There was some discussion in the other threads regarding the knee ascender and using a retracting reel. I definitely think it is the way to go at this point. Experimented with the Gammon reel per surveyors thoughts, but they were too weak unless I stacked three of them together. I then found a tool reel online that is designed for two lbs of lift. I wrapped it in foam packing to protect the plastic and its good to go. It really is compact. I put the real on my chest harness and run it to the ascender and its off to the races. So far I can see nothing really wrong with the set up and a lot of advantages over the bungee method. The main being I can take really high steps and also it is very adjustable and it is very compact. I have been using this one for the last few weeks and see no real downside yet.

