Extending your Climbing sticks?

[justsomedude]

I'm sure some of you have seen this....you add a foot loop to the bottom of each Stick.


Last year, I made an 'impulse buy' of some Big Game Pro-X Climbing sticks.
They use a cam buckle strap which can be noisy but you get the hang of it with practice.

They are 20" sticks with Folding steps that go out both sides (I really prefer the 2 sided rungs like this).
A set of 4 is about $100 with free shipping on eBay.

Anyway...with short sticks like this, you really only get about 12'.

I just added a Climbing Web Loop tied with a Water Knot and girth Hitched just above the bottom rung of each step.
I hang each Stick so that the Loop from the next one hangs just above my knee.
When I put my foot in the Loop, I brace my instep against the Tree.
Feels stable and isn't hard to do climbing down AS LONG AS YOU DON'T GET GREEDY and space them too far apart.

Anyway, with that arrangement you can get easily get 16'-17' out of them.
If you place your Platform 'one rung' above the top Stick, your feet would be above 18'-19' which is usually where I end up.
It effectively makes it into a 30"-32" step depending upon the size of the Loop.

 

[justsomedude]

My QUESTION.....

Any one here ever made TWO Steps of Web ladder per stick as seen in this video?:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pPU6UtQHNbc

 

[justsomedude]

I just went out and climbed a bit....

Only extending the bottom stick with one Loop and spacing them a little farther apart, I got my Platform level to 13' using only THREE sticks.
So I think if I just added the two steps on the bottom stick only, I would get the most advantage with the least amount of increased risk.
Might have to go buy some more webbing....I don't think I have enough.

The Video says to use 11'

 

[justsomedude]

OK...having a fun morning.


I just chained two Loops together to make a long Loop on the right, and then hung another one as the next rung up on the Left.
Easy to climb.

I will probably experiment with joining the two Loops together but there might not be a reason to do it.

SO the 1st Stick with two Loops gets you over 6' high.
Using the other 3 Sticks normally should be a good modest hunting height.

I hunt with a Recurve and set up to keep my Shooting lanes inside of 18 yards.

 

[Bigburner]

you mean like this. Not double but it works nice with the lone wolf sticks. Garret Prahl has a really good video on Youtube on how he makes his. I got the idea from him. I just happened to have a nice sewing machine.
viewtopic.php?f=7&t=99

 

[justsomedude]

Nice!
I trust my knot tying skills MUCH more than my sewing
That's a good idea with the paracord wrap.
Mine seem to stay open ok as is.
I'll keep an eye on that.

 

[flinginairos]

Hi guys, new to this forum. I use two 20" Muddy sticks with five step rock climbing etriers on them. Two sticks get me up about 15' and the etriers only add a pound combined on the two sticks. I use a Guidos Web so once i'm at the top of the second stick I attach my rope to the web and swing off the side, grab the stick and slide it up the tree as high as I can go. One or two moves this way gets me 20'+ Here are two videos I made using the web and this method. Hope it gives you some ideas!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t7uiPorhIDM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hxv2EAnohn0

 

[redsquirrel]

Hi guys, new to this forum. I use two 20" Muddy sticks with five step rock climbing etriers on them. Two sticks get me up about 15' and the etriers only add a pound combined on the two sticks. I use a Guidos Web so once i'm at the top of the second stick I attach my rope to the web and swing off the side, grab the stick and slide it up the tree as high as I can go. One or two moves this way gets me 20'+ Here are two videos I made using the web and this method. Hope it gives you some ideas!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t7uiPorhIDM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hxv2EAnohn0

Welcome to the site!

Very nice demo, thanks for sharing the videos. I know you mentioned a backup method of getting down, but what do you think about tethering the stick to you in case it somehow falls? Also, why did you choose to go with 2 sticks? It seems like you could do the same method with just one more stick. It would just take you longer to get up the tree I assume?

Thanks!

For everyone else, here is the link to the etriers he is using from the video: http://www.moosejaw.com/moosejaw/sh...trier---Five-Step_10031398_10208_10000001_-1_

 

[flinginairos]

Hi guys, new to this forum. I use two 20" Muddy sticks with five step rock climbing etriers on them. Two sticks get me up about 15' and the etriers only add a pound combined on the two sticks. I use a Guidos Web so once i'm at the top of the second stick I attach my rope to the web and swing off the side, grab the stick and slide it up the tree as high as I can go. One or two moves this way gets me 20'+ Here are two videos I made using the web and this method. Hope it gives you some ideas!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t7uiPorhIDM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hxv2EAnohn0

Welcome to the site!

Very nice demo, thanks for sharing the videos. I know you mentioned a backup method of getting down, but what do you think about tethering the stick to you in case it somehow falls? Also, why did you choose to go with 2 sticks? It seems like you could do the same method with just one more stick. It would just take you longer to get up the tree I assume?

Thanks!

For everyone else, here is the link to the etriers he is using from the video: http://www.moosejaw.com/moosejaw/sh...trier---Five-Step_10031398_10208_10000001_-1_

I have been using the two sticks because I originally thought it may be faster than the one stick method up the tree. After hunting several times using them, the one stick may be the way to go. There are more steps involved using the two sticks and I really don't think its any faster up the tree, plus my set of green etriers are very hard to see in the dark! I do have a loop of paracord tied to the top stick that I can use to loop around my wrist while moving the stick but I really don't think its needed. The stick would drop a foot or so at worst before stopping. At least in my tests anyways! :lol: I always make sure to never actually take the rope on the stick completely loose. I leave it knotted and simply feed a little slack back through the knot before setting it in the cam cleat again. That way if I dropped it, it wouldn't go anywhere. I will try the one stick method on the next few hunts and see which I like better.

 

[redsquirrel]

Very cool! Keep us updated. I looked at one of those etriers on ebay last night. It was used so I figured I would pay up to 15 bucks, but it went past my cutoff so I let it go. Been buying too much climbing gear lately with all the great suggestions we've been getting on here... so I have to take it easy for a while but the etrier looks pretty cool so I'll pick one up to try out eventually.

 

[flinginairos]

Very cool! Keep us updated. I looked at one of those etriers on ebay last night. It was used so I figured I would pay up to 15 bucks, but it went past my cutoff so I let it go. Been buying too much climbing gear lately with all the great suggestions we've been getting on here... so I have to take it easy for a while but the etrier looks pretty cool so I'll pick one up to try out eventually.

I wouldn't recommend the Metolious brand etriers. I don't like the set I have. The Black Diamond is much easier getting my feet set and they are easier to see in the dark. If you can find a set of those that's what I would go with! I have heard the Petzl brand is good too but I haven't tried them.

 

[redsquirrel]

Awesome, thanks for the info!

 

[fawnzy]

For anyone using amersistep strap on ladders. Attach a line for this technique. The ladder will drop if not careful.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[justsomedude]

I found it easier to use my handmade Webbing loops.
I tie them larger than Etrier steps, and I find that using only 2 steps is easier to climb.
Also, the Etriers I was using were 5 step...
SO you tended to skip steps and it was just too fussy