Hitch Hiker Reviews

Adam not sure if it was you or somebody else who weighs 220ish but I'm wondering if its the weight thing. I tested them with 200 extra weight ie 380 and they worked fine but I have never climbed on them for extensive periods of time so am wondering if it as causing the wear surface to peen over time. Take a picture like Leon's last one you see on his picture you can see the polished area where the biner rides, that is my area of concern.
 
Ok, to my eye it looks ok. Here's some pics. They're huge on purpose.. if they're so big for some that they mess up the thread view let me know and I'll resize.

HH1 (Medium).jpg HH2 (Medium).jpg HH3 (Medium).jpg

I'll take a look next time I get hung up to note which way the spine is facing and how the oxan and tail of my rope are oriented.
 
I am climbing on Tachyon and have had some of the same troubles. I do not see any indentations on mine either. I think the Oxan is just pinching a little too hard at times.
 
OK, so it's not just me then. Although in my case the banyan goo definitely was contributing and probably making it worse.

Adam, I remember you were going to try the pinto spacer on the biner. Did you ever give that a shot? If so, did you experience the same problem, and how was overall performance?
 
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I feel like when in DRT I can completely break the hitch while holding the tail with my right hand and easily control my descent speed with the HH/oxan/dogbone only. This means I can SCREAM out of the tree.

I have been really hitting a stride with the whole system, I have it almost self tending (it will with enough rope weight) and have really dialed in my hitch setup. Now that the HRC is broken in it is really precise and looks to last a while. I have a pretty refined system modified off Jamies setup and its smooth and compact.

I climber DRT the other day and was totally surprised at how slow I felt body thrusting and my elbows ached the next day!
 
I td'd a pine today. Topped it and then used the spar as a high TIP and pruned 7 nearby pines without touching the ground. Once I had finished deadwooding the retain trees, I pulled my redirect out and then swung back to the removal tree, blasted a couple of chunks of wood and then bam! I literally shaved about an hour off of my climb time today...and I didn't expend near as much energy. SRT rocks!!! I will point out that the TD was done Ddrt untill such time as I was blocking the spar (which was done with a long tail RB) and the pruning SRT.

Redirecting is much easier with Srt. I found that before dropping down from a new high TIP, if I tie the tail end of my rope to a biner and clip the biner to the rope where it leads into the new tip, it is super easy to pull that rope down and gain the original tip. One simply has to untie and retie the HH system to avoid hangups. I am seriously rejuvinated about climbing...it feels like there is a whole new world out there for me to apply all your hard earned lessons! Haha, I feel like I'm cheating, let the other guys pioneer the system and then jump on board when it is tuned in!
 
I Have had this pinching issue with the Oxan from day one. It has nothing to do with my advancement loop (it wasn't always there) and there is no sap.
I'm using the supplied Beeline and Poison Hivee.
I assumed that it was just a quirk of the device. Recently though I've suspected its actually related to technique and how the Oxan and hitch 'set' when I sit down. I'm thinking along this route because it can happen several times in one day but then not for a few days.
Any thoughts?
 
canadiantreeman said:
... I found that before dropping down from a new high TIP, if I tie the tail end of my rope to a biner and clip the biner to the rope where it leads into the new tip, it is super easy to pull that rope down and gain the original tip. ...
Click to expand...

That's a cool technique! :thumbup:
 
Husabud said:
I have the same issue, but only when climbing Ddrt. SRT is fine. I don't use a friction saver so I think that has something to do with it.
Leon, I believe the indent you are looking at is meant to be there. The issue would be if it was on the opposite face, but let Paul be the one to clear that up.
Click to expand...
I agree. The rope tends to push the biner away from the indent, so the biner can't jam here.

I feel a little jerk when releasing in SRT but it is due to the knot shrinking on the rope after a little time at the same place.
I'll look closer at it to see your phenomenon.
 
rumination said:
Adam, I remember you were going to try the pinto spacer on the biner. Did you ever give that a shot? If so, did you experience the same problem, and how was overall performance?
Click to expand...

Yup, I did but only briefly and the oxan started to chew up the aluminum spacer pretty bad right off the bat. I didn't notice any huge difference in the performance of the setup but I also don't remember getting hung up.

Maybe I'll try a steel sleeve/spacer and see how that goes.
 
I figured out why my HH occasionally sticks when I try to descend.
PCTREE told me to check where the Oxan is in contact. There is a little bump so I'll rub it down and I'm sure that will sort it.
 
I topped three Pines for a co-worker last Saturday. Used the HH with DRT for the whole job. I continue to be impressed by how well and consistent that it performs. When I first started I was very intent on cutting, not paying too much attention to the HH. Wasn't long before I realized the HH was advancing a lot harder than it should be. Made a very slight adjustment to the friction hitch and had no problems with it after that. ;) Was also able to use the DMM Revolver/Basic as a 3:1 to help with work positioning, worked out great! Used spurs to access the trees so I didn't need to use the "hands free" climbing setup. A lot of work on the first two trees 'cause of all the tangled limbs, all in all the job went well and home owner is very happy. The HH is awesome! No regrets whatsoever. I highly recommend it! :D


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=es9sSVTj0BE
 
My whole style of climbing has changed since I started using the HH. Srt opens up great possibilities, not to mention being able to use the tree itself to gain support for TIP's that I wouldn't even dream of using Drt. I find myself taking the time to set a line prior to climbing waaay more, which allows me to work at times half of the tree before reaching my TIP and 'switching sides' to work the other half on the descent.

As a full time production climber who runs his own business, this 160.00 investment has likely paid for itself several times over....and I've only had the thing 3 weeks! I swear I've shaved 10 hrs off of my pruning jobs, and I've had around 70 hrs of air time on pruning in the last 3 weeks. Thats like a 15 % increase in production just by virtue of adding one simple piece of kit and expanding climbing technique into the realm of SRT. The tool provides, IMO, the easiest transition to Srt than any other. I look at the expensive azz art gear and chuckle in my head now. No freaking need anymore...and cambium savers, wth are those!

I'm stoked.
 
I tried out 8mm OP and HRC today. I really like the way the HRC feels, although I had to get that hitch almost as tight as I could or it got a little too "sporty" for my taste. Runs really smooth, though, the HH just keeps getting better and better. :)
 
rumination said:
I tried out 8mm OP and HRC today. I really like the way the HRC feels, although I had to get that hitch almost as tight as I could or it got a little too "sporty" for my taste. Runs really smooth, though, the HH just keeps getting better and better. :)
Click to expand...

What type of hitch knot did you set?
What is HRC? (probably a rope we don't get in England)
 
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