tighter. The wings are designed for flat webbing.
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Gotcha...may have to sacrifice one. Cutting could cause it to twist more also...we shall see. I have to admit I have cold feet cutting these antiques...no pun intended.:tearsofjoy:
 
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