old school or hitchclimber?

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Hi Everyone - I'm a first time commenting, climbing virgin. Where should I go to find a detailed gear list and tutorials to get me started? I checked out the old forum, and did some Google searches, but there's a LOT of info out there, so I'm looking for some veteran advise on how to start. My main goal is to be able to prune my own trees in the short term, and potentially climb for money down the road.

This HC setup appears to be the preferred method these days.

Thanks in advance.
 
Welcome to the TreeHouse! Do you have a first name? Mine's Butch.

What part of the world are you in? Your profile's a mystery...
 
Hi Butch - my name is Tim Staines and I live in between Baltimore and DC, Severna Park to be exact. Thanks for the welcome - I'll fill out my profile a bit right now.
 
Cool, Tim. I gotta jump on my treadmill, but my best advice at the moment is to just start checking out the threads that catch your eye.

Again, welcome! :beer:
 
Welcome to the Treehouse, Tim. I'm Brian.

A good start would be The Tree Climber's Companion, a very informative little book by Jeff Jepson. He spends a bit of time discussing what to look for when shopping for gear. I wish this book had been available when I started climbing.
 
Welcome Tim, I'm Justin. I'd agree check around the threads. More advice will come soon enough. Imo a hitchclimber certainly isn't nescessary for starting out. Depends how much money you have to drop as to what kind of set-up you get. KISS to start though for most.
 
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I'd maybe hold off on the hitchclimber at first, too. To use a hitchclimer slacktending pulley, you need to be using one of the more advanced friction hitches...those hitches are a high performance item, so can be a bit twitchy to get dialed in and working consistently for you.

I'd advise something a little more basic and easy to work with as a start. Maybe a hank of Blue Streak, a splittail of the same or similar, and a simpler slacktender setup...either short or long bridge.
 
A blakes with a pulley is great to learn on. Hell some around here may still be using it for the majority of their work climbs.:/:
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
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Welcome :) and the HC rig is the bomb for sure.
 
Thanks Brian, just ordered the basic spur kit, inclusive of The Tree Climbers Companion.
 
Thanks all, I'll let you know how it goes and what I end up adding . . . is WesSpur.com where you guys buy? Other suggestions?
 
I play around with a vt now, but I find myself falling back into the blakes quite a bit.


Yo Tim good call!
 
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treestuff.com wesspur, both great places
 
WesSpur is a great place to buy gear. There are dozens of others both good and bad but WesSpur is right up there at the top of the heap.
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
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I agree with the treerat :) Sean at wesspur and Luke at treestuff are the very best out there to make it right for you
 
So what's the big difference between the HC and a normal pulley? Is it simply organization? Depending on the situation I use a grigri, distel or vt.
 
canadianclimber said:
So what's the big difference between the HC and a normal pulley? Is it simply organization? Depending on the situation I use a grigri, distel or vt.
Click to expand...

Simplicity of organization is certainly an advantage with the hitchclimber, but you can get nearly the same benefits on that front from the mickey mouse pulley.

The real improvement with the HC over any other slacktending setup is the superbly smooth alignment of climbline, hitch, pulley, and harness attachment that is maintained, allowing nearly effortless advance of the hitch under almost any circumstance.

One downside of the HC is the need to use it with a tight spliced eye climbline, for safe operation...there are workarounds, but they all are a sad imitation of the proper way to do it :).
 
Still use split tail with a blake's and a tender pulley from time to time :) Just make sure you tie it right... I used to test the hitch proper before leaving the ground.
 

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Burnham said:
.

One downside of the HC is the need to use it with a tight spliced eye climbline, for safe operation...there are workarounds, but they all are a sad imitation of the proper way to do it :).
Click to expand...

Well said!
 
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