Jammed Blake's Hitch Last Night in the Woods: Serious issue needs advice

[Orion]

@Brocky..

Thanks very much. This is really helpful. It looks like there is a fundamental difference between tending (pulling up) the BH with the tag end of the BH connected to uphaul side of the DRT loop (the way I have been) and *pushing* up the BH. There has got to be less friction/wear in the system pushing up, important for ascent. Climbing/arborist supply for the thimble? That looks like throwbag line that ties the thimble in, correct?

@gcr0003..
The Fig8 is tied in the hitch line right below the BH, right? I can't quite envision how that's tied; perhaps in the same way as Brocky's second pic?

Thanks all,

Orion

 

[Brocky]

You’re right, using the tail connected to the other section of rope tightens up the hitch when you want it loose. Tying the small cord from the thimble to the uphaul for self tending works great. The plastic thimbles are cheap and available at marine stores/sites also. Not throw line just 3mm dyneema core, polyester cover cord, any type of small cord will work.

I think gcr was referring to a figure eight device, not the knot.

 

[SNIPERBBB]

I think you should just eliminate the butterfly on your setup and just stick with a prussik to tend your blake's. You need to be able to adjust the prussik tender position if it's interfering either way.



I've switched to a bachmann knot to do DRT as all I have to do to tend it is clip the beener to my prussik loop.

 

[Orion]

Hi all,
Had another test of the Prusik loop on Tuesday and it worked great. I thought to test the tending attachment to the butterfly by moving the butterfly and yup, I could get the BH to jam on decent if it were too far from the BFH. I moved the BFH down and the BH did not jam. I am really going to try the thimble set up as a way to reduce friction, as mentioned earlier. I will try the Prusik loop tender attachment as well--thanks, SNIPERBBB.
All for the moment,
Orion

 

[Orion]

@Brocky,

What diameter on the plastic thimble? I am using a 10mm rope (.39"), and Westpur has .5" and .625" thimbles. I suppose I could try both, the the .625 would slide the easiest and still never get past the BH.

Thanks again,

Orion

 

[Brocky]

The 1/2” would be the one, the 5/8” might be too big and allow the hitch to get wedged inside it causing unwanted friction.

 

[Brocky]

Only one Blake’s is used, the above picture showed for hand tending only. The addition of a small loop that can be clipped to, needs to be tied with the thimble attachment cord. Another small cord tied into a Prusik on the section coming down with a snap, allows tending by pulling down on the rope below the Blake’s. Extending the distance between the harness and hitch makes ascending easy. But always be able to reach on top of the friction hitch to be able to descend. Picture is worth many words:

Quickly made to show how to do, NOT what to use.
Position the teardrop thimble so that the narrow end pushes up the hitch.

 

[Orion]

Brocky,

Thanks very much for making the extra effort and creating a great picture.

What do you think of the idea of making a piece of +/-5 mm line with a total finished length of about 10 inches that would have a sewn-in-thimble eye on one and and a regular small spliced eye on the other? My conception here would be create a self-tending functionality where the eye/thimble would be securely attached to one end of the 5 mm cord and the sewn eye on the other end of the cord would attach to the prussic/butterfly loop on the up haul side. No metal, quiet, light, and tough enough. I really like the idea of pushing the Blake's up since my arms are on the shorter side and I don't get much distance easily with hand tending.

As always, your thoughts greatly appreciated

Orion

 

[Brocky]

Sounds like your idea would work, but might be just as easy to clip the non thimble eye to the carabiner.
If the Blake’s is extended so that you reach under and then push up the hitch, a tender isn’t needed. I did tree work like that for a few years. Extending the friction hitch also can be safer if you slip and instinctively grab the rope, with the hitch above, it might not be grabbed by mistake.

 

[SNIPERBBB]

Think your starting to get overcomplicated. If you're worried about the metal, you can just use a plastic carabineer to tend your blake's. I've switched to a bachmann hitch so I can just clip it to the prussik on the anchor leg.

 

[cartman]

Thanks for posting this! This is something I haven't thought of before.
I am now carrying an extra prusik cord and carabiner just in case.

 

[Orion]

Brocky,

Thanks again for your careful replies.

After considering that I tend not to think of many things at once, I will stick with the 'biner at the end of the Blake's tail clipping to a alpine butterfly. I still would need to tie a stop knot and the thimble is a piece of gear that I could get caught/torn in the pack. The biggest reason is the tail as clipped to the AB makes for a brake that is easy to get to in the dark, in which I am always either accending or decending in or both. Also, I really think the thimble is great idea if one is climbing/accending a lot, just as you did, rather than just a single accent as I do in a day.

I did have another question about rigging a carabiner to a tree. In the back yard I want to set up a permanent stand to practice climing and shooting. It would be better to save the tree and rope by not looping over a branch, so I thought of just a carabiner and two separate loops of webbing wrapped in opposite directions around the tree that would girth hitch the carabiner so a line could pass though the 'biner as a poor man's pulley. One would work I suppose, but two would hold the 'biner steady and be redundant for safety. If you had a thought as to a better way to go or a comment, your thoughts are always apprecited.

Happiest of New Year's, y'all.

Orion

 

[Brocky]

Seems like the two girth hitched slings would work, or a four wrap Prusik around a branch. Something wider than a carabiner for the rope to go through would be a better bend radius for the rope.