Help me get this 2TC climbing option.

[Whiteoaks]

So I’m ready to give this a go but I just don’t quite get it. I’ve viewed all the YouTube videos but none are very clear. Can someone point me to a good DIY video on how to master the 2TC method of climbing?

Thanks

 

[NMSbowhunter]

This is one I made earlier this year. This was the first climb in several months so I was rusty and I was wearing shorts with no knee pads so forgive the climb.

I think the biggest problem people have trying this is to overcomplicate it. I was guilty if this when I started. All you need are two things aside from your saddle. The first is your regular top tether. The second is a foot tether. The simplest foot tether is just a rope with a loop tied on one end and a second loop tied with a Blake's hitch for adjustability on the other end. Forget about the Distel hitch and the carabiner in the photo. That can come later.

Pick a basketball diameter straight limbless tree. There is no need to make life harder on yourself when you are learning the baby steps.

Imagine you are sitting on a couch and there is a length of climbing rope attached to a pole in front of you. If you can stand up off the couch on one foot while pulling yourself up with the rope simultaneously then you can 2TC.

Put your top tether on the tree about level with the top of your head. Put the foot tether on the tree under it about 4 inches. Clip your saddle into the top tether and adjust the lead to where you can sit down comfortably in the saddle as if you were going to just hunt at ground level. Adjust the foot tether to a height where you can comfortably step up into it. Now, with your feet on the ground, take one foot (I use my left) and step up into the loop and at the same time hold onto the top tether lead and pull yourself up. Your other leg will now go to the side of the tree. If you did this right, you will be standing in the foot loop with your body near the tree. Now reverse that move and step back down. Do this move several times up and down to get the feel of it.

Once you are comfortable with that, repeat the move but at the standing in the loop position you will loosen the top tether and move it up about 18 inches. Keep your fingers out from under the loop. Cinch down the top tether around the tree and slowly sit back in your saddle.

Now take your foot out of the foot loop and move it up about 4 inches under the top tether. Put your foot in the foot tether and stand up as usual. Now sit back down. All you would have to do now is move the top tether up again but don't.

Sit back down and move the foot tether back down the tree about 18 inches so that you can now step into it and relieve tension on the top tether. Move the top tether down and sit back in it. You should be back on the ground.

I would just practice this set of moves up and down the tree one or two moves for a while until you are really comfortable. Once you get these moves down you can go as high as you want by simple repeating the moves.

I think it is very important to learn the moves close to the ground at first and practice on an easy tree.

 

[gettingstarted]

Outta curiousity, were you using the distel hitch for clipping into as a back-up?

 

[NMSbowhunter]

Outta curiousity, were you using the distel hitch for clipping into as a back-up?

No. It serves three purposes. The main purpose is as a place to hang my backpack when I reach the height on the tree where I need to install the ring of steps. I take the backpack off my back, hang it on the Distel which has been moved up as far as it will go under the loop of the foot tether. It's second main purpose is as the place where the backpack hangs once I am up on the ring of steps and hunting. The pack hangs off this carabiner and Distel on my 2 o'clock right side.

The third purpose is as a means to bypass a limb that might be in my way as I climb. I did not need this option last season at all out of maybe 65 climbs. I used it once this season out of 30 or so climbs. I basically clip myself fully into the foot tether so I can remove the top tether and move it above the limb and then clip back into it.

All that said, for the purposes of learning the initial moves, ignore the Distel and the second carabiner.

 

[Samcirrus]

So I’m ready to give this a go but I just don’t quite get it. I’ve viewed all the YouTube videos but none are very clear. Can someone point me to a good DIY video on how to master the 2TC method of climbing?

Thanks

I've made a few of those videos, but have since made many improvements to my 2TC system. I do want to try and make a "practice 2TC " video and not just a straight climb. I can't guarantee it'll be perfect or everything you need but maybe if all of us 2TCers do the same we will win more converts and make the learning curve less challenging. Working on it...

