Let's talk lanyards

Scratch · Nov 11, 2018

I'm new to tree climbing and will be doing recreational climbing, but I'm curious about lanyards. I've seen places that sell complete lanyards, or complete lanyard kits, but it seems like it could just be made pretty easily. What do you use for the main line though? Can it be bought by the foot, or do you need to buy a whole length of rope and just have extra for replacement or rigging?

I'm looking for tips and ideas on components and what to make it from. I'm thinking like 15' of ??? with two ISC snap hooks, a micro pulley, some rope for a friction hitch, and a prusik to be able to tie off as a single anchor. I like the design of the Sterling Ultimate Positioning lanyard but I'm fine with no sewn ends though, knots are fine.

1. Should I use 2 snap hooks, or maybe just one snap hook and one carabiner?
2. Steel or aluminum?
3. Snap hooks, or locking carabiners?
4. Double locking or triple locking?
5. Length of lanyard?
6. Good places to find rope by the foot for hitches, prusiks, and lanyard?
7. Should the adjuster be prusik type or mechanical?

If I'm wrong on terminology, let me know. I don't want to sound like an idiot. Also let me know if I should be thinking of some other ideas for a lanyard.

rope-a-dope · Nov 11, 2018

Knot and rope supply for ordering specific rope and cordage lengths. Many other arb suppliers sell rope by the foot, too. Building your own will be cheaper than a kit and as easy as tying the knots. For rec climbing i think auto locking aluminum biners are plenty strong and secure. Snaps are cool too, budget and/or preference will guide you.
25-30 is good for a double ended set up if thats what you are intending. I like a shorter one, but i work climb and usually dont use the last 10 feet of my longer lanyards.

rope-a-dope · Nov 11, 2018

As for what rope, i dont think there is a wrong choice. Because lanyards are manipulated and used to pull yourself around a lot, i would shy away from the narrow ones unless you have tiny hands :boxeador:

Jehinten · Nov 11, 2018

Scratch said:

Lanyards are a pretty personal choice, and you wont know what you like until you try a couple. As far as rope types, double braids are a nice choice and run smoothly. 16 strand is another nice choice and tends to hold up better to abrasion. You can buy rope by the foot at any dealer, although wesspur does have a discount rope selection that often has good deals. Personally my lanyard is a DEDA style (double ended double adjuster) it is 12mm Sirius and I use an auto lock carabiner on one end with a hitch to adjust and a rope snap on the other end with a ART positioner on the other end.

Bango Skank · Nov 11, 2018

I still use a Gibbs with 1/2 " yale XTC 16 strand. Steel snap for the flipline, carabiner for the adjuster.
I will likely change to a hitch setup with a longer rope and keep the Gibbs around for sappy/ pitchy stuff.

Nothing wrong with knotted lanyards and prussiks. Really opens up a lot of options.

Tuebor · Nov 11, 2018

Scratch said:

Lanyards seem to be one of those areas where personal preferences run strong and hunting around for the right one takes a lot of trial and error.

I don't know if the kits are a better deal or not, but you can ask a retailer to make a custom one from any combination of cordage, length, termination, and adjuster you want. Stiffer lines seem to be easier to manipulate and wear better, but they might not hold knots well and should have eyes spliced or sewn.

1. For rec climbing, one snap or biner is good enough. If you want more versatility, go with a snap on each end, or a snap and binder, for a double-ended lanyard. You'll want a longer lanyard to make use of them.
2. Aluminum. Steel is too heavy to lug around. You don't need the extra strength, and if you want to chuck your lanyard a long way, clip a throw weight on.
3. Either. Hooks will have to be spliced or sewn on to a lanyard, so they are kind of permanent. A carabiner can be changed out of the lanyard eye. Consider a binder with a captive bar for attaching your adjuster to your harness. Use a carabiners keeper on the working end. If you go south a snap, use an ISC or similar...they can be clipped into thimble prusiks or pulley beckets.
4. Double locking, triple action is the standard for tree work. Get used to it. Why skimp on a few bucks?
5. I have a long (10 m) CE lanyard which I really love as a second climbing system but jesus, I hate managing the slack. Most of the time I need a quick clip in to hold myself while I catch my breath and move my TIP. I have an 8' lanyard that does the job 92% of the time, although somehow I still step on it.
6. Any arborist retailer. WesSpur, TreeStuff, Bartlett, ShelterTree, KnotandRope.
7. Personal choice. I prefer prusik. Mechanical seems jumpy to me but I haven't tried many.

ekendahler · Nov 11, 2018

Myself, I climb with a CE lanyard with an addition carabiner at the "bitter end", which is spliced, and an extra hitchhiker and hitch (not always connected).
Got the long one as the smaller ones were out of stock when purchased.

