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Do You Use Your Rappel Rope w/ Madrock As Tether or A Separate Tether?

I started a thread about my way a little while back. Type in 'Figure of Eight progress capture' in the climbing section...

Just curious, how come you chose not to use the Madrock?


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One reason why climbing with a tether might be preferred is due to the weight of the madrock (or even size). Some have noted that it is more cumbersome to progress with the rappel + madrock than with just a tether (despite storing access rappel rope in a pouch). One cumbersome thing about climbing on your rappel rope could be progress capturing your rope to the tree. Since you need to pull down your rappel rope after rappelling, the rope needs to be able to easily fall from or be pulled through the eye of the rope from the ground. To make this easier, many utilize a delta link or oval link to attach/detach from the tree. Without a grommet, gear tie, or other small piece of friction on the rope the rappel rope being used as a tether to progress during one-sticking tends to want to fall down as you move it up and are un-weighted on the rope. The extra step or the extra weight of the link or the gear tie could be a tad bit more cumbersome to some users.
 
" how come you choose not to use the Madrock"

1 - I don't really trust them.
2 - they tend to make more noise than I accept if/when it clangs off of my top step or platform while climbing.
3 - I can feel the rope and control my rappel way better with a figure 8 than with one of them things!
 
One reason why climbing with a tether might be preferred is due to the weight of the madrock (or even size). Some have noted that it is more cumbersome to progress with the rappel + madrock than with just a tether (despite storing access rappel rope in a pouch). One cumbersome thing about climbing on your rappel rope could be progress capturing your rope to the tree. Since you need to pull down your rappel rope after rappelling, the rope needs to be able to easily fall from or be pulled through the eye of the rope from the ground. To make this easier, many utilize a delta link or oval link to attach/detach from the tree. Without a grommet, gear tie, or other small piece of friction on the rope the rappel rope being used as a tether to progress during one-sticking tends to want to fall down as you move it up and are un-weighted on the rope. The extra step or the extra weight of the link or the gear tie could be a tad bit more cumbersome to some users.

Yeah. I can see the annoyance and possible danger of the delta link. Having to secure it every time with a tie. Has crossed my mind as well.


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" how come you choose not to use the Madrock"

1 - I don't really trust them.
2 - they tend to make more noise than I accept if/when it clangs off of my top step or platform while climbing.
3 - I can feel the rope and control my rappel way better with a figure 8 than with one of them things!
Not to mention a Figure 8 is far below the price of a Safeguard. Not saying I’ll never use one but it was hard to reach to that price point when learning a new system and not being totally sure it was what I wanted to commit to.
 
" how come you choose not to use the Madrock"

1 - I don't really trust them.
2 - they tend to make more noise than I accept if/when it clangs off of my top step or platform while climbing.
3 - I can feel the rope and control my rappel way better with a figure 8 than with one of them things!

Can you send me a link to your thread? Do you have any videos on there explaining?


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I don't know how to send a link.

Use that search function thing at the top of the page in the right hand corner...

There is a video. It's not professional (not even close) but it shows my method pretty good.
 
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I use a tether and rappel rope. I read oplux when wet, seemed ehh…. By using a separate tether, I can keep my rappel rope dry. I use a figure aider and friction hitch to rappel tho, not a madrock.
 
Better do more research, it takes very little to cut a rope when tensioned, and it can happen with just one hit.

G2 Outdoors (Greg from Tethrd) did a video a year or so back where he demonstrated exactly what happens when sharp broadheads came into contact with various types of bridges under tension. It was not as devastating as believed.

ETA: I should have kept reading before commenting, I see it’s been posted.
 
I'm new to one sticking (2 weeks) but have about 20 climbs and rappels under my belt already. Thus far I have not tried using a separate tether but I do prefer to use a linesman belt once I get to the bottom step of my stick while I move the slack out of my tether. I don't think I will end up going to a separate tether since it really is the same process as using the rappel rope and I'm not having issues with managing the extra rope.

I use a TX5 pouch for my 40' of rope and it works really well.

I also bought a figure 8 as a back up in case I drop my safeguard or it otherwise fails. I've rappelled a few times with it and it's easy but I think the safeguard is much more fun.

Not to mention a Figure 8 is far below the price of a Safeguard. Not saying I’ll never use one but it was hard to reach to that price point when learning a new system and not being totally sure it was what I wanted to commit to.

We met at that Tethrd event and we are both in Lancaster. If you want to try my safeguard or TX5 pouch just let me know. I'm also going to the Tethrd event in Dallastown in August.
 
