The Official Rope Walker thread

Might work, but might restrict the drop needed to get positive hitch engagement. Certainly the best for keeping the climber upright on the rope with minimal effort.
 
I could be mistaken but I think the SRT Demo Kit going around has a chest harness of some type in it.
It's got a few people to go through to get to me, but I'm really looking forward to trying out a "real" chest harness. :D

Ayuh, here it is Petzl Voltage Chest Harness , copied it off the list of what's in the kit..... :thumbup:;)
 
When I started with the HH I was using lanyard-over-the-shoulder all the time. Now, most of the time, I'm using a simple webbing sling chest harness, for all of the reasons stated above. Much more ergonomic and easier to use.
 
Since this thread has veered towards discussion of dedicated use chest harnesses, I thought I'd post a couple of pics to show what's in my gear bag. The USFS standard required all certified climbers to wear a chest harness whenever aloft, up until the last few years. The objective was to make aerial rescue a smidge easier, allowing easy attachment to provide upper body support.

But those of us that ventured off into old school SRT systems found that the same chest harness was just about imperative to setting those ascent systems up for best efficacy.

You new school SRT folks, using Kevin's RW or Paul's HH, might like to see what this oldster has been wearing for more than 25 years :).

The first pic is of a commercially made unit by ABC some many years back: simple, light and adjustable, and quite affordable in those days. I suspect something similar is still on the market now, though the price might give me a shock :).

The second pic is a homemade unit, easy as pie and ultra cheap. Not adjustable, as you can see, but a sweet chest harness that fits me like a glove, even now :). Stitched on a borrowed commercial machine, took all of 2 minutes, at best.

Take a look, these or something similar are definately the way to go for SRT systems.
 

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Folks have spoken of several ways to set the chest harness to advance the HH as you ropewalk up. Here's my method.

I tried a simple 2mm cord loop with scaffold knot loops on each end, but didn't like the slop for hookup. Ran the same cord through a short length of stiff plastic tubing, like I have used to make custom gear loops on my saddles over the years...and there you have it.

Many ways to skin this cat, just thought I'd toss this one out for consideration.
 

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Very nice Burnham. :thumbup:
I like the chest harness and HH tender loop.

I was wondering looking at your setup, do you "tend" your HH from the "rope" side?
Does it tend better?

I have my tending loop on the "spine" side.
 
Your orientation works best, Randy...with the rope running on the opposite side of the biner than my pic shows.

That's what happens when you throw something together for a photo, too fast :).
 
Your orientation works best, Randy...with the rope running on the opposite side of the biner than my pic shows.

That's what happens when you throw something together for a photo, too fast :).

Ayuh,
done that more than a few times myself. :|:
Thanks Burnham..... ;)
 
Burnham, clever looking set up! Thanks for sharing it.

That’s what I love about The Tree House, something that works well for someone else can be shared in days and weeks instead of it taking 25 years to learn about it.
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
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Petzl hand ascender with handle ground off, foot loop has adjustable length via prussik. A little rubber band to make a tighter footloop would be a nice touch.

4mm-ish elastic cord doubled over with overhand knots along the length for 'daisy-chain' like clip in options.

Clip biner to elastic and HH tender loop (also doubles as DdRT tie in point. I think that this needs to be shortened and/ or lengthened with two clip-in loops.

Right foot Pantin.

Hand over hand action, with the top of the elastic daisy-chain on my thumb.


Guess I held the camera sideways for the latter two.



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Cut and pasted from other thread, btw.
 
I think I would prefer the roller... Except during summer :|:

Might work, but might restrict the drop needed to get positive hitch engagement. Certainly the best for keeping the climber upright on the rope with minimal effort.

Complete noobie here.

I suspected a chest roller would prevent my Hitch Hiker hitch from engaging and that's exactly what I found today. When I tried to sit in the harness on the HH, the PMI Chest Roller did a wonderful job of "tending" the hitch down preventing any engagement at all. FAIL! The roller also kept a hitch and pulley setup from engaging.

In order to try out the new chest roller, I had to place the HH above it on the rope, attached to the harness with a short webbing sling. Just for a quick test, I let the chest roller tend the HH upward which it did surprisingly well. While it all worked OK, I'm not at all happy with the HH placed high or having it tended by the roller and am not suggesting anyone do this. The roller certainly makes up for my lack of upper body strength and let me quickly go up 50'.

So where do I go from here? Anyone know of a better way to utilize an HH with a chest roller?

I was also trying an adjustable length foot loop on the knee ascender I spliced up a few days ago from Samson Ice Tail. I had had problems with a webbing sling coming off my boot as I climbed and wanted something that would snug down on the boot yet be released easily with one hand. The new foot loop worked extremely well.

IMG_0354 (Small).JPG

This was also the first time I used cinched TIP vs a base anchor. I used an alpine butterfly and delta link for the cinch. Please let me know if you see anything wrong with it. Thanks

50' up....
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Hi guys,
sorry I have not been here all along. love seeing all the "getto HAAS" systems, I have to admit not as much as if they were the real deal, but its cool that the idea is getting used. and really that was my intention.
 
I'll have the chance to try out an "authentic" HAAS soon, lookin' forward to it. :D
And yes, I made my own, mostly due to the "zero budget" I'm on right now.
Also because I enjoy making and modifying my own gear. ;)
And hey! Welcome to the 'House, my name is Randy. :)
 
'Ghetto Haas'! love it :)
I'd say like ^^ above, it's a budget issue, or like me I saw a ghetto system before I saw the Haas, and had already cobbled one together, then I saw your product...doh!

Hang around, you'll like it here.
 
'Ghetto Haas'! love it :)
I'd say like ^^ above, it's a budget issue, or like me I saw a ghetto system before I saw the Haas, and had already cobbled one together, then I saw your product...doh!

Hang around, you'll like it here.

I too made a "ghetto" version for the reasons above. Your concept is genius all the best!
Joel

Another one of those things I love about the 'House, all this great information that gets passed along and then the people that
came up with the idea and put it on the "market" to be available to the rest of us come here and like what they see "us" doing,
that's really encouraging. :D (sorry about the run on sentence :|:)



I believe that says a lot about the character of this group of people,
happy to see progression for the benefit of the "craft" and not getting "hung up" on missing out on a few bucks..... :thumbup:;)
This isn't the first time I've seen it, as I said before, it is very encouraging(to me anyway).:thumbupold:
 
I'm really digging the HAAS. Once I'm up I unhook the bungee and clip it around my left side onto a carritool. It stays on the boot and out of the way, to the point I forget it's there. Easy to re-engage when needed. Really sweet kit. Must confess I will probably cannibalize the components and build my own once this one wears out. . .
 
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