Let's talk lanyards

Scratch · Sunday at 12:03 AM

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 · Sunday at 12:39 AM

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 · Sunday at 12:45 AM

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 · Sunday at 12:47 AM

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 · Sunday at 1:13 AM

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 · Sunday at 1:59 AM

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 · Sunday at 3:55 AM

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 · Sunday at 4:27 AM

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_ · Monday at 6:35 AM

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 · Monday at 5:51 PM

Bob Bob · Tuesday at 2:08 PM

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 · Tuesday at 2:38 PM

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 · Tuesday at 9:40 PM

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.