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Why don't yall 2TC?

Having more time to think about what happened, and a full sized keyboard, the issue was a wet, slick tree trunk and single foot climbing. With single foot, you need the friction of your bottom foot against the trunk along with your wrap leg to lock you in. With the slick trunk, I couldn't get a solid grip but still managed to climb 12' before I quit.

This goes back to the double foot loop. It's more efficient and less effort but slower than the single foot so I decided to not use it as my primary method. However, climbing down on that same slick trunk using my double loop was no problem. This has me thinking again about the double loop and accepting the slower climb due to an easier and possible safer climb.

Tomorrow, I'm going to do a double foot climb as high as I can go to test things out.
 
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I climbed a tree last year on the second to last day of season as a misty snow storm was blowing in and didn't have any issues going up or down with a single foot loop, and that tree was so large I wasn't even able to leg wrap it. I'm sure your choice of footwear will be a factor in the ability to grip the tree with your toes enough to make this viable. For reference I was wearing stiff soled, composite toe work boots with a rubberized toe cap. Were you climbing high or low side of the tree? I tend to always climb low side, not sure how much that would factor in on wet trees

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krub6b said:
I climbed a tree last year on the second to last day of season as a misty snow storm was blowing in and didn't have any issues going up or down with a single foot loop, and that tree was so large I wasn't even able to leg wrap it. I'm sure your choice of footwear will be a factor in the ability to grip the tree with your toes enough to make this viable. For reference I was wearing stiff soled, composite toe work boots with a rubberized toe cap. Were you climbing high or low side of the tree? I tend to always climb low side, not sure how much that would factor in on wet trees

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Vertical ironwood tree about 12" diameter. I was wearing my old Danner work boots that have aggressive traction on all sides. I don't mean to make this an argument but it had been a steady rain for several hours so the the trunks were thoroughly soaked and doubt a misty snow storm would have saturated the bark as much.
 
MNFarmHunter said:
Vertical ironwood tree about 12" diameter. I was wearing my old Danner work boots that have aggressive traction on all sides. I don't mean to make this an argument but it had been a steady rain for several hours so the the trunks were thoroughly soaked and doubt a misty snow storm would have saturated the bark as much.
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That's true, everything was wet/damp but it wasn't truly soaked. I not familiar with ironwood bark, I was climbing a cottonwood with plenty of texture which could be a factor in my ease of climbing also. I don't think I would attempt to climb a truly soaked tree that wasn't a firm rough bark like cottonwood

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MNFarmHunter said:
Having more time to think about what happened, and a full sized keyboard, the issue was a wet, slick tree trunk and single foot climbing. With single foot, you need the friction of your bottom foot against the trunk along with your wrap leg to lock you in. With the slick trunk, I couldn't get a solid grip but still managed to climb 12' before I quit.

This goes back to the double foot loop. It's more efficient and less effort but slower than the single foot so I decided to not use it as my primary method. However, climbing down on that same slick trunk using my double loop was no problem. This has me thinking again about the double loop and accepting the slower climb due to an easier and possible safer climb.

Tomorrow, I'm going to do a double foot climb as high as I can go to test things out.
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Did you think about switching to your two foot loops for climbing when you were struggling going up? Would have been interesting to get the side by side comparison in the same conditions. I can't see how 2 foot loops would be less stable, but the wet tree might have pointed out something we haven't thought about like it did with the one foot loop.

Good luck this season and safe climbing
 
I did think about moving to the double loop 1/2 way up but I’m not as flexible as I once was and was so frustrated that my stubbornness kicked in. I will say though that the double loop on the way down, in the rain, was far easier.

I’m on my phone and can’t search prior posts while typing but the comment about not knowing ironwood got me thinking about different types of bark.

Its bark looks like an oak or hickory but also crumbles easily into a powder. My guess is that plus water made it that much slicker. Here’s a pic from Saturday evening in an ironwood
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Made a few changes to my setup and climbed an ash the diameter of a cantaloupe. I chose that diameter as it would offer the least stability in terms of placing your foot against the trunk. I also finally found rings that would work on 8mm rope using a Sticht hitch and had both tethers rigged with that hitch.

