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Trouble with Wild Edge Stepps

C

cmg7890

New Member
Joined
Jul 25, 2019
Messages
11
I just received my Stepps last week. Still waiting on my saddle to come in so obviously I am a beginner. I have been working with the steps and am really struggling. Small, smooth trees are fairly easy, but any tree with irregular textures seem almost impossible. In any case, I would appreciate any advice. I clearly am not going to be ready to use these this season, if ever. I would also appreciate recommendations for climbing sticks that don’t have quite the same learning curve. Thanks.
 
Put the step where you want it and cam it over. It will dig a little hole where the teeth grab the tree. Then uncam the step tighten the loop a little and re cam. It should be pretty tight after that. WE steps aren't plug and play unfortunately but once you get the hang of them they are easy to get solid the first time. Some trees just don't work as well as others but using the method I just described even gets them tight enough on pine trees which are the worst for the steps
 
#1 pre stretch the ropes. Be mindful when setting them in deeply furrowed bark that the top standoffs lie either both in a furrow or both on a ridge. When they cam over you want even pressure on both sides. I know it sounds finicky but it's not that big a deal. The main part is getting the spot picked and the tension set before camming the step over fully the first time. Not saying that you won't ever have to take another bite or readjust something after the first attempt, but being aware of where the steps contact the tree is super important. I have yet to find a tree I can't climb because of the bark. Never tried to put them on a giant cottonwood.
 
Take the stepps and cam them over on the biggest tree you can find. Leave them in place for about a week. This will stretch the rope. You do not need to to worry about squirrels with the ropes. Some gents have left them up for a season. If you are going to leave them set up, always check them before stepping on them.
 
I have had and have used Jim Stepps since the first year they came out. Just like with a ROS on a strap, I frequently had problems with them shifting. They worked great sometimes and on other trees they were a royal pain to cam over and stay tight. As much as I liked them I quit using them for climbing because of that fact. I hated the original ropes and modded all mine to amsteel as soon as I could. I now sometimes will use 1-2 for a remote preset platform but really those days are not all that frequent. between heliums and predator platform - I cant see my Stepps seeing much tree time anymore.
 
DaveT1963 said:
I have had and have used Jim Stepps since the first year they came out. Just like with a ROS on a strap, I frequently had problems with them shifting. They worked great sometimes and on other trees they were a royal pain to cam over and stay tight. As much as I liked them I quit using them for climbing because of that fact. I hated the original ropes and modded all mine to amsteel as soon as I could. I now sometimes will use 1-2 for a remote preset platform but really those days are not all that frequent. between heliums and predator platform - I cant see my Stepps seeing much tree time anymore.
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I’m going to keep working with them but may end up where you are.
 
cmg7890 said:
I’m going to keep working with them but may end up where you are.
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as you should. We all have different needs, I really wanted to make them work and 75% of time they did.... just needed something more consistent as I set up in the dark most of the time now.
 
I would keep working with them. Most of the problems people have with them are because the rope is on the wrong side of the standoff. As many times as I have tied them on I’ll still route it wrong every now and then. Occasionally I’ll get on a tree where I have to cam it twice but usually just once. Even when they aren’t rock solid they still don’t fall off the tree. They just sink down some like a climbing stick would. If you’re thinking of using something like the knaider/swaider method you’ll definitely need to pay attention to get them rock solid. Also in some of the wild edge videos they show the rope really drooping on the backside of the tree. I’ve found that not to be necessary and actually not ideal at all. It needs to be slightly below the standoffs but only a small amount. If it’s significantly lower on the backside of the tree it isn’t very tight and if it slips it’s getting much looser. When it is barely lower than the standoffs if it slips a little it’s ok and any more slippage would be making the rope tighter instead of looser.
 
I have found t
EricS said:
I would keep working with them. Most of the problems people have with them are because the rope is on the wrong side of the standoff. As many times as I have tied them on I’ll still route it wrong every now and then. Occasionally I’ll get on a tree where I have to cam it twice but usually just once. Even when they aren’t rock solid they still don’t fall off the tree. They just sink down some like a climbing stick would. If you’re thinking of using something like the knaider/swaider method you’ll definitely need to pay attention to get them rock solid. Also in some of the wild edge videos they show the rope really drooping on the backside of the tree. I’ve found that not to be necessary and actually not ideal at all. It needs to be slightly below the standoffs but only a small amount. If it’s significantly lower on the backside of the tree it isn’t very tight and if it slips it’s getting much looser. When it is barely lower than the standoffs if it slips a little it’s ok and any more slippage would be making the rope tighter instead of looser.
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I have found that to be true as well.
 
It took me about 8 climbs to get the stretch out and get good at the cam over. I made myself use them last year exclusively to make sure that they worked well for me. No problems after that.

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