Mr. Pine Pitch holds me up at 40ft

[Bermy]

Welcome aboard!

We are a pretty diverse group here, so some mildly insulting but happy bantering goes on, we do have a vegetarian commie eurosceptic as well...I am a refugee from the Bermuda triangle, limeys, aussies , canuks and bog standard Americans, well then there is Jim.

We are experts at massive derails too.

This is THE most supportive tree climbers, cutters hangout, we don't do flame wars.

 

[Spellfeller]

Preach it, sister!

 

[Limbrat]

Welcome Chris from the Forgotten Coast of Florida!

 

[soup-n-sandwich]

Thanks guys. I was just telling the Mrs. about you guys. Never have I seen so much welcome to an outsider than this.
I've been messing around with this stuff for about a year and prior to that about six months of "what should I buy", and "how many ways are there to tend this things?!" and maybe a little of "I hope I don't kill myself" but in the last few hours I've received more answers to problems than all these months of research.

I'm telling you guys...this forum should be "standard issue" when anybody purchases gear from Treestuff. It's a s valuable as the gear itself.

I see all your avatars are much cooler than mine. You guys are all hangin off or from of something...I got a bowl of soup and a BLT as my avatar! lol

 

[pantheraba]

Hey....a man's gotta eat! Avatar is fine.

Bermy....that was a great synopsis/summation of who we be...and what we do.

And I had never heard of "bog standard Americans," but that phrase makes me laugh!!! About as good as hoi polloi.

(this is how derails get started)

Welcome, Soupy...pull a log up to the fire...we're feeding fat lightard to the fire tonight...and some of the boys are drinkin' moonshine.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Ib3wP6SlaPU" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

 

[soup-n-sandwich]

I don't hold liqueur too well...Benadryl makes me kooky but a fire and good people yeah that's good stuff.

Wow this post is getting derailed big time!

Thanks guys for the "roses". It's a good group here.
c

 

[treebilly]

Welcome. I still have some issues with my HH from time to time in the self tending area. Never a problem when using my haas and foot ascender. Pine pitch will mess up any system out there, including the mechanicals. I spent two hours with a toothbrush cleaning a borrowed rope runner. I tie mine opposite of what Bermy's pic showed. I'll try it her way next time I get to climb and see if it makes a difference.
Also I used the original beeline that came with mine and am now on epicord mated with the Yale 11.7 ropes( PI, blue moon)


And no moonshine here. I've got a few quarts somewhere but my wife has hid them from me

 

[BOTS]

The pine pitch got me today and hung me up about 60ft or so....I just hook back up my foot/knee ascender with hitch tender and go up 4-5ft or so and then blast past it while tending bottom of rope in other hand for safety

if that dont work then you just got to whack down on hitch rope, till it gets past pitchy section...did this today as well....

 

[soup-n-sandwich]

Welcome. I still have some issues with my HH from time to time in the self tending area. Never a problem when using my haas and foot ascender. Pine pitch will mess up any system out there, including the mechanicals. I spent two hours with a toothbrush cleaning a borrowed rope runner. I tie mine opposite of what Bermy's pic showed. I'll try it her way next time I get to climb and see if it makes a difference.
Also I used the original beeline that came with mine and am now on epicord mated with the Yale 11.7 ropes( PI, blue moon)


And no moonshine here. I've got a few quarts somewhere but my wife has hid them from me

Padawan Jedi,
Ok well it's good to know this stuff just happens. I have to come up with a "treatment" because I'm climbing White Pines almost exclusively.
So even mechanical systems..hm good to know.
I really don't like this HTP climbing line. Even when it was new I think it's a bit flaky with the HH. Especially with the BeeLine hitch cord.

I have some pitch on it still...I'm temped to dump it in a slop sink with some liqueur thinner and see what happens.

 

[BOTS]

Get a net type bag and wash ur ropes with gentle detergent...never use thinner

 

[treebilly]

Bots is a pine slayer, he deals with it a lot more than I. I'm almost certain that he has more vertical miles than his chip truck has road miles.

 

[Merle Nelson]

When doing White Pines could a person use a 'Conduit Type' cambium saver to keep rope off the pitchy tree? Or a ring and ring friction saver set long enough so the friction saver is making contact with the tree and getting sappy but the rope is mainly contacting the ring and ring?

 

[Grendel]

I've had great luck with the leather cambium savers in pines. . .

 

[pantheraba]

Yep...I use leather ones, too. Have two of them in fact.

 

[soup-n-sandwich]

Yep...I use leather ones, too. Have two of them in fact.

But how do you guys get them in the tree in the first place?
So I shoot my throw line over a decent TIP...but do I just pull the climbing line up and over, then climb up and it in. As you can tell I haven't researched this yet. I'm sure there is a cool method just like everything else I'm learning.

