SRT techniques for beginners

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@Ryan when you get your HH, here is a very nice set up pictured by DMc. Perhaps adaptable to the RW.


In fact, you might want to read that whole thread. Good stuff from a while ago. Wish Dave was still with us, I miss his expertise.
 
Well, I had to figure out how to rope climb with the gear that I had and it weren't pretty. Started with the RW setup and a foot ascender but nothing was bringing the apparatus up with me so I added the hand ascender with a "tugger" connected to the tether of the wrench and was able to sit/stand. I'm sure there's better ways to do this but I had to try something. Coming down worked fine but I noticed an obvious speed bump when a gaffed/damaged part of the rope went through the wrench which was a good reminder to work from the other end next time. All in all, a good first experience.

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The video is pretty cringe so watch at your own risk.


Put everything away and roasted marshmallows with my youngest and the neighbors cat.

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From my experience with climbing SRT with a rope walker setup, you want to learn how to use hand over hand above your device versus hand on hand ascender. That could get messy. Wear some gloves with sticky palms. You need either a chest ascender or a neck lanyard. Take a piece of paracord and tie a small loop to the tether of your rope wrench and connect the chest or neck ascender to it if you don't have a connection slot for your chest ascender/neck tether.. That's what I did. The way you have the hand ascender connected to the wrench is innovative, but I don't think it will work. Just my two cents.
 
A Hitch Climber pulley, the pulley the RW was designed around, has the extra attatchment point need for advancing.
If you use a neck or shoulder tether to advance the RW, attatched to the RW stiff tether, it can cause you grief. I warned Cary, Widow Shooter once about that and he evetually got the blisters to prove my point. He leaned back when his foot ascender slipped off and it collasped the system. Burning his butt and balls.
 
That escapade is described and debated in this thread. Also worth a read, @Ryan...the whole thread, I mean.

 
A Hitch Climber pulley, the pulley the RW was designed around, has the extra attatchment point need for advancing.
If you use a neck or shoulder tether to advance the RW, attatched to the RW stiff tether, it can cause you grief. I warned Cary, Widow Shooter once about that and he evetually got the blisters to prove my point. He leaned back when his foot ascender slipped off and it collasped the system. Burning his butt and balls.
Can you explain why it will cause someone grief? I have the Notch Flow/Fusion combo and there is no apparent connection port for a chest ascender or neck tether that I'm aware of. The slots milled into the tether are unsuitable for an XSRE carabiner and appear to be just for weight reduction. I've had no issues with my neck tether and it is designed to break off from the device at 1/4 my body weight using 2mm paracord specially fused to itself in a loop to strategically create a weak point.
 
Do you only read posts that are specifically directed at you? I was quite clear, in a post directly following Stephen's, that "here is the thread that contains all that he has just noted". Your question to him was superfluous, as the answer was right in front of you. @Knotorious
 
Oh, Jesus Christ. You guys post way too f*cking quickly. I thought I was looking at your message below Ryan's still. My bad. Sorry, Stephen; if I may call you that. Disregard the polite but confused DM I sent you. Thanks, @Burnham. It's been a long day. Haven't gotten a lot of sleep at the parental unit's house and I'm a bit of a confused ass hat apparently.
 
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But to answer your question, @Burnham, I reserve the right to read whatever links I want. Especially if it isn't directed at me. So long as the conversation flows.
 
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That escapade is described and debated in this thread. Also worth a read, @Ryan...the whole thread, I mean.

So, I think there's been a misunderstanding. I just read the first nine pages (out of ten) of that thread you linked last night and I still fail to grasp what is wrong with the way I have my neck tether connected to my rope wrench. I specifically stated in my initial messages that I have a fixed loop connected to the milling of the Notch Fusion tether made out of 2mm paracord designed to breakaway at 1/4 my body weight. It is girth hitched to the tether at the bottom most slot and I clip my neck tether onto it via an accessory carabiner. It is approximately in the same exact position as where one would normally connect to a hitch climber pulley for the original wrench (SEE ATTACHED DIAGRAM).

