How'd it go today?

Wasn't much of a day. Boss had paperwork to do, so I hung out in the office. Went to my project, but I wasn't feelin' it. My back's still a little weird. I dragged two logs, but the ground's soft, so that gave me a good reason to quit. I organized some sticks, but didn't do much else. Scouted the snag falls, and looked at my old nemesis Crusty Dead Pine. It was windy as shit today, and that thing was blowing all over the place. Made me think "Hmm...". Climbing it might still be on the table. If it can stand up to the wind we had last night and today, I'm thinking it'll support me. The short snags are all no problem, but it gives me more logs to move. yay...

Made a ropewrench tether when I got home, maybe...

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It's chunkier than what I had in mind, but I'll try it as-is, and maybe modify it if necessary, and the overall concept works. Made it out of ash.
 
Made a ropewrench tether when I got home, maybe...


It's chunkier than what I had in mind, but I'll try it as-is, and maybe modify it if necessary, and the overall concept works. Made it out of ash.
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Should be good and strong. But, is it midline attachable?!🤪
 
Should be! This is just the tether that connects the wrench to the biner on your bridge. It replaces(if it works) the rope tether. I won't be able to use the hitchclimber with it. I'll have to use a fixed plate micropulley since it has to, or should anyway be at the center of the whole assembly.
 
Ash rocks.

I think starting at the very basic beginnings of a thing, such as SRT, is a good way to go- learning from the ground up with a homemade RW
 
If it breaks, you could potentially be stuck. Bring a spare HMS biner for a Munter hitch, or a figure 8 or some kind of descender with you, and an ascender with footloop or a really long prusik cord you can use as a foot loop and rope grab or something like that so you can get slack enough to do the munter.

Want a tether or two? An ~11” and a shorty like ~8”? I got a bunch of extra 5/16” Tenex, and plenty of shrink tubing to stiffen it up. I dare say it’d look as good as a commercially available tether and I’d have fun making it.

What kind of micro pulley are you using with your wrench? HitchClimber pulleys and a few others look nice and symmetrical with a double eye tether, Pintos and other fixed cheek micros are good with a single eye captured in the middle of the cheeks, and can probably allow an oval biner. Kinda need an HMS for the HC pulley sandwiched between two hitch cord eyes and two legs of the tether.
 
If it breaks, you could potentially be stuck. Bring a spare HMS biner for a Munter hitch, or a figure 8 or some kind of descender with you, and an ascender with footloop or a really long prusik cord you can use as a foot loop and rope grab or something like that so you can get slack enough to do the munter.

Want a tether or two? An ~11” and a shorty like ~8”? I got a bunch of extra 5/16” Tenex, and plenty of shrink tubing to stiffen it up. I dare say it’d look as good as a commercially available tether and I’d have fun making it.

What kind of micro pulley are you using with your wrench? HitchClimber pulleys and a few others look nice and symmetrical with a double eye tether, Pintos and other fixed cheek micros are good with a single eye captured in the middle of the cheeks, and can probably allow an oval biner. Kinda need an HMS for the HC pulley sandwiched between two hitch cord eyes and two legs of the tether.
I cliombed for 20+ years and have no idea what most of that stuff you mentioned is. I have no idea why you need all that to climb a tree. I was pretty dang fast with just a rope and a VT friction hitch (and a Pantin on my ankle). The amount of time wasted getting the SRT setups in place, especially on removals, is insane. And the gear! you guys have a thousand dollars in gear just to be able to climb a tree!

Jonny, not picking on you at all. It just blows my mind when I see these threads on SRT. I cannot relate.
 
I shouldn't get stuck. I always have extra gear with me. I pretty much carry a spare of everything when I climb; the little stuff anyway. I have all kinds of pulleys. With the split tether I've been using, I've been using a HitchClimber Rapide. Got a great deal on it from TreeStuff a couple years ago. I also have fixed plate pulleys(what I intend on using with this), and some regular small sliding plate pulleys I usually use for lanyard slack tending.

This is an experiment on a completely fixed tether with no play aside from the axis. I just want to see what it's like, and maybe if I end up loving the whole thing, getting one of the fancy wrenches somewhere down the line that has a solid tether/pulley combined. So far, my biggest complaint with the zk1 wrench is the size. I've already wracked my knuckles on it once. Not a huge deal, but it could be better. Either a zk2, or a hitchclimber hitchhiker.
 
