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Question for the rock climbing folks

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deep_phried_squirrel

Member
Joined
Nov 5, 2014
Messages
61
Location
Murfreesboro, TN
I have seen a lot of guys saying to descend from their tree, they are rappelling back down to the ground.

Someone who is using this method: please explain? It seems like it would work really well and save time. Also, it would just be that much more "run 'n' gun" with my setup this year.

I have only ever climbed trees, and haven't ever done any rappelling or rock climbing. I can't seem to wrap my mind around how you use the ropes, what gear you use, do you leave the rope in the tree, etc.

Sent from my LGL84VL using Tapatalk
 
I tried it this weekend. I used a throw line and throw weight to get the rope in the tree. I then used a rock harness, a gri gri, and an ascender to clip the rope. I used webbing as my tether, which was connected to my bridge which was also made out of webbing. I have a sit drag that I used to sit in. The whole time I am sitting on the sit drag which is connected to my tether, and I am still connected to my climb line which is attached to my harness.

After you get done hunting you just weight the climb line, detach the tether, and rapelle down the tree. You can google SRT on youtube to get an idea of how to do it. I watched a bunch of arborist videos.
 
deep_phried_squirrel said:
I have seen a lot of guys saying to descend from their tree, they are rappelling back down to the ground.

Someone who is using this method: please explain? It seems like it would work really well and save time. Also, it would just be that much more "run 'n' gun" with my setup this year.

I have only ever climbed trees, and haven't ever done any rappelling or rock climbing. I can't seem to wrap my mind around how you use the ropes, what gear you use, do you leave the rope in the tree, etc.

Sent from my LGL84VL using Tapatalk
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I am an ex-professional rock guide. I am going to make a suggestion: PLEASE hook up with someone in person who knows what they're doing. IF you have "0" experience do not try to learn from the web or youtube videos, you are just asking for a disaster--potentially a serious one. I wish you the best on this journey and learning experience. Not trying to be a downer, just honestly know of too many situations where people get hurt not learning properly...
 
Vtbow said:
I am an ex-professional rock guide. I am going to make a suggestion: PLEASE hook up with someone in person who knows what they're doing. IF you have "0" experience do not try to learn from the web or youtube videos, you are just asking for a disaster--potentially a serious one. I wish you the best on this journey and learning experience. Not trying to be a downer, just honestly know of too many situations where people get hurt not learning properly...
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X2
 
Vtbow said:
I am an ex-professional rock guide. I am going to make a suggestion: PLEASE hook up with someone in person who knows what they're doing. IF you have "0" experience do not try to learn from the web or youtube videos, you are just asking for a disaster--potentially a serious one. I wish you the best on this journey and learning experience. Not trying to be a downer, just honestly know of too many situations where people get hurt not learning properly...
Click to expand...
Well..."zero" experience is a little drastic for a description. I have rappelled down an indoor rock wall a few times, and I have balet'd (sp?) on the ground for someone in a harness before that was at height, climbing, so I am not completely lost as to the mechanics of it. also, as I said, I have experience climbing trees and realize the gravity (pun sort of intended) of safety in using any new climbing technique. i have been saddle hunting for about 5 years now, I just haven't posted very often in this forum, so not a complete n00b.

that said, honestly probably won't be rappelling this season, but the idea has certainly piqued my interest. in the town I live they just recently opened a new rock climbing gym I am planning on joining and learning some things from them in the off season for next year. so rest assured, I won't just be buying a bunch of equipment and climbing blind with no experience haha :tearsofjoy:
 
deep_phried_squirrel said:
Well..."zero" experience is a little drastic for a description. I have rappelled down an indoor rock wall a few times, and I have balet'd (sp?) on the ground for someone in a harness before that was at height, climbing, so I am not completely lost as to the mechanics of it. also, as I said, I have experience climbing trees and realize the gravity (pun sort of intended) of safety in using any new climbing technique. i have been saddle hunting for about 5 years now, I just haven't posted very often in this forum, so not a complete n00b.

that said, honestly probably won't be rappelling this season, but the idea has certainly piqued my interest. in the town I live they just recently opened a new rock climbing gym I am planning on joining and learning some things from in the off season for next year. so rest assured, I won't just be buying a bunch of equipment and climbing blind with no experience haha :tearsofjoy:
Click to expand...

Right on! Some people do just go out and buy rock gear online and say "I can do this!" .... Wasn't trying to put you down in anyway., just want people to be safe.

Honestly some of the worse situations on rappel I"ve had to deal with were people not paying attention of loose clothing, or long hair...hoody strings sucked into a belay device holds your face awfulyl close for comfort. IF you dont have a backup break or anything hard to go hands free unless you know how to tie off the belay device. Long hair? check. necklaces? check. The good thing about a climbing crag is there are often other people around to help in an emergency...in the woods in the tree, you kind of outta luck!
 
Vtbow said:
Right on! Some people do just go out and buy rock gear online and say "I can do this!" .... Wasn't trying to put you down in anyway., just want people to be safe.

