TimBr
Official Well Known Greeter
- Location
- Northern Virginia
Thanks for this answer, therianclimber. I have and use the original Hitch Hiker. Maybe you already do this, but one thing I've found I must do with the Hitch Hiker before I try to climb on it in order to get it to tend easily is as follows: After donning my harness and attaching my Hitch Hiker to my climbing rope, I have to sit hard into the harness, tend slack, sit hard, tend slack, sit hard, tend slack, sit hard, tend slack. At least three or four times, while still down on the ground. Each time I sit hard and tend slack, it gets a bit easier the next time.
I tried the Hitch Hiker hitch yesterday, and it wasn't working as well for me as my usual Knut hitch does. I may have had too many wraps on it, but in spite of doing my usual sit, tend routine, it was tougher to tend initially than my usual hitch. I'm not giving up on it completely yet though, because this is the hitch that is recommended by both Paul Cox and Reg Coates. I may just have to try it with fewer wraps.
The thing I like about the Knut hitch is the way that it crosses at the bottom causes it to be easy to lift up on without binding up so much. The cord laying almost horizontally at the bottom of the hitch almost acts like a flat "shelf" that the top of the Hitch Hiker can easily push up on to get the hitch to break when tending slack. It's important to keep the crossing of the Knut hitch at the bottom towards the spine of the Hitch Hiker, and the spine of the Hitch Hiker should be facing you.
One other little thing I do is to tie the hitch as tight as possible while it hangs over the front, sloped side of the Hitch Hiker, then force it up to the top with my hand, before loading the harness up with my weight. I'll also pull at the hitch to make it stay at the top of the Hitch Hiker the first few times I try to tend slack with it, because it's usually so tight and resistant to tending that the hitch wants to fall off the top of the Hitch Hiker and settle on the sloped front edge of the Hitch Hiker. But you can't let it do that, because it will only bind up in that location.
I hope some of what I'm saying makes sense; feel free to ask questions if it's not.
All that I've told you does not change the fact that it does take me a few minutes to properly set up my Hitch Hiker. My own setup is more complicated than the way most folks use it, and as such it is a disincentive to take it off for redirects, so I get what you are saying.
You might want to look for posts by @DSMc, in order to see how he has his Hitch Hiker set up. He was in on the research and development of the Hitch Hiker. Here's a link to his profile page.
http://www.treebuzz.com/forum/members/dsmc.2875/
It sounds to me like the Bulldog Bone and Cougar climbing rope are what you are after. The Bulldog Bone is shockingly fast to get on and off rope, as seen in a few YouTube videos. And it has no parts to drop, and is available right now. Surveyor is the man to talk to about acquiring one, as he makes each one himself, to my understanding, and he is the only one selling them.
That is about all I have for now. Sorry about the too-long, too hard to read post.
Tim
