Beal has a new retrievable anchor device intended for escape / emergency single-rope rappel.
Seems to be a bit of elastic and a thin sling permanently woven into a VT-ish hitch that a split tail passes through.
Hmmmm...
Hmmm, hadn't heard this. Sounds like it didn't work out too well.
SIU won’t charge cop accused of assaulting man during tree climbing arrest
Reminds me of TCI's advice:
If a forest or park ranger tells you to stop climbing, be agreeable, and don’t argue. Come down as quickly and safely as...
When I contacted my local rope shattering factory, they suggested that I submit samples in triplicate to make it easier to interpret the results.
Two big takeaways:
Three samples of Velocity = six eye slices, six opportunities to mess up, and all of them tested above the ANSI minimum...
Brocky, that sounds about right from what I've read. On a good splice, the eye is so overbuilt it should never break. The bulk rope is hopefully just the same as it was before. The taper is the nutty crux of the whole thing, is the stress riser which will determine ultimate strength.
I found a...
What a weird harness - nice find. There don't seem to be many lightweight harnesses with side attachment points out there. Closest I've seen is the CAMP/Cassin Warden, a big wall harness with two slightly-lateral attachment points, intended for aid climbing. Was debating getting one before I...
A street tree came down on a car last night in Seattle, despite it being a really calm night, max wind less than 10 MPH.
Seattle street tree database says it was a Red Oak - Quercus rubra. Structure of tree seems ... odd, entire canopy is off a doglegged trunk. (see: Street view)
Probably...
Was watching a video review of the CT Quick Roll the other day where you can practically see Nice Guy Dave hold his nose when he brings up RADS - ahh! epiphany!
I've been yo-yo'ing on a Gri gri for most of my climbing, and it's by far my favorite system to climb on. @FluffyFish has said about...
Worth a shot, for the next generation, yeah? There seems to be a persistent rumor that arborists are the only reason the Pantin is still in production. I wonder how much truth there is in that.
I was going to reply to @chizmin about his splice testing, but didn't want to derail and crap up the Show off Your Splices mega thread. He said:
... and his test results showed the Tachyon breaking at 3852 lbs.
I got curious about what the MBS of Tachyon is - I've seen different sellers...
I think you're right. If the rope was 1/2" or PMI EZ Bend, my review would probably be "decent strap, OK fit & finish, stiff spring, kicks off easy, not terrible." That kind of price difference can buy a lot of consumer goodwill.
Almost forgot the punchline: Lookie what else I found...
What, you haven't climbed on 6mm yale Spark yet?
You got me wondering, so I pulled out the calipers. SOB has a 12mm thick cam in a 15mm rope channel. New shiney CT Quick Step? 12mm in 15mm rope channel. Petzl Hand Ascender is about the same. Must be something more subtle about the geometry...
Anyone had an ascender jam itself on-rope?
I've been using a cheap pair of no-name "SOB" foot ascenders for a few weeks while dipping my toes into a rope walker setup. (used one to make a DIY SAKA clone.) They were ~$20 for the pair, delivered - figured it was worth the risk to find out if...
Jokes aside - I'm with the Earth First Climbers Guild on this one. Their rule is that once beer or bud is in your system, you're done with climbing for the day. Seems like a good bright line rule.
Yeah, this is where borrowing a trick from canopy researchers and leaving a tag line comes in handy.
I use masons line from ye old Home Depot. Cheap - like $8 for a half mile of it. Wrapped in a loose layer of paper, and shoved in a sock with the end hanging out so it doesn't end up in a...
What's with this Tangent name?
When Voyager first came out, I was impressed with how Samson handled branding for the "V-Series" with Velocity/Voyager/Vortex - similar ropes with similar construction - just different sizes. Color variations are hot/cool. Pretty easy to understand.
Compare...
Bingo. That large attachment hole is really awkward with eye-to-eye cords, at least w/ spliced eyes on 8mm OP. The hole "eats" half the eye, and the whole thing ends up binding in weird ways - at least in my few hours experience today.
I picked one up for a few reasons...
1) I'm a rec climber...
Whoops - started digging before I realized I stumbled on a six-year-old thread... Too late now, found a copy:
https://web-beta.archive.org/web/20050424131903/http://www.art4trees.com/de/11videos/wettendass_04.html
(Crazy!)