Sometimes I can suffice with the lanyard and keep the main climb system on the ground.

Used to have a DIY system with the same setup made out of caving rope. And prior to that a 20m rope with a grigri prussik
and petzl basic as a lanyard/second system stuffed in a hard dittybag.

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Sgfinco · Nov 11, 2018

Here's my current set up, mimics a ce but with a swivel. I like a short lanyard, 15' is about perfect and I keep my loops short as I have tiny legs and a 15' lanyard just loose gets tangled up in my feet constantly.
View attachment IMG_20181110_221927424.jpg

Jan_ · Nov 12, 2018

I use a 11mm lanyard with a distel knot and pulley. I have a steel carabiner on the throwing end, the extra weight of 50g is barely noticeable and helps a lot when throwing. I also like to use my lanyard as a second srt system and in that case I prefer a steel biner in case I have to choke around small branches.

TreeCo · Nov 12, 2018

Bob Bob · Nov 13, 2018

I've used several lanyard configurations over the years. My current ones are listed below.

35' 9mm PMI Ez-Bend, 28" 8mm sewn eye Ocean hitch cord (Distel hitch), 1 Rock Exotica Pirate carabiner, 1 Rock Exotic RockO carabiner, 1 DMM Rapide Hitch Hiker pulley, 1 leather cambium saver. The RockO stays with the hitch cord and pulley, the Pirate is tied on one end with a double fisherman's knot. I usually have either a stopper knot or a double fisherman's knot with another carabiner on the tail end.

50' 10mm PMI Ez-Bend, 28" 8mm sewn eye Ocean hitch cord (Knut Hitch), 2 Rock Exotica RockO carabiners, 1 DMM Rapide Hitch Pulley, 1 leather cambium saver, 1 Rock Exotica RockD carabiner, 1 Trango Cinch, 1 DMM Captain Hook, 1 Petzl Basic with attached ISC fixed plate pulley. One end of this lanyard is set-up as a DDRT system, the other is set up as a DMM Captain Hook traverse rope with a sewn eye for the hook, the Trango cinch and RockD used as a progress capture, and the Petzl Basic & ISC Pulley combo used as a mechanical advantage. I can also put on a Ropewrench and convert the DDRT system to SRT if needed.

Scratch · Nov 13, 2018

Bob Bob said:

I've used several lanyard configurations over the years. My current ones are listed below.

35' 9mm PMI Ez-Bend, 28" 8mm sewn eye Ocean hitch cord (Distel hitch), 1 Rock Exotica Pirate carabiner, 1 Rock Exotic RockO carabiner, 1 DMM Rapide Hitch Hiker pulley, 1 leather cambium saver. The RockO stays with the hitch cord and pulley, the Pirate is tied on one end with a double fisherman's knot. I usually have either a stopper knot or a double fisherman's knot with another carabiner on the tail end.

50' 10mm PMI Ez-Bend, 28" 8mm sewn eye Ocean hitch cord (Knut Hitch), 2 Rock Exotica RockO carabiners, 1 DMM Rapide Hitch Pulley, 1 leather cambium saver, 1 Rock Exotica RockD carabiner, 1 Trango Cinch, 1 DMM Captain Hook, 1 Petzl Basic with attached ISC fixed plate pulley. One end of this lanyard is set-up as a DDRT system, the other is set up as a DMM Captain Hook traverse rope with a sewn eye for the hook, the Trango cinch and RockD used as a progress capture, and the Petzl Basic & ISC Pulley combo used as a mechanical advantage. I can also put on a Ropewrench and convert the DDRT system to SRT if needed.

Thanks for the very detailed description!