 

[NMSbowhunter]

I've made a few of those videos, but have since made many improvements to my 2TC system. I do want to try and make a "practice 2TC " video and not just a straight climb. I can't guarantee it'll be perfect or everything you need but maybe if all of us 2TCers do the same we will win more converts and make the learning curve less challenging. Working on it...

I've thought about doing this as well. It may be after the season before that gets done.

 

[Samcirrus]

So I’m ready to give this a go but I just don’t quite get it. I’ve viewed all the YouTube videos but none are very clear. Can someone point me to a good DIY video on how to master the 2TC method of climbing?

Thanks

There are a surprising amount of variables in personal preference when it comes to :
Girth hitching the tether to the tree
Footloops
Amount of attachment points
Bridges (1or 2)
Tethers (rappel rope or just 2 tethers)
Rope diameter and stiffness
But what I think we can show more clearly to folks like you who haven't tried it much is a learned technique of body control.
I hope we can make a large improvement in the training department of such a lightweight and versatile system of climbing.

 

[NMSbowhunter]

There are a surprising amount of variables in personal preference when it comes to :
Girth hitching the tether to the tree
Footloops
Amount of attachment points
Bridges (1or 2)
Tethers (rappel rope or just 2 tethers)
Rope diameter and stiffness
But what I think we can show more clearly to folks like you who haven't tried it much is a learned technique of body control.
I hope we can make a large improvement in the training department of such a lightweight and versatile system of climbing.

That's why I think we need to show the simplest, most plain Jane vanilla version we can come up with so people who have zero experience with 2TC can learn to do it. Then once they have mastered the most basic form, they will feel confident in adding things and trying new ideas.

 

[Whiteoaks]

I have a lot of rappeling experience and I taught myself to one stick but as you said there’s a million ways to set this system up and I feel like a football bat everytime I try to figure it out.

 

[phatkaw]

Did you see the '2TC Playlist' at the top of this subforum?

There are some good videos there...

 

[Whiteoaks]

Yes

 

[thedutchtouch]

Not a video but:

Put one tether on the tree above your head, and attach it to your bridge.

Put second tether on tree about chest high and connect that one to your foot loop.

Take all slack out of bridge tether. Then lift your tethered foot as high as you can and take slack out of that one.

Hold on to the tree and step up into the foot tether all the way til your leg is straight. Wrap your other leg around the tree to stabilize yourself.

Reach up and move the bridge(top) tether up as high as you can reach. Once it's cinched down, take out slack if there is any and sit down into your saddle (slowly)

Then you'll have slack in the foot tether, move it up the tree til all slack is out and your foot is as high up as you can bring it.

Now just repeat stepping into the foot tether, wrapping leg and moving bridge tether, sitting and moving foot tether until you're as high as you want. You may have to occasionally add more length/slack into the tethers once they are loose/as you are moving them up the tree if you've taken a bunch of slack out each move. I found that generally once I got them at a good height I didn't have to adjust much, as long as the tree diameter didn't change rapidly.

Alternatively, same steps as a I've but some people take their foot out of the tether when moving it, your personal opinions may vary, I just leave mine on my foot and after I've moved the tether up I can sometimes even pull some slack out to pull my foot a bit higher. I haven't measured but figure generally I'm doing 2 foot "steps" but when I sit into the saddle I lose 6 inches or so.

 

[Whiteoaks]

Thanks everyone for all the tips and hints.
I’m giving it the old college try.
Definately plan to get proficient over the off season.

 

[NMSbowhunter]

One more tip. It took me several false starts to eventually see the usefulness of this system. The first time I tried it I said, "heck no!". I didn't get one move up. I put the idea away for a few days the tried it again. This time it worked a little bit, but I was struggling. I put it down again for a few days. The next time I tried it things went better. I said to myself. "Hey, this works". Once I saw how simple this was and how it was going to allow me to ditch those 4 Lone Wolf sticks and an aider I was sold.

I practiced a lot over the summer and by the time hunting season got there it was just second nature.