In the thread you just had me spend 45 minutes reading, the guy that got badly hurt and friction burned his ball sack had his neck tether connected around the rope wrench tether, allowing for up and down play, causing lifting forces to be up at the wrench portion, which is a completely ridiculous setup (see second image for ACTUAL PHOTO of this guy's setup). Also, I have a catch on my Petzl Pantin to prevent it from kicking out off of the rope during ascent, but that wasn't relevant to your initial concern over the setup I described originally, which you stated was an "escapade." However, having no catch contributed greatly to this man's accident.

Perhaps I'm missing something. Do you still have concerns with my neck tether connection arrangement or did you misunderstand me? You as well, @CurSedVoyce .
 

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@Knotorious, I never addressed your advance tether in any way. Neither did CursedVoyce specifically, to the best of my ability to understand.

All I did was bring the old thread to our attention, should we, especially @Ryan who is just beginning to work through this device and its associated workings, wish to review what Stephen was referring to.
 
I'm so confused. So why then, when I asked @CurSedVoyce what was wrong with my tether arrangement, he directed me to that thread with textual agitas? Perhaps he can explain, since I don't expect you to know, @Burnham. Or was he responding to @Ryan, even though it was immediately after my post, where he didn't clearly direct the message to anyone in particular? And if that's the case, why did you (Burnham) seem perturbed with me when I would have then correctly pointed out that his comment, and that link, were not directed towards me...about a message that wouldn't have been for me...but which appeared to be for me, hence why I even responded to him at all.

Am I making sense? I was asking why my neck tether setup would cause me grief ONLY BEACUSE I thought that Cursed's reply, immediately after my post, was for me, since it wasn't directed at anyone else and appeared to address my talking points from my previous message. So when he annoyedly directed me to the linked thread, I believed that the link had information that would answer my question. This whole thing has been one ambiguous misunderstanding and it's fair to say nobody did anything wrong. Cursed apparently believed I was asking about his message, which apparently wasn't for me, regarding his comment about something contained in the link and THAT is why he got annoyed with me...because he didn't realize I had thought he had replied to me.

I rest my case. =-D
 
@Ryan I was just watching one of the videos you posted of you climbing a tree for practice. It looks as if you're effectively utilizing a "sit/stand" technique. Now that you know that your hand ascender-above-the-wrench idea is less than ideal, it seems to me that you might want to practice the same technique, but with just your foot ascender and your wrench. Basically, you can practice taking one step up, then using one hand to hold the rope above your device while the free hand advances your wrench. Immediately after advancing the wrench (I find it easiest to do so by grabbing the tether and sliding the device up) you can often gain a few extra inches by using that same free hand to wrap around the coil of your friction hitch and raise it up as much as you can before applying your weight onto the device. This also will teach you how to manually set the hitch in any situation where it isn't immediately grabbing the rope.

People, with some practice, can become extremely efficient with the sit/stand technique and it will allow you to learn the fundamentals prior to adding a knee ascender into the mix for a rope walking setup. You will eventually become extremely fast at doing it and it will become a practical means for ascending a stationary rope; espcially as your muscles become better equipped and toned to handle such motions. After you've become proficient at manually ascending your wrench, you can use a chest harness or neck tether, clipped to your wrench, as a means of auto advancing the wrench hands free by simply standing up. Once mastering that, then the knee ascender is the obvious next step. When trying out rope walking for your first time, pick a TIP that will allow for your to free hang in open space, far enough away from the stem so that you can practice unhindered. Learning how to rope walk right against a stem is a skill unto itself and passing limbs is yet another.

