Tips on climbing srs with spikes

I have thought about, but not made, simple gaff protectors that could work both for this and a little walking on the ground.

I was thinking copper or brass pipe - possibly peened a little to fit largest part of gaff triangle, a little longer than gaff. Then a hole op top and small bungee to go up to top of climber for retention.
 
....climbers....

And failed link was to gaff guards.

Edit: Green magnetic guards are nice but plastic and will not last up in the trees. Yellow colored plastic dipped have wire in them and could survive some abuse. I would clip off excess wire hanging out - meant to wrap climbers in a bag.
 
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Never ever gaffes my rope ascending with spurs. Did it plenty of times spiking up a trunk though. The ascender on the shank will hold the rope behind the one gaff and I just ascend with my left leg in my saka. I do try to go a little bow legged to keep from gaffing myself so that seems to help. It’s really a non issue.
 
Steve Connally said:
Never ever gaffes my rope ascending with spurs. Did it plenty of times spiking up a trunk though. The ascender on the shank will hold the rope behind the one gaff and I just ascend with my left leg in my saka. I do try to go a little bow legged to keep from gaffing myself so that seems to help. It’s really a non issue.
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Maybe I’ll try going up without a foot ascender, and just use my knee ascender


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Ive used a camp turbo foot ascender for years with my spikes to ascend with no issues. I find if I put the ascender on under my spikes it sits much snugger. Sometimes have to tuck the edge of the Spurs under the ascender to sit right. I’ve been running the ct quick step with spur mount for the last year. Was bad ass, until the stupid lock mechanism didn’t stay locked during a removal and it fell off never to be found again!! Bad ass system , lame locking mechanism that holds it to the mount in my opinion.
 
I rarely ascend the rope during removals, but when I have I don the ascender before my spikes, positioned closer to my heel, as others have said. Petzl, Notch, whatever brand, they’ll all work. It may not be as streamlined as a spur-mounted ascender, but it’s doable. As for not gaffing oneself or one’s rope- slow and steady. Slow is smooth, smooth is fast.
 
And a tip someone shared with me for knee ascenders- if you use a clip-in version, thread the spur through the opening of the carabiner. It will stay on with good technique, and is easy to disengage when done.
 
Crimsonking said:
I rarely ascend the rope during removals, but when I have I don the ascender before my spikes, positioned closer to my heel, as others have said. Petzl, Notch, whatever brand, they’ll all work. It may not be as streamlined as a spur-mounted ascender, but it’s doable. As for not gaffing oneself or one’s rope- slow and steady. Slow is smooth, smooth is fast.
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I agree I find it’s almost always faster to spike up the tree than spend time setting my line from the ground. Sounds like a spur mounted ascender would be a good investment


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I have to disagree to a point about spurring up and ascending. Trees with a modest dbh I agree but those fatties........I hate working the flipline up a huge trunk and especially if it has flaky bark and tons of unions. I dare say, on those, I can set my line and ascend up single rope without a lanyard around the trunk much quicker than spiking up. I don't have to stop at every union and set my rope above so I can disconnect the flip line and move it above the union. Also if i'm setting rigging high up, so much faster just to blast up there on ascenders. Totally depends on the tree but, like I said, I hate spiking up those fat trees. I do have a spur mounted ascender though. I think that makes a ton of difference.
 
Mallett said:
I agree I find it’s almost always faster to spike up the tree than spend time setting my line from the ground. Sounds like a spur mounted ascender would be a good investment


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That’s not what I meant. To clarify- I rarely ascend the rope with spurs on. To Steve’s point, there are times that setting a line is faster. When I do that, I almost never put my spurs on till aloft. Generally I cinch them to the top with the tail of my running bowline. Then I use my footie and knee ascender to climb.
 
What Rico said or invest in mounting the ascender on your climbers. Depending on the tree and it’s structure, I used to do a lot of spurless removals, especially trees safe enough to tie into while setting and cutting crane picks. I would climb SRS and use my tail to belay myself back to the cut point on larger leaders after setting the slings.

The best option in the end for all around capability is the ascender mounted on your climbers. I have a left and right mounted respectively on each of mine so I can even work TRT in my climbers.
 
What Rico and Oceans sez X2. There's a thread on this: https://www.treebuzz.com/forum/threads/foot-ascender-on-your-climbing-spikes.22243/page-2
I found the footloop style CT foot ascender to be fiddly on and off with spurs and finally permanently mounted a foot ascender on my right spur. Old design had some quirks with it but nothing that good old JB Weld/ epoxy couldn't fix. Now with the mounting plate etc. the newer CT design looks solid. Never had a problem snagging rope since I did this. And it's always there if I need it for tree swings with a Captain, etc. Works well and I just forget about it till it's needed again.
 
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