Rappel Rope Question

[Aocskasy]

I'm new to rappelling and am using the Canyon elite with a figure eight too. Are you going to use a friction hitch as a back up to the figure eight? I'm curious which cord you are using on the Canyon elite if you are. My TRC and Probe cords bite too much so I ordered a Sterling flex 8 MM cord to try. Since the elite rope measures 10.5 MM I'm thinking it will work better than my smaller Dia. cords.

I’m ordered the 9mm Canyon C-IV with a 5.5mm Beal jammy as a back up. Waiting on the shipment from EWO and then I’ll see how they work together.

 

[mtsrunner]

Sounds like you've got a combination of cord and rope that works well together. This canyon Elite measures 10.5 mm that's why I'm trying a larger hitch cord.

8 mm hitch cord will be much better for your 10.5 mm climbing line.

 

[woodsdog2]

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Don't worry about a pre-sewn loop. Get a quick-link and that way you won't have to feed your entire rope through the eye every time you attach and un-attach the rope to the tree.

C-IV and HPT are good ropes.
Oplux and Rescue-Tech and Ultra-Tech are great choices too.

I would just add regarding the quick link to be sure to get a "delta" quick link (triangle) especially if you're using the larger diameter ropes its just easier to feed the rope in and through it than just a regular quick link. You'll still have plenty of strength in the link just easier to put the bigger ropes through so it gives you a little bit more utility for your $$. The 8mm and 9mm stuff easily goes through the regular quick links however.

 

[woodsdog2]

I have seen there be a split on some people using their rappel rope as their tether and some using a separate tether and then switching to their rappel rope at the end of the hunt. I purchased extra rope (Canyon Camo Elite from EWO 13’) so I could make a tether to have both options. I’m not sure which route I will go. Most likely I will use a separate tether at first just for peace of mind. But when I start getting more comfortable with the setup (this will be my first year saddle hunting) I may end up switching to rappel rope. We shall see. Make sure you get a gear tie or something to keep the rope from slipping through the delta link. I’ve seen people use nite-ize gear tie, but I also saw a dude use a Neoprene Washer. Which was pretty legit.

I still use a separate tether from my rappel line just for rope management purposes. It gets rainy and cold here and although you can bring it in your house/cabin/camper etc. every night to dry it out, its just one less thing to worry about. Keeping the rappel line in its pouch until time to come down keeps the rain from running through it. Just more wet rope to deal with then a tether that's wet.

Now I will say that having the additional tether, rappel rope etc. can get a little much on the saddle but still much lighter than carrying in a climber and you can switch to a small back pack to carry this stuff in instead of your saddle. I was running a battlebelt last year with my saddle to keep this stuff from weighing my actual saddle down and that worked pretty good. If I use my notch floating D I will carry my stuff right on it as the waste band is pretty robust and cinches up kind of keeping your pouches from feeling like they are weighing you down. Lighter and more minimalist saddles like the Tactisaddle I used a lot last year, I'll probably incorporate the BB with it.

I did pick up some saddlespenders from CGM this year (@always89y's business) and will try that out with my lighter saddles instead of the battle belt to see if I like that better. As said previously, a lot of this stuff is just working through it by practicing and getting into a routine. Get a system
down and the only real way to get that system down is getting in the tree. Have fun but be safe.




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