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Friction Hitches

Last couple hunts my tether friction hitch (hitch rope came with the muddy lifeline) started acting up and wanting to slip. So I got on EWO and got 6mm eye2eye 22"....main line is rescuetec....
3 wrap prusik wasn't holding, 4 wrap I couldn't break easily enough for my liking, same with asymmetrical 3/4over1....so I was playing around with all these fancy/exotic hitches.... First thing, 22" is too short for my preference....and being too short limits which fancy hitch u can use ...only a few that are mentioned on this thread....in hindsight I should have just ordered 10-20 feet of hitch cord so I could have tied and cut to the length I prefer.....anyway, ..knut hitch is what I ended up with...a little frustrating to tie with a rope that's kinda short but once dressed, weighted, and the knot tightened....wow that joker works smooth...still using a tender even thought it probably not needed, but it is almost effortless to get that hitch to grab and let go....

as far as heat goes if u rappel on just a hitch.....I'm descending on a monster munter with a prusik backup (prusik retired and knut taking it's place)....the carabineer connecting my bridge to the MM gets pretty warm especially if u rappel a long way or go down fast... The back up friction hitch above the MM generates a little heat but not anything I'd ever be concerned over...the back up is keep as loose as possible while u are in the act of rappel and then u slowly apply the load the the backup when u need to stop and go "hands free"....so it is easy to get to break free again...the MM and back up hitch are sharing the load so not difficult to break the backup free again
 
GreginPA said:
Tied the Happy Hands today. Going to give it a shot on my tether tomorrow. Thanks!
Click to expand...

Happy hands was great. I just need more practice with it to remember I can't grab my tether near the hitch and accidentally release it. Couple practices and I'll be good.
 
GreginPA said:
Happy hands was great. I just need more practice with it to remember I can't grab my tether near the hitch and accidentally release it. Couple practices and I'll be good.
Click to expand...
Happy hands is what I’ve been using. Locks tight with TRC and Oplux. With a tender it does not break easy enough to tend. However, I am OK with that as I don’t move my hitch on my tether up and down much anyways

going to try the Knut next
 
Weldabeast said:
Last couple hunts my tether friction hitch (hitch rope came with the muddy lifeline) started acting up and wanting to slip. So I got on EWO and got 6mm eye2eye 22"....main line is rescuetec....
3 wrap prusik wasn't holding, 4 wrap I couldn't break easily enough for my liking, same with asymmetrical 3/4over1....so I was playing around with all these fancy/exotic hitches.... First thing, 22" is too short for my preference....and being too short limits which fancy hitch u can use ...only a few that are mentioned on this thread....in hindsight I should have just ordered 10-20 feet of hitch cord so I could have tied and cut to the length I prefer.....anyway, ..knut hitch is what I ended up with...a little frustrating to tie with a rope that's kinda short but once dressed, weighted, and the knot tightened....wow that joker works smooth...still using a tender even thought it probably not needed, but it is almost effortless to get that hitch to grab and let go....

as far as heat goes if u rappel on just a hitch.....I'm descending on a monster munter with a prusik backup (prusik retired and knut taking it's place)....the carabineer connecting my bridge to the MM gets pretty warm especially if u rappel a long way or go down fast... The back up friction hitch above the MM generates a little heat but not anything I'd ever be concerned over...the back up is keep as loose as possible while u are in the act of rappel and then u slowly apply the load the the backup when u need to stop and go "hands free"....so it is easy to get to break free again...the MM and back up hitch are sharing the load so not difficult to break the backup free again
Click to expand...
This is very similar to what I using this year too. I’m using the same eye to eye 6mm cord from EWO. I found out that a standard Mich will hold my bodyweight but not on rappel… if I really get moving quick it will slip. Last hunt I had I was only 8-10’ up so instead of adding on the LB back up hitch I just squeezed the Mich but it never seized again on hands free. Fortunately it wasn’t far to the ground so I wasn’t hurt. But a five wrap Mich is almost impossible to tend. I agree on the length, 22” is too short. I think I’ll keep using the Mich like this but always add a Klemheist on my right LB loop just for safety… loose enough not to hinder moving but tighten enough to keep me from going more than a foot or so.
The pursuit of the perfect single hitch continues…
 
My ringed distel has been working well this season, except for overall length. I set my tether girth hitch at eye level when standing and don’t have alot of play with it over the Duck which gave me about 5” additional play in the tether.

