Retrievable Top tie for SRT

I've always favoured a top tie for SRT, I find it cleaner and neater and don't need to worry about someone (or me!) cutting my base tie. I tie a figure 8 around a dmm anchor ring which has been preinstalled on the other side of the line. This way there is less friction/ware on the point at which it cinches on the line/tree.

The main flaw with this system being that I always need to climb back to the top to remove the tie in and then usually have to switch back to double rope to descend.

Whilst there is nothing wrong with this it can be quite time consuming, So I have been experimenting with using a 5mm cord and a small DMM snap to retrieve the line

I clip this into the figure 8 not the dmm anchor ring, as then when you pull the cord the ring stays in the right orientation and does not add friction to the system, it seems to retrieve the tie in quite well, the cord is just thick enough to get a good purchase on it to give it a good pull. It has worked on a 2ft ivy clad stem so I'm hoping it will retrieve from most anchors. the only issue so far is when to clip the line in and how much would it get in the way if installed at the beginning?

Lirios Armor hitch cord - first impressions

Picked up a couple of metres of Lirios Armor hitch cord at the APF on the recommendation of Honey Brothers, at 3 times the price of the Sirius I normally use I was initially doubtful and it was going to have to seriously impress me

Only used it on 2 climbs so far, one large (SRT) and one smallish (Double rope) and I have to say I was very impressed, used it with my usual knot - distel. Its very smooth, holds well and tends nicer than any cord I've used before. So if it lasts I may well be a convert! I won't speak to soon though, its early days yet, more later...

Couple more videos

Just a couple more videos following on from the last couple of posts

SRT and redirects

Just a couple of pics from the big pop fell last week showing the use of some redirects and the further benefits of SRT

This one is a little confusing as the perspective is off slightly,  the left hand stem is the rigging point with my initial  anchor being the middle stem which is then redirected off the next one, allowing me to get much further out on the branch I'm rigging back in. 

My view

The redirect, a lyon sling round the stem with my climbing line secured in place with a clove hitch 

getting out on the tips of this branch enabled us to rig it clear of a couple of fences

                     

Lanyard setup/Work positioning strop

I've played around with various different lanyard setups over the years, I First started climbing with a big thick 19mm wire core thing with a massive triple action fixed krab on the end, it was about 4m long and adjusted with a prussic, pretty basic and very heavy. I then moved onto a thinner diameter wire core strop, about the same length only with an ISC rope grab and wire eyelets each end. I climbed with this for about 5 years and never really had and reason to complain, I still have it and will use it occasionally for chogging down big stems. 

I then moved on to trying out various rope strops, all of my own making, I went though a couple of different lengths and thickness of ropes/hitches before I came up with what I am currently using.

The rope is actually a 3m replacement rope for the Petzl Grillon, which I chose because I wanted an 11mm rope with a spliced/stitched eye either end and this was actually the most cost effective way (about £30ish) and came with the added bonus of the protective sheath. This is particularly good for keeping rope and hitch clean when working on conifers or dirty trees.  

I chose 3m as with my style of climbing I rarely need anything longer as I'm usually able to get most places in a tree with just my main anchor point and use the lanyard only to attain my final working position. This means I don't have to drag a long lanyard around the tree getting it tangled and caught up on everything, or have to daisy chain it or stuff it into a stuff sack. 

I use a hitch climber as the tending pulley because of the added versatility the additional attachment holes provide, allowing me to use it as a secondary DRT (double rope technique) anchor when needed. Or if I need a little extra length as a SRT (single rope technique) strop (assent/positioning only)

The stitched eyes have a protective plastic covering that holds the DMM ultra O karabina firmly in place making clipping in one handed very easy. (These are my crab of choice at the moment, full review to come)

Having a spliced eye either end negates the use of a stopper knot 

And enables me to clip both ends up out of the way, keeping everything nice and neat as well as not having to drag it along the floor when I walking around on the deck

The hitch cord is 8mm Sirius and works really nicely on a Distle with this rope, it rarely jams and grips every time. 