As before, the double foot loop is slower climbing compared to the single loop. The reason is that with the double loop, I'm fighting my legs to get the tether advanced. With the single loop, I remove my foot which makes advancing the tether simple. That being said, the double loop was stable on the climb with no kickouts. I did shorten the spread of my feet by 5" on the double loop which also helped. Going back to Friday's climb, this would've prevented any slipping since each foot would've been on either side of the trunk.

Using both legs also reduced the overall effort climbing. Since you're not doing a leg wrap with the double loop, a linemans belt would help but that's a 3rd rope that I wouldn't want to deal with.

Where the double loop shines though is on the climb down. Since you're not fighting your legs when lowering the tether, the climb down is a breeze.
 
Forget the linesmans belt. I just tried it and it was a fluster cluck trying to choreograph everything. On this climb, I was on basketball diameter tree and as suspected, was much more stable compared to the skinnier tree.
 
MNFarmHunter said:
Forget the linesmans belt. I just tried it and it was a fluster cluck trying to choreograph everything. On this climb, I was on basketball diameter tree and as suspected, was much more stable compared to the skinnier tree.
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I haven't done a ton with my double foot loop, but when I did I messed with both using a lineman's and not. I found the same, the linman's wasn't worth it, and once you were standing and moving the tether up, it wasn't as much of an issue.

One thing I played around with, since you are fighting your legs, is setting the tether as high as I could possibly get it. Then move my feet up, stand and tend slack in the tether, move my feet up more, tend the slack, and repeat until I got to where my tether was around chest high, then move it and repeat. It wasn't the fastest, but I also barely felt like I was working. Being a heavier guy, the one foot method just killed the arch of my foot. I'm looking to get some new webbing to try and make new, wider foot loops with an adjustable width strap for different sized trees. Or just by the ones from CGM

edit: Buy the ones from CGM
 
CGM is nice but I'm cheap, have a sewing machine and made my own.

I did start doing what you suggested about adjusting your hitch when advancing and it does help with the double loop. Still not as quick as a single loop but it'll work.
 
Per a request...I'm just posting pics of my second bridge for use when climbing 2TC....1st pic carabiner attaches to foot tether, 2nd the carabiner attaches directly to the short bridge during branch pass.
Last one is my adjustable length second bridge on my other saddle.....so you have 2 options.20220926_210843.jpg20220926_210901.jpg20220926_193423.jpg
 
I did a quick climb up past my practice ring of steps this morning to stay fresh. I used the HTP 9mm tether and the Amsteel foot loop. It was a nice climb. I have to get my gear organized today. The season opens Saturday, but I will not be out hunting until the early part of next week.
 

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Samcirrus said:
Per a request...I'm just posting pics of my second bridge for use when climbing 2TC....1st pic carabiner attaches to foot tether, 2nd the carabiner attaches directly to the short bridge during branch pass.
Last one is my adjustable length second bridge on my other saddle.....so you have 2 options.View attachment 72345View attachment 72346View attachment 72347
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Samcirrus said:
Per a request...I'm just posting pics of my second bridge for use when climbing 2TC....1st pic carabiner attaches to foot tether, 2nd the carabiner attaches directly to the short bridge during branch pass.
Last one is my adjustable length second bridge on my other saddle.....so you have 2 options.View attachment 72345View attachment 72346View attachment 72347
Click to expand...
what hitch is that on the adjustable bridge?
 
I did a short 2TC climb today. I only went up about 12 or 13 feet on a pine out back and set a ring of steps and climbed above and onto them. In a lot of places that height would be OK around here in the thick stuff. Just high enough to get above the thick stuff and see down into it. I wanted to see how carrying everything in a backpack would be. That carabiner and hitch I have on the foot loop for going around limbs served perfectly for me to take the backpack off and hang it from in order to access the ring of steps. It worked pretty well. Pine bark is noisy, but it is not an unnatural noise. It sounds like a squirrel or a raccoon.
 

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@NMSbowhunter thats how I hang my gear. I swing the foot tether to my right on the tree and put the backpack in the carabiner. I put my bow on the left side on a genesis 3d printed tether bow hanger. The weight of the backpack locks the foot tether in place and the bow hook is really solid.
the Foot tether (that I’m not connected to in any way) is pushed up right under my normal tether and helps keep it in place so I don’t need another lock to keep it from loosening when I de-weight it
 
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