Certainly not a deal breaker but is a trade-off of using a hitch over a mechanical.


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That’s the Oval VT, I thought the ring might be too small, but after trying, it does work very well. If the bridge is longer it would only see half your weight, so will definitely release easily. Unlike other hitches it should also release easily if the bridge is very short, which would cause more of a load.
 
^^^ Yep, it's working good!
The hitch is pretty compact, it allows me to cinch my bridge almost tight around my waist for walking in/out of the woods...
 
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Anyone use the Cornell hitch? Similar to Michoacán and Knut, but tends better for me. I’ve been doubling up on the bottom section recently also and that made it even better!


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FrankNess14 said:
Anyone use the Cornell hitch? Similar to Michoacán and Knut, but tends better for me. I’ve been doubling up on the bottom section recently also and that made it even better!


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Click to expand...
Do you have a picture of that? I remember searching for info on the Cornell hitch a while back and didn't come up with much. I climbed this year on the Sticht, and was happy with it, but my elbows are sore from tending the line. Oddest damn thing, was never an issue in my pre-season practice climbs.
 
Iron_llama said:
Do you have a picture of that? I remember searching for info on the Cornell hitch a while back and didn't come up with much. I climbed this year on the Sticht, and was happy with it, but my elbows are sore from tending the line. Oddest damn thing, was never an issue in my pre-season practice climbs.
Click to expand...

Screen grab from Matt Cornell’s video

8718ad97be7106fcf5d25e21a8099a71.jpg


And his video:


There are several more on YouTube as well.


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Brocky said:
View attachment 76431
A variation of the Distel.
A chest harness, neck loop, or lanyard over the shoulder can be attached to the hitch to bring it up.
Click to expand...

My experience has been that the bottom half of the Cornell prevents the top wraps from pulling to tight to easily break under load, if you tie it as drawn (top strand does all the behind, around and under action, not the bottom strand). I’ve also come out of that bottom portion and repeated it with the opposite strand doing the fancy turns and it makes everything super smooth and great to rappel on.


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FrankNess14 said:
Screen grab from Matt Cornell’s video

8718ad97be7106fcf5d25e21a8099a71.jpg


And his video:


There are several more on YouTube as well.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
I’m a big fan of most the things Cornell does. This hitch is definitely one of them. I was actually showing it to the Southern Ground Podcast guys at their saddle demo day in Crestview Florida this year
 
So with Happy Hands, I'm using 4 wraps with 6mm on 8mm rope and I can release it under weight with effort. But if I use the same 6mm on 9mm rope I can't release it. I've been experimenting with 3 wraps and it seems to be holding for me and I can release it under weight.

Anyone see any issues with only 3 wraps on happy hands? @Brocky
 
GreginPA said:
So with Happy Hands, I'm using 4 wraps with 6mm on 8mm rope and I can release it under weight with effort. But if I use the same 6mm on 9mm rope I can't release it. I've been experimenting with 3 wraps and it seems to be holding for me and I can release it under weight.

Anyone see any issues with only 3 wraps on happy hands? @Brocky
Click to expand...
I'm using trc on resctech and 4 wraps. What I found was that if I really dressed it tight, it was difficult to release under load. It needs just a smidge of play to work well, at least for me. That said, go with what @Brocky recommends lol.
 
BTaylor said:
I'm using trc on resctech and 4 wraps. What I found was that if I really dressed it tight, it was difficult to release under load. It needs just a smidge of play to work well, at least for me. That said, go with what @Brocky recommends lol.
Click to expand...
Same.

I have used the Happy Hands most of the season on both linesman and tether.

Tether - Oplux with TRC hitch - once loaded its really hard to move
Linesman - HTP with TRC hitch - with a tender moves much easier
 
It is really up to the individual to determine if a certain hitch configuration will work for them. It’s easy to determine if there’s too much friction for releasing and tending, but you need to make sure it grabs each time with the number of wraps used. A way to do that is to pull up on the rope like tending to compress the hitch, while on the ground, better add that! Next slowly pull down on the hitch, it should grab with no slippage first. Some hitches stretch out when weighted, then when compressed from tending, and take awhile to stretch out again and start grabbing. Stiffer cords will also be not wanting to grab.

@Hall17 the Oplux isn’t as firm as the HTP and makes it harder to release.
 
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