All in all I love my current set up and would replicate it in a heart beat should any element need replacing at any point. I much prefer the versatility and flexibility of a rope strop over the rigidity and additional safety of a wire core.

 I'm always interested in other climbers setups if anyone wants to share theirs?

Blocking down

Everyone seems to have a different term for this; Blocking, chogging, negative rigging, dynamic rigging etc...

Basically when the piece of timber is directly above the rigging point and is then inverted 180 degrees and lowered down I call it blocking down or dynamic blocking.

This is one of the bigger lumps we did, the rope should have been allowed to run a lot more to minimise the shock load, but we were a bit over cautious and put one too many wraps on the lowering bollard, which in turn led to too much friction on the bollard and the shock load on the system you see here. 

As a side note if the stem is to be dismantled in sections but not rigged, I call it chogging down. Don't ask me why, just always have. The guys on the ground always seem to know what I'm on about anyway.

Working a Spar SRT

I dismantled a large oak earlier this week, the crown came out easily enough and we were down to the stem by lunch time(ish)

Call me a cheat for using ladders but It's still the quickest way into a crown!

The stem was obviously slightly more time consuming, especially as it was up to a metre in diameter in places and due to a fragile patio underneath everything had to be lowered. Now I quite enjoy blocking down big lumps of wood but they can be pretty time consuming to set up, which is why I frequently work them SRT.

I simply choke my line at the top of the last cut, descend to where I want to cut next (with rope wrench attached) I have the pulley block, dead eye and rigging line clipped into my anchor ring, so they are out of the way and not hanging off my hips, I am then easily able to make the face cut without any danger of cutting anything. 

The stem after 3 or 4 large lumps had been rigged down, you can see the largest still at the base of the tree, to big to be moved we had to cut it up where it sat.

Once I've made the face cut, the pulley is attached as close to the face cut as is practical. The rigging line and pull line (if applicable) are next to be attached before I strop in, move my SRT anchor to just above the pulley, make my cut and hold on! Then its a case of un-tieing the dead eye, clipping it to my anchor ring (pulley/rigging line still in place) descend and get ready to start all over again!

When it comes to either descending to a point where I can't reach my anchor to retie it (or coming down at the end of the day) its a good idea to make the anchor retrievable, in which case I use an Alpine Butterfly. 

First enough rope is pulled round the stem to reach the next point/ground, then I tie the alpine butterfly into this long end, then simply clip a karabina through the loop and onto the other part of the rope (closest to harness/hitch) making sure the gate is facing up, this is then synched up tight to the stem.

Now I wouldn't recommend this as a permanent anchor to work an entire tree, but for working on a large diameter spar like this I think its fine; its always in sight so you can see its not cross loaded or coming undone, and the stem is large enough that the krab is being weighted along its correct axis.  

Coming down at the end of the first day

Retrieving the anchor 

Then when it comes to retrieving the anchor you just pull down on the knot side of the rope until it gets to you, unclip, untie the butterfly and pull the rope down. 

That time of year again - Loler - equipment maintenence

Had a Loler inspection this weekend, which was motivation enough to sort out a few bits of my kit that have needed some tlc. For starters a few of my karabinas have been sticking a bit lately, so they got a good soaking in hot soapy water, then properly dried and a tiny squirt of WD40 had them working as good as new

The other main thing to sort out was replacing the hitch cord on my main line and my side strop

I'm sure I'm not the only one guilty of leaving my hitch tied on too long. Trouble is when you've got it running really nice it seems such a shame to take it off, but as you can see from the picks maybe I need to change mine a little more often. 

I've used the hitch climber system since it came out, and before that a swing cheek pulley and I have always used hitch cord tied with fisherman's either end. This is partly because spliced eye to eyes are too expensive but mostly because they are way too long! I like my hitches tied real short, I find they jam less, tend nicer and most importantly there is virtually no sit back! 