Honestly some of the worse situations on rappel I"ve had to deal with were people not paying attention of loose clothing, or long hair...hoody strings sucked into a belay device holds your face awfulyl close for comfort. IF you dont have a backup break or anything hard to go hands free unless you know how to tie off the belay device. Long hair? check. necklaces? check. The good thing about a climbing crag is there are often other people around to help in an emergency...in the woods in the tree, you kind of outta luck!
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Solid advice for sure! I knew you dudes would know all kinds of stuff like that to keep in mind lol
A big part of this post is that I am currently obsessively collecting different styles of saddles, climbing methods, and platforms. Anything to round out my saddle bag of tricks is always interesting to me. I have learned so much just from talking with you guys on this forum and on the FB one that Greg runs.
 
Vtbow said:
Right on! Some people do just go out and buy rock gear online and say "I can do this!" .... Wasn't trying to put you down in anyway., just want people to be safe.

Honestly some of the worse situations on rappel I"ve had to deal with were people not paying attention of loose clothing, or long hair...hoody strings sucked into a belay device holds your face awfulyl close for comfort. IF you dont have a backup break or anything hard to go hands free unless you know how to tie off the belay device. Long hair? check. necklaces? check. The good thing about a climbing crag is there are often other people around to help in an emergency...in the woods in the tree, you kind of outta luck!
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your first full sentence sounds like me last night. I got tired of trying to get stuff sewed for my hunting ideas, so I went out and got a machine last night.....I figured if you guys could do it I could! jeeze you should see stiching done by the noxninja...it's a wonder he didn't impale his finger a time or two.
 
I'm not a guide like VTbow, but have been climbing, primarily multi-pitch routes, all over the country. The majority of injury & death to climbers is caused during the rappel. Even highly experienced climbers. If you haven't rappelled before, please get someone to show you the "ropes".
 
I thought it would be a great way down a tree. Then I ordered the stuff. Once I saw how big that pile of rope was I decided it wouldn’t be that hard to just put the spurs back on and climb down. I now have enough rope to keep me in new tethers for a really long time.
 
Please, please get someone to teach you. Don't want to see anyone hurt trying to have fun.
 
EricS said:
I thought it would be a great way down a tree. Then I ordered the stuff. Once I saw how big that pile of rope was I decided it wouldn’t be that hard to just put the spurs back on and climb down. I now have enough rope to keep me in new tethers for a really long time.
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This is also kinda what I was wondering...the idea is for me to go light and fast. if it's just extra stuff for no good reason I may as well just stick to my spurs...
 
deep_phried_squirrel said:
Well..."zero" experience is a little drastic for a description. I have rappelled down an indoor rock wall a few times, and I have balet'd (sp?) on the ground for someone in a harness before that was at height, climbing, so I am not completely lost as to the mechanics of it. also, as I said, I have experience climbing trees and realize the gravity (pun sort of intended) of safety in using any new climbing technique. i have been saddle hunting for about 5 years now, I just haven't posted very often in this forum, so not a complete n00b.

that said, honestly probably won't be rappelling this season, but the idea has certainly piqued my interest. in the town I live they just recently opened a new rock climbing gym I am planning on joining and learning some things from them in the off season for next year. so rest assured, I won't just be buying a bunch of equipment and climbing blind with no experience haha :tearsofjoy:
Click to expand...
I should have prefaced my comment with I’ve been climbing for 13 years. I got into saddle hunting because I wanted to use all my RC gear. I feel like if you on a rope and have a gri gri and it’s on properly, it’s really hard to mess up while rapelling. I’m going to check out some other climbing methods, but I like the SRT method so far. Seems lighter and you can go higher than sticks. Spurs kind of scare me.
 
I'm new to saddle hunting so most of you can take this with a grain of salt, but here is my experiment...

I'm also planning to test out the rappel option, (close to ground at first of course) specifically when I am getting out of the tree and leaving the steps/sticks to come back to later. (mid day break) Another use I am considering is to ascend SRT (Single rope) either to hunting height, or maybe just out of reach from ground level before I place the first stick/step. One additional bonus as far as i can tell, is I can double the Rope as a safety anchor while I also use the tether.
Reason? I have a problem with trespassers and prefer to keep it as hard as possible to take my stuff. I also see this useful for placing cameras out of reach when possible. There is a little more gear involved possibly, but my plan to is to haul everything up in the tree once I'm up there. If I can get up there and forgo the steps/sticks, that's just that much less I have to pack in. Only need the ring of steps, or something comparable.
I'm using a Kestrel, and backed up with a minimal black diamond rock harness. Overkill? Probably. I might tire of it pretty quick, but I won't know until I try it out.

Rope gets in the tree by use of a recoverable anchor placed with a throw line. Lineman's belt will be used any time I'm moving about the trunk other than in the hunting position, in which case the tether and backup anchor keep me safe.

Think of this as a hybrid of arbor saddle use and hunting saddle use.

Any input is appreciated and and encouraged.
 
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