Poll , Gibbs Ascenders

[theTreeSpyder]

Strengthen your strengths and your weaknesses go away!

Fly baby!

The more you practice;
the luckier ya git!
(Labor Under Controlled Knowledge)

 

[Jonny]

I keep a Gibbs still for a pine lanyard, but switched to distel hitch with micro pulley for most work. On a 25' piece of velocity, it's like another little system.

 

[pantheraba]

Same here, Jonny. My lanyard has worked well for years with the distel and micro pulley.

 

[kevin bingham]

A friction hitch works great, but a rope grab doesn't care about sap at all. Like i said, you have absolutely nothing to learn about climbing from me at all. If you have gone this long using a rope lanyard, i highly doubt you will improve by using a wire core, let alone one with a grab. We all have our preferences, but if you ever find yourself in nothing but sap and/or are forced to work a stem a bunch, they really are pretty sweet. I've seen your YouTube videos, and by my observations you are on the verge of flying anyways, so spend your time perfecting that and you won't need a lanyard at all

I think you give me too much credit. You put me 200 hundred feet up a huge pine out west with a 661 and I'd look about as rookie as you could get. The most amount of sap I ever deal with here are spruced which rarely top 60 feet and I could bassically get them on the ground with a handsaw. Larger removals are normally a crane job. Couple of cuts on the stem and done. I am still going to pick a flip line up and play with it though. Spliced three strand was my first lanyard, had to use two hands to adjust. That did suck

 

[Altissimus]

I'm thinking nut and bolt on everything now , even if I use a pin for rigging it will be an extra long one w a separate retainer not the spring lockers

 

[Jonny]

What's the reason?
Seems like it'd take some uncommon circumstances for the pin to accidentally disengage.

 

[MasterBlaster]

I never liked the pin. Never.

 

[Altissimus]

Yes ... Had a problem , twice !. First time I started a Gibbs repair thread here. Pull Trees of decent size w Tirfor on 5/8" line ... Both times even the damaged the ascender did more or less hold the line though. Thinking wing nut and lock washer to skip wrenches as it goes on and off the line quite a bit.

 

[Altissimus]

I bought grade 5 bolts w nylon and steel lock nuts for the safeties , after install I cut off and filed down the excess threads. I rather like the little bit of bulk reduction as well as peace of mind. (One pin was fine , the other not so much)

 

[Altissimus]

Fundamentals mentions any mechanical devices (might have been reference to double lock snaps) though great in many cases can be subject to failure i.e. twigs etc. jamming moving parts. In my case now I believe the pin failure is caused by poor or no spring extend on the two tiny ball bearings that retain the whole show. First time the culprit was Softwoods Sap , second was time was Ice and Snow. Just a theory but based on everything I know as I have pulled many stems w ascender on heavy line w Tirfor. Two times is too much failure for me though.

 

[Jonny]

Ever see any damage to the rope from Gibbs + tirfor?
I've heard talk of ascenders/ rope grabs severing ropes and leaving flat spots on the rope.

 

[Altissimus]

Nope , looks that way on stable braid sometimes after a tight line heavy pull , goes away