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Girth hitching around tree question

U

Utkjsilver

New Member
Joined
Sep 2, 2019
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35
Just want to say this forum is awesome. Been lurking a while and signed up a week or two ago.
Question that I have not seen-
When you girth hitch your tether around the tree, is it acceptable to use a carabiner on your loop to keep from having to run the entire rope through itself or will that put too much horizontal strain on the carabiner?
Thoughts or experience?
 
I think I understand what you're asking and that would kind of defeat the purpose of the girth hitch. the girth hitch is designed to "grab" on to your tether to keep it from sliding down. The carabiner would still allow that to happen.
 
Are you suggesting hooking your prussik into the loop by using a caribiner? I dont quite follow....
 
I'm totally lost. For fear of giving bad advice because I dont even understand the question...I'm going to bail out here.....
 
Sorry, here is a picture from the thread I linked. I had not seen this earlier but it demonstrates what I was wandering if acceptable.
 

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I think I know what he is trying to accomplish...
Instead of having to run his entire tether thru the tether loop, he can just open the carabiner (that is attached to the tether loop) and quickly complete the girth. Did I explain that right?
If I understand correctly, I don't think that is safe carabiner loading.
There is a sticky somewhere entitled "Examples of dangerous carabiner loading". It might better explain why your idea isnt quite safe.
 
That's exactly it. I was thinking the same thing about the unsafe loading but then I bumped in to a couple of videos, such as the one I posted, and some posts and pictures, such as the thread I linked here, showing it done. Trying to learn as much as I can but being cautious.
 
I think a properly rated quick link might be a better choice for that application. I usually double girth hitch mine but if there are a few limbs that sucks. One thing I have done is use a tether with the same figure 8 loop on the end as I would with a girth hitch, a blakes hitch with a carabiner, wrap the rope around the tree, slide the blakes where you need it, clip the carabiner to the figure 8 loop and tighten it up. I honestly don't know if this is "acceptable" but it keeps the carabiner pulling pretty well on the major axis and when weighted most of the stress is put on the ropes so I feel very safe using it. I use 8,000 lb yale bee line for the blakes and am VERY careful about tying the knots correctly so I feel like everything is properly rated. I also make sure I turn the gate side of the carabiner up before I tighten the blakes. You could probably also use a properly rated prusik in place of the blakes, I've always just preferred the way the blakes works.
 
I think I will probably go with a quicklink. Keep it dedicated and always on the figure 8.
 
This is something that I was looking into, but was told it is improper loading of the carabiner. Obviously it wouldnt be oriented the way Ive drawn it, but going up against the tree would put improper stress on it. The intent was a 2 tether climbing method I didnt have to completely ungirth hitch everytime I ran into a limb, just unclip move up reclip, swap me shortened linemans/bridge to top tether and move the bottom around the limb and keep climbing.

1570108029596.png

2 tether method

That is how i envision getting down if sticks fall or platform fails. Never practiced it..... I will learn on the fly if the unlikely happens. I made my tether and linesmans belt longer than needed (9ft) to use this technique in emergency
saddlehunter.com

Heres the thread I was directed to

Examples of dangerous carabiner loading

https://www.petzl.com/US/en/Sport/Examples-of-dangerous-carabiner-loading-?ActivityName=Mountaineering#.WBdjAxs8LYUThis is a good read Thanks @justsomedude https://www.petzl.com/US/en/Sport/Examples-of-dangerous-carabiner-loading-?ActivityName=Mountaineering#.WBdjAxs8LYU
saddlehunter.com

@BenG can you scribble down a drawring of your setup mentioned above? Im a visual person..as you can tell by my great artwork :tearsofjoy: .
 
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Interesting read, still not sure if its worth it. I just need to let it die. Even references the dangerous carabiner loading.

Carabiners for canopy anchors - crossloading and loading over edge

Hello, I have found that a lot of people on this forum say using a carabiner as a canopy anchor is unsafe. The main concern is that the carabiner could be "cross loaded". I did a bit of research and the term "cross-loading" seems to only be used when the carabiner is loaded sideways (on the...
www.treebuzz.com

I see back and forth on the quick links being stronger (all about the material, gauge (diameter), etc). Assuming its just because you have strain on the threads before you get to the spine of the link? Where on the biner the gate isnt necessarily maintaining or supporting the shape of the biner?
 
DaWiz9578 said:
Interesting read, still not sure if its worth it. I just need to let it die. Even references the dangerous carabiner loading.

Carabiners for canopy anchors - crossloading and loading over edge

Hello, I have found that a lot of people on this forum say using a carabiner as a canopy anchor is unsafe. The main concern is that the carabiner could be "cross loaded". I did a bit of research and the term "cross-loading" seems to only be used when the carabiner is loaded sideways (on the...
www.treebuzz.com

I see back and forth on the quick links being stronger (all about the material, gauge (diameter), etc). Assuming its just because you have strain on the threads before you get to the spine of the link? Where on the biner the gate isnt necessarily maintaining or supporting the shape of the biner?
Click to expand...
That's probably a good assessment.
 
DaWiz9578 said:
which part? Letting it die?
Click to expand...
Mostly that it is probably a less safe load on a carabiner but potentially safe on a link. Probably doesn't cinch down as good as it would on the rope bite but a lot quicker and way less wear on the bite itself, which in my view, is the weakest part of the system over time.
 
I have done that in the past and have not felt unsafe. There is just a bit of crossloading on a large trunk. I was climbing up a rope recently and when I looked down my BD Rocklock Carabiner was completely crossloaded, sideways, supporting my weight. The break strength this way was 7kN or 1540 lbs and the carabiner did not bend at all. It happened twice then I changed the configuration.
 
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