I like SRT/RADS the best. Ropewalking requires too much hardware and requires you to push all your weight with one leg at a time. With RADS, I pull up with two arms and one leg at the same time. With my weight distributed on two arms and a leg it is super easy. Less hardware means less clinking noise as well.Roperunner and a foot ascender and knee ascender the only way to fly! This is almost a must climbing the huge Sequoia and such on the West coast. I think with presets this form of SRT is the most efficient way to climb and if you know how to foot lock all you need is the hybrid device to ascend. While I understand the use of RADS by most on here is probably necessitated by just the cost it is not the most efficient or speedy way to ascend.
My short videos above show the equipment I need which is 4 things for ropewalking and 2 things for RADS. Isn't the Roperunner midline attachable making it more convenient to install on the rope? Isn't the Roperunner also about $350? I would choke on that. I don't care if it takes me a minute to ascend the tree instead of 15 seconds once all the hardware is in place.I don't agree with more hardware as I use a Roperunner and a foot ascender and a RADS I would use my ISC D4 ,a hand ascender either with a pulley or a seperate one , a foot strap. That's more stuff and I can do an ascent on a preset super fast and quiet.
Yes that was my home made version that simply provides a bend in the rope just as the actual Rope Wrench does. It did prevent the VT hitch from locking up solid. An actual Rope Wrench would be much better.It's difficult to see the rope wrench clearly in the video. What is it? It looks like a pulley attached to a carabiner.
It doesn't seem possible the rope is pinched in the rope wrench since it has fixed pins. The HitchHiker has moving pins so that happens with that device. Buying an expensive, tested device is best to do this as you noted. These methods have TOO MUCH hardware to be useful for me while hunting. For fun climbing, sure, they would be fun. My friction hitch didn't lock up so it must have done something.I should've watched all the videos instead of just the one . I see how it's made now, FWIW a bend around a pulley isn't nearly enough friction to make it work properly. A wrench has the rope "pinched" so to speak in the tight s-bend between the slic pin and the sheave. It's more complicated to make one work right considering how simple they appear to be. The geometry of them is critical.
Yes. This is still America and we are all free to choose our individual climbing methods and not conform to the herd. Rope walking is fun like you said. I have been running every morning 1/4 mile to make my legs stronger. Rope walking should then be easier as well as dragging deer. I am 63 years young and retired. I don't know how any of these devices work in the rain. I am a fair weather hunter.I'm going to be ropewalking for hunting this year. I bought a rope wrench from @cedar paul and I love it! I use it for some tree trimming and recreational climbing (not just for hunting). I have all the gear for a RADS system too, but for me ropewalking is SO MUCH EASIER! The sit and stand method of RADS exhausts me. And my hand ascender is a double hand ascender, so it is really a big piece of gear to carry around. The gear I carry for ropewalking is: 40 feet of Sterling 9mm, Ropewrench (& stiff tether, hitch cord, pulley, carabiner), foot ascender (very small), knee ascender (also pretty small). To me, it doesn't seem like a lot to carry. But it really is subjective. I think it is fun using the Rope Wrench, so I'm definitely biased.