Burrapeg · Nov 13, 2018

Here is a photo of my new convertible double lanyard with the twin Captains. I was very lucky to find the hooks on sale for $125. each earlier in the summer. With the Fall rains now, I have only gotten to use it twice but climbing a busy conifer seems rather quick with this setup. With the limbs roughly every 3 to 6 feet or so, I can quickly toss each hook ahead of me and basically free climb while taking the slack out as I go. And I can get the hooks higher with the SideKick 9 foot extendable pole. The lanyard is a CE and I think it was the 24 foot version. I can customize it ahead of a climb with the quicklinks, to swap out each, or both, hooks for biners or snaps. The snaps are handy if I use an end of the lanyard around something and back to a side D. I used a swivel biner and single SS shackle to tend each end of the lanyard through it with the two hitches. And for carrying it, I have used AJ's suggestion to double the lanyard before daisy chaining it. The setup works great so far. On the second climb, I tossed one hook sideways and clapt on a hand ascender to traverse over about 15 feet to rescue a stuck throw bag from a previous climb. For some other tree types and also for hiking with less weight, I have an older 8 foot, single ended lanyard, also with a quick link for using different things on the end.

Burrapeg · Nov 20, 2018

Used my DoubleHELL lanyard (above) again yesterday evening, free climbing up a big conifer on Orcas Island, limbs approx. every 3 to 6 feet. I brought my main line and BDB up with me just biner'd to my saddle and only used it to tie in when I was ready to come down. I was mostly tossing each hook by hand as high as I could comfortably get them but once I missed and one of them clobbered my left shoulder! And I had forgotten my helmet at home, so I was lucky! I used my extendable SideKick pole three times when I reached limbs too far apart to toss the hooks. My girlfriend took a photo of me when I first started out and had gotten past the lowest limbs. This tree is about 90 to 100 feet tall and I got about 3/4 the way up before it got too dark and had a great view of Puget Sound and the sunset. So I am quite happy with the new double-hook lanyard for getting up this type of tree with the minimum fuss. And it is easily converted back to a normal double lanyard if needed in a different scenario.

Burrapeg · Nov 20, 2018

Sorry the above photo doesn't show the use of the twin hooks on the long double lanyard very well, if at all. But it does show the type of conifer common here, with nice hook-size limbs all the way up the tree, with the limbs starting about 15 to 20 feet from the ground in this case. I was able to get quite high in just fifteen minutes or so, using a combination of free climbing while shifting the hooks and lanyard as I went, and also hoisting myself with a hook on one leg of the lanyard past the places where the limbs were too far apart to free climb. When ready to come down towards dusk, I tied in my regular climbing line with a canopy TIP (AB with a SS screw link) plus a length of paracord for a pull down, and then descended on my BDB. I had been working on my girlfriend's new studio building and this was a fun way to wrap up the day!

TreeSmithAK · Nov 20, 2018

each way has its plus & minuses so far as kits versus custom.. but kits typically will have spliced eye finishes, reducing the bulk on you snap which makes it easier to handle & pass through crotches etc when in use..... For ease of use/1 hand use.. I've always run a micro-ascender instead of a knot for friction with a micro pulley on the running end so I can cinch it one handed & the pulley keeps the slack shooting out to the back of my saddle instead of directly down my side.. but like others mentioned its way person choice you develop..

Scratch · Nov 25, 2018

I finally made up a lanyard and got to try it out today (Not in a tree) I decided to model it after Sterling's Ultimate Positioning Lanyard. It's 16 feet long and made with some old, barely used, very stiff, 1/2" Bluewater Assaultline (it's the only rope I had that I was willing to cut) using 8mm prusiks. I decided to use some locking carabiners I already had for now and went with triple fishermans knots.

The problem I'm having is the prusik in my adjuster doesn't release very easily. They grab great but are very hard to get to release. Once I get tension on it, it's nearly impossible to loosen up one handed the way I've seen so many climbers do it. Is it my rope size, rope stiffness, rope construction, or maybe I should try a different friction hitch?

I'm also open to suggestions for changing up this setup in other ways like knots, tending devices, etc...

Burrapeg · Nov 25, 2018

I use Distel hitches on my lanyards. There are other hitches too, that release OK. The one advantage a standard Prussik has, that other hitches can't match, is that it holds either direction. But that is mostly what makes it resist releasing with the tending pulley. Also those big fisherman knots might snag sometimes when retrieving the lanyard back through a tight crotch.

Scratch · Nov 26, 2018

Burrapeg said:

Thanks, I'll try a Distel hitch next. Do you have a suggestion to replace the fishermans knots?

Burrapeg · Nov 26, 2018

Well, I have hand sewn eyes using a Sew-Awl. There is info on here in a few places. Moss is our expert on that. A hand sewn eye is very compact and much shorter than an eye splice.