While everything may seem daunting and feel challenging at the moment, that will soon change with enough practice. I can't speak for anyone else, but this is how I learned. I'm by no means a canopy ninja, but I can quickly and effectively use all of these methods. Just some thoughts. Keep practicing and be confident! =-D
 
@ Ryan Early on, before I added a knee ascender, I just used a foot loop onto the hand ascender for the opposite foot from the ankle ascender. I originally had a single hand and then bought the double.
This allowed me to continue to build my upper body and grip to where I could just hold myself upright holding the rope above me. It also gave me the ability of having my second leg and foot helping me along. Frog Walker.
There was also a tether to my ring my devise is attached to at the bridge of my saddle from the handled ascender, advancing the device along with the ring. Not perfect, but the rope moved through the devise nice enough while using my legs. And it would engage if I stopped. You can get pretty quick at this once you get a rhythm figured out.
This was early on, so you can see I am still figuring things out. And building strength.

You just add to your system in stages what will work for you
 
Another training idea I just thought of is, when you feel ready, to practice limb walks...on the ground. Practice your throw weight and throwline technique by setting either a basal or canopy anchor into a high up TIP. Then, while on the ground, practice your technique by first moving outward with much of your body weight against the rope, producing a moderate lean in your body. There are some good videos out there which show proper form, so I won't get too into it, but work on releasing your hitch as you move back with one hand and pretend you're using your other hand to navigate the treescrape and using it for balance. Practice moving sideways and with your back turned almost completely toward your TIP to mimic typical body positions you might encounter. Ideally, find a tree that will allow you to practice on gravel or asphalt, because grass is unrealistically slippery (not always, though).

This will also allow you to better calibrate the wrench portion of your rope wrench. It will be tempting to collapse the wrench with your hand, but that is improper form from what I understand (although, I've certainly done it). You want the rope to run through your wrench as you release your hitch in a moderate lean. If the rope isn't running through, you may want to adjust it and open it up a bit. Tiny micro adjustments can make immense differences, so don't feel like you need to move the bollard by much.

Once you've moved outward about 25 feet, then practice pulling yourself in and try to continue to keep as much of your weight on that line as you can. As you get closer in towards the tree, weighting the line will become less important as the limb can then better withstand the forces being applied by your body weight. Practice tending slack with one hand while pretending to, again, use the other hand to grab whatever you can for balance. Obviously there are no branches to grab on the ground, so just use your imagination and keep that hand off the device. There are certainly times when you can use both hands to tend slack and there are exceptions to SOME rules.

If you want to do this exercise in pro mode, then buy an inexpensive and long wooden square beam and set it on the grass and practice moving in and out while balancing on top of it. Buy one that maybe 4" x 4" and you can buy a few ten foot long segments to put in the grass or wherever. You can use them to build branch structures on the ground. So don't think you just have to go straight in and out; use the beams to create shapes that you can follow on your feet, side to side and back and forth. This will greatly improve your balance and allow you to practice on the correct medium at your feet.

I think we all know I'm not a professional, so maybe someone has a better training concept in mind. I just know that this is how I became a proficient limb walker before ever performing one in the canopy. At one point, I even felled a large dead tree out in the woods closeby another tree and then put a canopy anchor high up in the nearby tree and then practiced my footing on the felled dead tree, which added a new dimension to the training: up and down and not just side to side, front and back. Also, it allowed me to practice on the 100% EXACT medium I would witness at height...but only ever a few feet from the ground. This also allowed me to incorporate lanyard training. i could go out and up and around these limbs several feet above the ground and then lanyard into the tips of the limbs, pretend to make a cut using my hand saw, scabbard my saw, undo my lanyard and move around some more. This will allow you to train to equalize yourself using both your climb line and your lanyard via triangulation arrangements.

It's honestly a lot of fun and you need only to go into your local state park or wherever and locate a fallen tree to give this a try if you are so inclined. But definitely the square beam training method is mindless and easy to achieve on a budget. Once again, maybe other people have better ideas, but this worked wonders for my balance and technique and overall safety in the tree.
 
@Ryan Here's a thread that shows the bits and bobs of the system Stephen displayed, so you can more easily (perhaps:)) visualize how they all go together.

 
I laughed @CurSedVoyce disclaimer on his video that he was "still figuring it out" and then basically flew up the tree. Great videos.

I think I'll try to get a foot loop on the handled ascender first and rig something to advance the hitch. One piece at a time.

@Knotorious Thanks for the ideas.
 
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