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I don't climb with my rappel line (SRT notwithstanding) solely because I find constantly adjusting my delta link stopper a PITA. For 2TC or sticks, I just use my tether+Kong Duck and switch over when rappelling down. For SRT, you almost need to use the Madrock or similar but once at height, I back it up with a klemheist as a safety.
 
I don't climb with my rappel line (SRT notwithstanding) solely because I find constantly adjusting my delta link stopper a PITA. For 2TC or sticks, I just use my tether+Kong Duck and switch over when rappelling down. For SRT, you almost need to use the Madrock or similar but once at height, I back it up with a klemheist as a safety.

Agree, I hate stopper too. I 1 stick with Oplux and a regular prussic+tender. The tag end in attached to the metal D-ring of my AustriAlpin belt. I keep my Grigri with the rappel setup because there were times that it hit the stick, I do not see a reason why you need to constantly adjust the tether one sticking, I never did so choice a simple prussic. I like keeping two separate systems. Once I'm at hunting height, I also setup my rappel line completely parallel to my main tether to my belt also. I basically have 2 redundant system, failure at any one point will not be fatal. It is over killed for most people opinion's, but it cost 2 pounds of 'extra' gear and I feel completely safe without any additional burden. The only time my life is depended on a single point of failure is the 5-10 min climbing, which is the Oplux rope. To fall, I would need 2X of the same type of items (both rope or both carabiners or both prussic/grigri, etc) failing.

"What do we say to the God of Death?"
"Not Today."

But to the OP question. Rappelling with larger rope is easier. 1 sticking with smaller rope is easier. Or just from my own experience.
 
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Agree, I hate stopper too. I 1 stick with Oplux and a regular prussic+tender. The tag end in attached to the metal D-ring of my AustriAlpin belt. I keep my Grigri with the rappel setup because there were times that it hit the stick, I do not see a reason why you need to constantly adjust the tether one sticking, I never did so choice a simple prussic. I like keeping two separate systems. Once I'm at hunting height, I also setup my rappel line completely parallel to my main tether to my belt also. I basically have 2 redundant system, failure at any one point will not be fatal. It is over killed for most people opinion's, but it cost 2 pounds of 'extra' gear and I feel completely safe without any additional burden. The only time my life is depended on a single point of failure is the 5-10 min climbing, which is the Oplux rope. To fall, I would need 2X of the same type of items (both rope or both carabiners or both prussic/grigri, etc) failing.

"What do we say to the God of Death?"
"Not Today."

But to the OP question. Rappelling with larger rope is easier. 1 sticking with smaller rope is easier. Or just from my own experience.

Yeah I can respect that a lot. Might be something to look into. Safety is always the most important thing.


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Yeah I can respect that a lot. Might be something to look into. Safety is always the most important thing.


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Not saying a saddle can fail. 99.9999 of all failures are human errors and I'm going to be in that statistic knowing my personality. Saddles are the safest, until recently there was not any recorded fatality from saddle users compared to other tree stand system. And that was the fault of the hunter because he/she didnt use proper knots.
 
Agree, I hate stopper too. I 1 stick with Oplux and a regular prussic+tender. The tag end in attached to the metal D-ring of my AustriAlpin belt. I keep my Grigri with the rappel setup because there were times that it hit the stick, I do not see a reason why you need to constantly adjust the tether one sticking, I never did so choice a simple prussic. I like keeping two separate systems. Once I'm at hunting height, I also setup my rappel line completely parallel to my main tether to my belt also. I basically have 2 redundant system, failure at any one point will not be fatal. It is over killed for most people opinion's, but it cost 2 pounds of 'extra' gear and I feel completely safe without any additional burden. The only time my life is depended on a single point of failure is the 5-10 min climbing, which is the Oplux rope. To fall, I would need 2X of the same type of items (both rope or both carabiners or both prussic/grigri, etc) failing.

"What do we say to the God of Death?"
"Not Today."

But to the OP question. Rappelling with larger rope is easier. 1 sticking with smaller rope is easier. Or just from my own experience.
This is my exact set up as well even right down to the austrialpin buckle!! Nice!! I have an 8 foot length dynamic climbing rope (incase I do take a fall) for a separate tether and then once at height hook my 8mm static repel rope into my system. When done hunting just unhook the short dynamic tether and repel down to see exactly how small the buck i shot is.
 
So where are you guys attaching the rappel rope (i.e. secondary tether at that point) to your saddle? I assume you have your main tether with prusik to a carabiner on your bridge (standard setup). Do you then have a prusik on your rappel rope to the same carabiner on the bridge? Or maybe I’m misunderstanding.
 
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