BOTS

Get a net type bag and wash ur ropes with gentle detergent...never use thinner

But does this mean after every climb I have to wash the rope? Nearly every climb will be a pine. It's not sticky but crusty and hard.

c

 

[treebilly]

How does the cambium saver help with the working end of you line when climbing SRT? That end of the rope is either dangling below you and brushing sap or above your being pushed into it.

 

[Grendel]

SRT they help when you're setting your anchor and pulling the line into place, that's about it. DbRT they rock. I like the consistent friction they provide.

White pines man, white pines. Little pustules of sap everywhere. . .

 

[Bermy]

If you get a conduit saver or a leather one, once your throwline is over your TIP and back on the ground...feed the end of your climb line through the conduit (as long as you don't have a splice) poke the end out, tie your throwline to it.
Then tie a slipknot in your climb line just behind the other end of the saver.
Pull it all up, jerk the conduit over your TIP and stop.
Hold your throwline firmly and jerk your climb line to pull out the slipknot.
Finish pulling your climb line through.

Or if you use a ring and ring, install it as for DdRT, pull up your rope and base or canopy tie as per usual...but that means you have to isolate a TIP

 

[soup-n-sandwich]

If you get a conduit saver or a leather one, once your throwline is over your TIP and back on the ground...feed the end of your climb line through the conduit (as long as you don't have a splice) poke the end out, tie your throwline to it.
Then tie a slipknot in your climb line just behind the other end of the saver.
Pull it all up, jerk the conduit over your TIP and stop.
Hold your throwline firmly and jerk your climb line to pull out the slipknot.
Finish pulling your climb line through.

Or if you use a ring and ring, install it as for DdRT, pull up your rope and base or canopy tie as per usual...but that means you have to isolate a TIP

That's sick! Yeah that's great. When you say conduit you mean electrical PVC/Poly want a cracker type material? The grey stuff...what 3/4" in diameter? How long do you think?
C

 

[BeaverMonkey]

http://www.treestuff.com/store/catalog.asp?category_id=349&item=1852

 

[Broncman]

I just used the seal tight with the ferrules. They make a metal lined and all plastic version. They also make a high flex conduit as well. I believe the treestuff ones may be the high flex versions. Good price if you don't have access to the flex conduit.

I tried both all plastic and the metal. My rope slides through the metal easier and if you use the seal tight ferrules, no sharp edges etc.

 

[soup-n-sandwich]

http://www.treestuff.com/store/catalog.asp?category_id=349&item=1852

Thanks for the link.

Broncman

I just used the seal tight with the ferrules. They make a metal lined and all plastic version. They also make a high flex conduit as well. I believe the treestuff ones may be the high flex versions. Good price if you don't have access to the flex conduit.

I tried both all plastic and the metal. My rope slides through the metal easier and if you use the seal tight ferrules, no sharp edges etc.

Thanks for the information. So when you guys shoot a line and it ends up going over a few branches on the way down how do you handle that in terms of protecting the rope from sap? Do you only worry about the main TIP or are you trying to protect the rope from every point of contact?
c

 

[BOTS]

Bots is a pine slayer, he deals with it a lot more than I. I'm almost certain that he has more vertical miles than his chip truck has road miles.

lol, yep thats the truth fo sho!!

But does this mean after every climb I have to wash the rope? Nearly every climb will be a pine. It's not sticky but crusty and hard.

c

yes and no......if its really really bad then I give it a wash but it doesnt guarantee that it all comes out pitch free, but better than before.......when pitch drys up it will crumble off when you use it

The best thing is to have more than one rope......I have 3 SRT ropes, two are 200ft one is 300ft long...if one gets really bad Ill use other rope for next tree

 

[soup-n-sandwich]

lol, yep thats the truth fo sho!!



yes and no......if its really really bad then I give it a wash but it doesnt guarantee that it all comes out pitch free, but better than before.......when pitch drys up it will crumble off when you use it

The best thing is to have more than one rope......I have 3 SRT ropes, two are 200ft one is 300ft long...if one gets really bad Ill use other rope for next tree

Ok Scott thanks. To be truthful if I had the need for a ground anchor rescue I'm not sure 200ft of rope would do it..it would be close but maybe not close enough. 300ft would be enough for sure. You may have already answered this but do you have a recommendation for 7/16" rope for SRT that might be better for pine climbs?
c

 

[BOTS]

Hard to give recommendations just because ropes are a personal choice depending on many factors like area you work in, your weight, SRT or DRT ect.....but saying all that and knowing you climb pitchy pines, and wanting a 7/16th,
11.5mm Tachyon works nice for me on HH2 with 9.3mm epiCord hitch cord tied just like the instructions in HH2 manual...6 wraps works awesome for me but might be different for U...it gets a bit stretchy at over 80-90ft though but would rather have that than a rope that feels like a wire cable.

My favorite climb line is the Samson Vortex 12.7mm nice and fat, easy gripping and has just the right stretch (low-ish) at up to 130ft.

I use the Vortex on original HH and use 10mm epiCord or beeline blue in 10mm with 6 wraps

all my climbing is in SRT