Ya dont wanna pull downward, ya wanna walk away from the tree and pull out and away. Use a carabiner on your retrieval rope for a good grip. Just pop in a Bull hitch to put it at any location. It's definitely not the easiest thing to retrieve. The easiest thing to retrieve is the jrb hitch, but you need to invest a little bit more in tying it.
just ran across your video on this. I've been unable to find any info on strength and weight of aluminum carabiners. Any suggestions? I am as interested in light weight with minimal bulk, as we all are.. My use is one sticking
Every climbing carabiner comes with a strength rating, stamped on the body, in units of kilonewtons. But that is for a lengthwise pull. However, the load we place on it here is different, because it's being used as a toggle (a pin) and it sees a bending force, not a pulling force. And so i simply can't quote the actual strength. I would advise to get a large and rugged carabiner though. The weight of an aluminum carabiner is extremely small (about like a small candy bar) and so i can't say weight is an issue.
It's a very good question. I did experiment with a lot of variations before settling on this configuration. I find it to be the least error prone option. I don't recommend substitution of a loop or eye for the rappel ring in this configuration simply because it introduces other dynamics. For example, if the loop is not sized or set properly, it could expand under load and allow the carabiner to pop through. It also is likely not as strong. Sewn loops are designed to see a tensile force only and not designed to see an expanding force from inside the eye. However, here's a variation you might be interested in. Its almost like a combination of the Saddle Hunter's Hitch and the JRB Cinch. However, it's not remotely retrievable. But offers a solution with minimal rope and no metal on metal. Note that this knot is not my design and so I have not tested it. But the inventor is a member of my group and I have met him and discussed it. I have no objections to using it. Just make sure the carabiner is placed properly.
Thanks for that information John. I figured if anyone would know, it would be you. Also thanks for that video link. That's very interesting and I had not seen this knot before. It's too bad that it's not remotely retrievable. I'm sure that you could probably find a solution to make retrievable.
The gentleman who devised that is in my Facebook group. I submitted that knot to the IGKT on his behalf and i have gotten no responses that it is a published knot and so we'll refer to it as the Pocono Hitch.
I would encourage testing the running JRB hitch too.
Yes, its important to consider all our options. Some folks are not comfortable tying knots and I would never encourage ya to do so... but for me personally, i am more likely to take a few extra seconds to tie this than i am to want metal on my systems. Plus, retrieval is easier.
I made a page on my website dedicated to buying or building a pole, just because the concept of a pole can be used for almost any kind of climbing. I will do a video soon. Anyway, i own most of the ones listed. There's a 67inch model which is incredibly light. Honestly, i prefer the ones with the clasp mechanism instead of the ones we screw to tighten.
Anything we use for life safety we are going to want to master... and one detail of the Running JRB Hitch (my preference for hitch climbing) is that it can be LOCKED from unintentionally release simply by threading the release end THRU the release loop. It still works the same in terms of advancing it with a pole. Pls try that out at ground level.
