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DIY Tree Squeeze/Choke.

WesSpur has an adjustable friction saver in their catalog for $77. The friction saver is essentially a single line version of the tree squeeze, which they also sell. Use of a tight eye on the terminal end of your linesman attached with a carabiner to your saddle will make it very easy to unclip from the tree (the tight eye will feed through the rings on the friction saver and clip on the carabiner.)
The friction saver is not intended to be used as a flipline but it is a heck of a lot safer than a single line linesman without the choker rings.
 
Thought I'd post some updated pictures, these were taken from 28 feet up.
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How are you guys liking your DIY squeezes.
How many climbs do you have in them?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
The commercial squeeze has held up well in 2 seasons use. The line stiffness is particularly nice with snow & ice on the trees. I hunt 2 miles from B.C. border, no cell service, occasionally by myself, so it’s prudent to reduce risk where I can. Prefer the caribiner on my saddle vs against the tree. I use a fixed bridge but may go to an adjustable length for going around limbs instead using my teather5F7361C9-A8CE-4935-BF45-CB5A82F120E5.jpeg
 
I can see how an adjustable bridge works well with the commercial squeeze.
I may use me Tethrd LB as an adjustable bridge.


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Pj0230 said:
It keeps you from sliding down the tree if you were to fall
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Exactly. Think of it as a prusik knot for the tree itself. A lineman's belt on it's own can keep you from falling backwards, lets you go free handed, etc. But it is possible to fall straight down. This system would not allow that to occur. However, it is going to come at the expense of greater difficulty getting it up the tree. You won't just be able to toss the choker up like you can a lineman's loop.
 
The DIY tree squeeze is pretty genius. Along that line of thinking, say your lineman's belt is 12mm rope (as mine is) and if you take 8mm prussik rope and tie a long prussik on say the left side of your lineman's rope (and you have the lineman's belt around the back of the tree as you would if you had no squeeze) and then you girth hitch the other side of the prussik so that the right side of the lineman's belt can pass through it. The prussik then becomes the choke (in front of the tree) and the the girth hitch can be expanded large enough to allow you to pass the side of your lineman's belt with ropeman and carabiner through it once you are at your bridge / tether height.

The upside to this is that I would think you could remove the extra rope in the brunswick setup (which goes around the back of the tree) as well as the climbing ring/s and extra carabiner.

Only downside to this I see is that the girth hitched side of the choke may not slide easily on the lineman's rope to adjust to the decreasing tree diameter. Other than that, your strength of 8mm rope with a knot (I guess would put it at 2900lbs if the rope is 12.9Kn and assuming 30% reduction for the knot) which should be pretty good as it is only a choke and if it breaks you are left with a traditional lineman's belt.

Any thoughts would be much appreciated.
 
I couldn't make the DIY squeeze work for me. I tried the version with the extra rope going around the outside of the tree similar to the commercial squeeze, and I tried using prusiks on my lineman's belt between me and the tree. Without the rigidity of the commercial squeeze, the extra rope is very aggravating, and made the climb much slower. More concentration was going into trying to move the rope up than actually placing my spikes, which probably cancelled any safety advantages it had. Everyone has to weigh the options for themselves, but I'll sticking with the Flingin X or standard.
 
lhold450 said:
I couldn't make the DIY squeeze work for me. I tried the version with the extra rope going around the outside of the tree similar to the commercial squeeze, and I tried using prusiks on my lineman's belt between me and the tree. Without the rigidity of the commercial squeeze, the extra rope is very aggravating, and made the climb much slower. More concentration was going into trying to move the rope up than actually placing my spikes, which probably cancelled any safety advantages it had. Everyone has to weigh the options for themselves, but I'll sticking with the Flingin X or standard.
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Did you try my version
 
Pj0230 said:
Thought I'd post some updated pictures, these were taken from 28 feet up.
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Hey, I just stumbled across this thread. I recently fell using a LB only when hanging a camera and one of my sticks failed. I went straight to the bottom. No real harm done as I was only on the bottom step of my 2nd stick. I was thinking this year I would hook my tree tether up and just move it up above my sticks as I climb to prevent a fall.

But, I like the simplicity of this system and it avoids having to deal with the tether (constantly ensuring there is limited slack, etc.).

I climb with tree hopper bolts and climbing sticks. With bolts, this seems perfect. Do you think this would work with sticks? It seems like it wouldn't...but thought I'd ask.
 
dlist777 said:
Hey, I just stumbled across this thread. I recently fell using a LB only when hanging a camera and one of my sticks failed. I went straight to the bottom. No real harm done as I was only on the bottom step of my 2nd stick. I was thinking this year I would hook my tree tether up and just move it up above my sticks as I climb to prevent a fall.

But, I like the simplicity of this system and it avoids having to deal with the tether (constantly ensuring there is limited slack, etc.).

I climb with tree hopper bolts and climbing sticks. With bolts, this seems perfect. Do you think this would work with sticks? It seems like it wouldn't...but thought I'd ask.
Click to expand...

I don't use sticks but I would think it will work, I do think the simpler method of using just the tether for sticks might be slightly better.
 
Pj0230 said:
Did you try my version
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I did. And I really wanted it to work for me, but I was having to bring my weight all the way up against the tree to get enough slack in the "squeeze" to advance it. The way I climb I basically walk up the front of the tree as opposed to the side, so the closer my weight gets to the tree the more unstable I feel. If I'm having to reach around the tree every time I advance the rope it's unnecessarily weighting my spurs away from the tree. It "may" catch me faster, but it's also upping my odds of me gaffing out tremendously.
 
lhold450 said:
I did. And I really wanted it to work for me, but I was having to bring my weight all the way up against the tree to get enough slack in the "squeeze" to advance it. The way I climb I basically walk up the front of the tree as opposed to the side, so the closer my weight gets to the tree the more unstable I feel. If I'm having to reach around the tree every time I advance the rope it's unnecessarily weighting my spurs away from the tree. It "may" catch me faster, but it's also upping my odds of me gaffing out tremendously.
Click to expand...
I’m not quite sure I understand your description of how you climb, when I climb I typically hold the linemans and the choke rope where the metal ring is on the left and where the biner touches the linmans on the right side, the choke rope is stiff enough that I never have to reach around the tree to advance it up while I climb, I can pretty much run up the tree using it and I don’t gaff out (mostly) . When going slow I typically will flip up the choke and then push against the tree with my hands until the linmans is tight and then move up my feet then flip the choke again and push against the tree again with my hands and move up.
I was playing around with the system a few times and I can pretty much just hold the choke and linemans were they meet with my hands and climb 30 + feet without ever letting go or touching the tree with my hands in a matter of seconds, play around with your gear, it will come to you.
 
Did a trial run at ground level this morning with climb rated rings and this has potential.

John H.
 
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@Pj0230 How do you handle climbing trees with limbs? About to order some rope and ring to make a tree squeeze, but curious how to deal with limbs while still always being connected to the tree
 
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