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What is the quickest, lightest, and most affordable climbing method?

BoHuntsKy

BoHuntsKy

Active Member
Joined
Aug 6, 2020
Messages
154
I have 4 original muddy pros and they are so heavy and cumbersome to pack. What is the easiest climbing method that is quick, light, and affordable?
 
My vote would be 2TC. It checks all the boxes and one you didn't ask about that being public land legal.

2TC will be significantly cheaper (in the minimalist configuration without the rappel down) than one sticking since you don't have to buy or modify a stick. A good stick with platform can get pricey and then most folks go with a mechanical descender and those are pricey. You can use a figure 8 with a backup and that is pretty affordable.

Bolts and Treehopper drill are relatively lightweight (about 3 pounds) and relatively fast (10 to 12 minutes in my experience) and easy (relatively) but are illegal to use on public land here, and many other places. For presets use a good cordless drill.

My lightweight 2TC rigs are under one pound each and I can be 20 feet up a tree with 5 minutes of climbing, and 2 minutes of set up at the ground.
 
2 TC is the lightest and most compact however it’s not the easiest in my opinion. For simplicity of use another super lightweight option is SRT climbing. 40’ of rope, a belay device, a friction hitch and 2 carabiners are all you need. So for around the cost of a pack of hawk heliums, you can climb 30+ feet and get down quicker than any other method
 
Fl Canopy Stalker said:
2 TC is the lightest and most compact however it’s not the easiest in my opinion. For simplicity of use another super lightweight option is SRT climbing. 40’ of rope, a belay device, a friction hitch and 2 carabiners are all you need. So for around the cost of a pack of hawk heliums, you can climb 30+ feet and get down quicker than any other method
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SRT is not quick, by the time you throw the ball 2-3 times, wrap it all up, set up the rope, and then tie in, you’ll be at 10-20 minutes. The actual climbing only takes like 2 mins I will admit but the set up and break down makes this kind of a pass in my book. If you have presets that changes that a good bit.
 
If you are permitted pre-set bolts. that being said 2TC is not super expensive since everyone should already have a tether if they are saddle hunting
 
gcr0003 said:
SRT is not quick, by the time you throw the ball 2-3 times, wrap it all up, set up the rope, and then tie in, you’ll be at 10-20 minutes. The actual climbing only takes like 2 mins I will admit but the set up and break down makes this kind of a pass in my book. If you have presets that changes that a good bit.
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Somewhat true. I have presets in trees of areas I’ve scouted. With just a little bit of practice, one can become a little better than “okay” at throwing a bag over a limb. I do think SRT is the quietest and quickest, aside from preset sticks.


Semper Fi,
Mike
 
gcr0003 said:
SRT is not quick, by the time you throw the ball 2-3 times, wrap it all up, set up the rope, and then tie in, you’ll be at 10-20 minutes. The actual climbing only takes like 2 mins I will admit but the set up and break down makes this kind of a pass in my book. If you have presets that changes that a good bit.
Click to expand...
Some one needs practice or that guys push Stix lol… I can be up a tree and back down in a couple minutes. Ask anyone who was at our meet up. The whole rope climbing demo took 8 minutes and 53 seconds. In that time I threw the throwball over a 26’ branch in a leaning tree. Took my time worked it to the crotch, talked to the guys about my Blake’s hitch, climbed up the tree Ddrt to 18’ and then came down, tied it in an SRT configuration climbed up again talked about setting the platform completely hands free, then came back down. If I spend 20 minutes going up a tree, then I had no business being out there with ropes in the first place because I didn’t practice enough at home. If you use the push style sticks, you can set your platform at your waist, climb up, set your SRT set up, use the sticks to advance the girth hitch as high as you can reach, then take the platform off, hang it from your saddle mollies and go. It’ll get you to about 8 or 9’ (to your feet) depending on your height. Set up repeat the process and you’re at hunting height same as one sticking but with no slack. Super light weight, packable and at worse takes about 5 or 6 minutes. Again I’m not saying it’s as cheap or light as 2TC but it’s safer and easier physically for me than standing in a foot loop or stirrup and trying to walk the tether up by hand.
 
You can get bolts down to a pound with carbon fiber if you're under 200lbs and light-footed and smart. You can get them under 2 if you use titanium.

I'll also bet that I can teach a man to put a bolt in a tree quicker than anybody can teach any of the acronym methods.

They're not perfect only because they're not legal everywhere. If you can't climb a tree with bolts, you cant climb it period. Fits in a pocket. Easy presets. Hard to mess up.

What's the phrase? "Come to the light...the treehopper light!"

Alternatively, I've come full circle back to the Novix (lone wolf back when I first got them) mini single steps. 6lbs for 4 with the rope mod and they side stack as compact as anything I've seen stick-wise. Cheap. Proven design.
 
Fl Canopy Stalker said:
So is throwing a throwball accurately
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I’m saying even with throwing a throw ball accurately (I do) the set up takes time.

Feel free to film yourself walking up to a tree, unloading your climbing rope and throw ball, throwing it over the tree, unhooking your throw ball, tying in your rope, pulling your rope up, packing your throw line, hooking up your ascenders, climbing to hunting height, setting up your platform, tethering in, and pulling up your climbing rope. Then we can really see how quick SRT is. I’ve done it and done it and done it again but the timer doesn’t lie.
 
Nutterbuster said:
You can get bolts down to a pound with carbon fiber if you're under 200lbs and light-footed and smart. You can get them under 2 if you use titanium.

I'll also bet that I can teach a man to put a bolt in a tree quicker than anybody can teach any of the acronym methods.

They're not perfect only because they're not legal everywhere. If you can't climb a tree with bolts, you cant climb it period. Fits in a pocket. Easy presets. Hard to mess up.

What's the phrase? "Come to the light...the treehopper light!"

Alternatively, I've come full circle back to the Novix (lone wolf back when I first got them) mini single steps. 6lbs for 4 with the rope mod and they side stack as compact as anything I've seen stick-wise. Cheap. Proven design.
Click to expand...
I would like to try bolts but it seems it would be difficult to drill them on the left side. I just remember trying to screw in the old deer me steps back in the dark ages. The left side was always pretty tuff to screw in.
 
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