Taped 

Cut

and then melted to seal the end and prevent fraying 

Then re tied and set 

SRT Strop

This is a neat little trick for when your work positioning strop isn't quite long enough and you want to choke it round a stem/branch and use it in a single line configuration and want to avoid cross loading the karabiner 

Obviously you shouldn't be descending solely on a hitch, but if used for assent or work positioning it should be fine. 

Token TIP (tie in point)

I've been doing quite a lot of storm damage work lately. Any of you with experience of this will know that its not as clear cut as most stuff and you can't always rely on having a suitable anchor point to work from. So you frequently have to improvise, compromise and generally make do.

Take this willow from last week, it had lost its top leaving only a couple of biggish side branches that curled upwards, over a fence, so couldn't be dropped in one. Not practical to get a cherry picker in for it so had to be climbed.

I'm probably a good 1.5m above my anchor here, with enough rope in the system that I would probably deck out if I swung towards the tree, but by keeping my work positioning strop attached to the branch I'm walking out on I'm protected from a major swing and it at least offers a small amount of security should the branch fail. 

By working single line it meant I could tie in around the broken stem and maintain constant friction on my hitch. Now some may say whats the point in this TIP (tie in point) when you'd hit the deck if anything were to fail, the point is that any roping point is better than none and this one gave me something to lean against when walking out on the branch, and by balancing the tension between that and my work positioning strop I could stand upright comfortably and securely, enabling me to safely remove the branch in manageable sections. 

My Rope wrench/SRT set up

I did a post last week on some of the benefits of SRT and i thought I'd just share a few pics of my current rope wrench set up

I love climbing single line, but I don't use it for every tree, so having the wrench set on a Dmm oval, means that I can quickly switch from double rope (DRT) to single. The knot is a distil tied on 10mm line, but with fisherman's either end instead of spliced eyes. This enables me to keep it real short and minimise sit back. The knot works equally well for DRT

The tether is based around a short Wild Country quick draw sling, this fits snugly in the wrench, keeping that end fairly rigid, the other end has a petzl quickdraw rubber and another karabiner rubber that stops the tether moving too much on the Krab. it is all then stiffened up with a few layers of heat shrink. 

My climbing line is Yale lime light (11.7mm) works really well with the wrench, can be a little bit bouncy when working single line but otherwise a really nice rope. May well do a full write up on it at some point. 

Benefits of Single rope technique: Part 1.

This is not intended to be an instructional post, just a brief intro into single rope and what it has done for me. If your looking to get into single rope working I suggest looking for a more experienced climber to teach you, or first try having a look on arbtalk. There is a wealth of information to be found. I'm also working on the assumption that you have a basic understanding of traditional tree climbing.

There is nothing new about single rope technique, it's been used in tree work for a long time, mostly for access into the tree rather than work positioning.

It's routes lie in caving and industrial rope access where the need to ascend larger distances would make working from double rope highly inefficient. 

The efficiency of SRT is what first appealed to me, that and the increased compatibility of mechanical ascenders. Having climbed for numerous years I was on occasion plagued with a repetitive strain injury that would after a couple of days working on big trees start to make work very painfull for me. 

I had tried useing foot and hand ascenders whilst climbing double rope but the 2:1 mechanical gain you get with traditional tree climbing meant they never really felt like you were getting anywhere as your pulling twice as much rope through as the gain in height. 

Now when climbing SRT there is no mechanical advantage, which may initially seem like a disadvantage, but the first time you set up a rope walker system and climb the rope as quick as you'd climb a ladder you realise how much energy you must have wasted over the years!

And because you are using your legs rather than you arms it feels so much easier, when you step up on the rope the gain in height is just that; one hole step, so with a combination of foot ascenders you can literally walk up the rope, covering huge distances in seconds. As I said before, there is nothing new or revolutionary about this, foot locking achieves the same gains. The main differences come when you start using SRT for work positioning.

There's far too much to cover in a single post so I plan on doing a series of posts, covering further benefits and my own personal SRT (work positioning) set up.