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Shiny gear is an addiction and I have fallen prey to it. SRT isn’t nearly as gear intensive as it sounds. A wrench and tether is really the only extra gear one needs. It is a gateway though. Just like learning to splice tenex. Leaves you wanting more and more. My collection of dohickies and gadgets is modest compared to many but I can say that I have a few grand in it.
 
I cliombed for 20+ years and have no idea what most of that stuff you mentioned is. I have no idea why you need all that to climb a tree. I was pretty dang fast with just a rope and a VT friction hitch (and a Pantin on my ankle). The amount of time wasted getting the SRT setups in place, especially on removals, is insane. And the gear! you guys have a thousand dollars in gear just to be able to climb a tree!

Jonny, not picking on you at all. It just blows my mind when I see these threads on SRT. I cannot relate.
You might still be climbing today if you had.
Reg says it better here than I can. I can’t recommend this video enough.
 
John, that note to your mum in heaven from the little girl next door!!! How unutterably sweet!
Does my heart good to see a little person who wanted to write a note, and obviously parents who thought to encourage her to do it, and what a testimony for your mum, that she would have made such an impression on a little one.
What's that, my glasses are a bit misty, gotta clean them, hrm,hrm cough all good now :)
 
One of the memorable (almost) quotes from that Reg Coates video “never used srt and wished I’d used ddrt, many times using ddrt I’d wished I’d used srt.
 
I won't ever climb except on rare occasion because of my shoulder being prone to problems, but seeing how SRT seems easier on the body, I looked at a short intro to SRT video, and at the end they showed a low friction 3:1 assist for getting back to the trunk from the tip of a branch, and that showed me that I could use the new double micro pulleys I just bought to make a 4:1 ascent assist that could make it easy enough on my shoulder to do a little climbing.
 
I totally agree with Reg Coates on this bit. The SRT technique and being able to move back and forth SRT to Ddrt and back again as one pleases eases the work significantly. Paul Cox's Wraptor is also a very important tool in this regard. Had I stayed Ddrt, at my age now (61), I feel I would be one hurting about to retire ol fool.
 
Hip thrusting can go to hell. I was pleased enough to get into a tree with it, but it was a difficult slog. I feel like footlocking in an mrs system isn't so bad on the body, but much slower than srs.
 
I cliombed for 20+ years and have no idea what most of that stuff you mentioned is. I have no idea why you need all that to climb a tree. I was pretty dang fast with just a rope and a VT friction hitch (and a Pantin on my ankle). The amount of time wasted getting the SRT setups in place, especially on removals, is insane. And the gear! you guys have a thousand dollars in gear just to be able to climb a tree!

Jonny, not picking on you at all. It just blows my mind when I see these threads on SRT. I cannot relate.



SRT is way faster and easier.
I've used the same HH for years.

People can make it super complicated, like DdRT.


My first SRT device was a piece of wood with a rope hole.
 
I won't ever climb except on rare occasion because of my shoulder being prone to problems, but seeing how SRT seems easier on the body, I looked at a short intro to SRT video, and at the end they showed a low friction 3:1 assist for getting back to the trunk from the tip of a branch, and that showed me that I could use the new double micro pulleys I just bought to make a 4:1 ascent assist that could make it easy enough on my shoulder to do a little climbing.
Use leg power, as much as possible.
 
I do have a foot ascender, and a hand ascender. I should probably get a knee ascender too.

Will 2 foot ascenders easily simulate foot locking, or will I run into issues?
 
A typical bungee and footloop floating ascender.

Mine, for years, after trying a HAAS, continues to be a cut down petzl handled ascender.





My bungee is tied into a daisychain (tied into pockets like an ultra sling).

The bungee goes over the shoulder and attached to the rear of my saddle or to my thumb. 16452912152561452234237411916480.jpg
 
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Having a knee ascender changes the game rules. You might have seen my posts here where I'm hacking one together. As awful as it looks, it works fine. It doesn't take much to get something that works.
 
A foot ascender can make a really nice knee ascender, just need a little rope or webbing and some bungee. I even re-used the foot loop on the one I made from the Camp TurboFoot. Kinda like the looks of the ones that have a strap to keep it near the knee with no bungee, but that’s probably an aesthetic thing. Function and comfort gotta be better if the ascender really does float.

There’s a guy on Facebook selling ones like that, built out of cheap Chinese footies. To hear him tell it, it’s the best, but I don’t believe he’s used a SAKA. This French company, Systeme came up with it before him anyways and use a nice Camp ascender on theirs lol but he didn’t like hearing that. Maybe he’ll make a million with his sewing machine and Chinesium.
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