Hitchclimber pulley...likin' it!

[Wagnaw]

You can cut up old big shot rubber tubbing if you have it. I put a broccoli rubber band on mine once that I thought worked great!

 

[Bermy]

sherrill sells 'em

Ta, I'll keep an eye out, or make sumptin' of my own what with the current economic crisis...:roll:

 

[CurSedVoyce]

Make sure you have your rubbers when you use that method in the tree...
It just sounded funny in my head.. LMAO

 

[Bermy]

Oh somebody just HAD to go there!
I wondered how long it would take...

 

[SkwerI]

We're tree guys. Would you expect anything less?

 

[hmm]

the distance with the hitch climber - from the pulley to the bottom of the hitch is about 2-3 inches? I use a single micro pulley - a utility cord (the blue cord) and a swivel snap to hold the pulley to the up rope - both on a blakes and a eye to eye. with the pulley close to the hitch there is no slack.

when body thursting there is no slap or slack.

[/IMG] with the eye-eye split tail

[/IMG]
on an open system - with a blakes.

I use this with all my ascending, a type of foot lock, ascender/pantin

 

[SkwerI]

On your distel hitch/ vt, you can simply shorten up the cord to eliminate slop in the setup and make the hitch more responsive. One of the first things I learned when experimenting with the advanced hitches was "make your hitch cord as short as possible without binding".

This hitch cord is actually about 1" too long, but it's the best picture I have of my setup.

 

[hmm]

you can simply shorten up the cord to eliminate slop in the setup and make the hitch more responsive. One of the first things I learned when experimenting with the advanced hitches was "make your hitch cord as short as possible without binding".

and what about an eye-n-eye splice?

on that setup as pictured - you still have slack. (to each their own) i know - mine is still clunky with the extra cord and i have gone to a smaller cord for the snap.

it is fine tuning all the time

 

[CurSedVoyce]

With the Blakes.. I can shorten the hitch to eye run to meet my needs(slack thing) NP... I also like the Kleimheist instead of the Prussic. It tends better and it seems more adaptable to the tender. Might just be me Faster to tie and dress also IMHO. Then again I have yet to incorporate the VT.. But hey... I'm a noob just working my way the tech

 

[chucky]

When you terminate your rope with a knot and use a hitchclimber, make the bight in the knot so long that the knot itself is placed a good bit above your friction hitch. Otherwise the knot may lay against the hitch and cause it to slip and scare the heck out of you. .

I'm liking this hitchclimber setup, I suppose you could make a loop with a bowline a few inches above the friction hitch so as not to interfere? Is that the best way? My life lines aren't spliced.

 

[stig]

I'm liking this hitchclimber setup, I suppose you could make a loop with a bowline a few inches above the friction hitch so as not to interfere? Is that the best way? My life lines aren't spliced.

That is what I meant, exactly.

 

[CurSedVoyce]

Love it too.... I am still working through some fine tuning... Seriously loving the thing though...

 

[chucky]

Me too. My old True Blue line is pretty old and frayed so the hitch isn't advancing too well until I get a pretty good length of rope under it. I normally use a distel but instead I tried the VT. Still some tweaking to do, but I can tell I'm going to like this setup a lot. Also I'm using 5/16" spectra and I'm wondering if I can improve on that.

 

[rumination]

Careful with that spectra Chucky. It melts at a lot lower temperature then you would expect.

 

[SkwerI]

I tried the 5/16" cord for a while because all the cool kids were using it. But one day somebody gave me a piece of 3/8" cord (Thanks, Stumper) and I instantly realized that smaller wasn't necessarily better. The larger hitch cord worked much smoother with a lot more forgiveness, and it didn't get as hot on the fast descents. Therefore it lasts a lot longer as well.

 

[rumination]

I'm with you on that one Brian. I've been using 3/8" Tenex for quite a while now (a 100' hank makes a lot of hitch cords!). I've got some HRC I'll probably give another whirl, but after that I'm probably going back to 3/8" polyester. Cheap and reliable.

 

[Bermy]

I'm using icetail, it's about 3/8...MUCH better than beeline.
Length of the friction hitch cord is quite important too. Too short and it doesn't back off enough to get a smooth descent or pay out for branchwalking.
Love my hitchclimber...worth every penny

 

[chucky]

Hmmm. Thanks for the advice guys on the 3/8" cord. I'll have to buy a hank of it and experiment a bit with different hitches until I can home in on just the right length. I still prefer the distel, but if the VT or another hitch works better then so be it. Then I can hit Nick up for some eye to eye.

 

[biggun]

I am using armor pruss, elderid exp timber blue and hitclimber combo. I also use the Armor pruss on NE england Tachyon with H/C combo and both bite when needed, and self tend once so far off the ground. they did take it bit of fine tuning though to find the sweet pot...

 

[SkwerI]

Biggun, that's the same VT I use. Do you find it twists your lifeline on long descents? I ended up reversing the last crossover and that helped reduce the line twist. (This cord is about an inch too long)

 

[DMc]

The hitch climber is a great example of what works for most, may not work for everyone. I keep reading rave reviews and I think, "Well heck, I'll give it another try." And I do. And all it doe is irritate me. I can't get past the fact that the hitch, eye-splice and carabiner are all so close together. I like better access to my friction knot.

I usually go back to using something more like what Brian uses. But because I also don't like two carabiners clanking on my bridge, I sometimes hook them onto a knot so that they are running in tandem.

Dave

 

[NickfromWI]

Wow, DMc. That's a clever solution.

How'd you tie the knot? Looks sorta like a mini hangman's noose.

love
nick

 

[DMc]

Thanks, Nick.

It may not be perfect but it is a solution that works for me.

I have no idea what that knot is. I tend to tie what I need. I call it a "Double-eye scaffold knot".

Dave

 

[NickfromWI]

I'm heading out to climb a tree today. I might have to flip my rope over and climb with the unspliced end so I can give this one a shot!!!

 

[Bermy]

Now that's innovation!
Does it bother you at all to have to unclip from two krabs in order to do a changeover?