Cutting rope with a razor blade or knife works ok, but if you do a lot of splicing an even better way to go is to get yourself a pair of carbide cutters like these. They cut all types of rope like butter. I learned this trick from Mark at Fids and Fibers.
I gave up on getting this splice to go thru my Zigzag regardless of how it is lock-stitched So that is not an issue for me. I just install the Zigzag on my rope from the unspliced end and leave it on the rope most of the time. Kind of a pain sometimes but I have gotten used to putting up with it.
I will try that with my next splice. I recently nicked my 200' Vega climbing rope about 2' up the rope from the splice. So now I have a 198' long piece of used Vega that needs a new splice. I had a hard enough time doing Vega splices on new rope, and I suspect it will be a killer on used rope.
My climbing buddy just bought a scrap of Drenaline and I decided to do a splice for him. I don't consider myself an expert with the spLIFE splice, but after a couple of tries it came out fine. I seem to recall that Brocky and others may have experimented quite a bit with this splice, so my...
We have a lot of people among us who no longer support a democratic system of government. Because that means sharing power with other people with whom they disagree. Democracy is a fragile thing.
These have been sitting in my closet for a year and I never wore them. Size 13 US (12UK). Will sell for $100 plus postage to anywhere in the US or Canada.
I use friction savers with SRS when we are practicing rescues where we are lowering the patient on their rope and the moving rope would otherwise wear a groove in the limb. I also use them in conifers where the limbs are really pitchy. Otherwise I rarely bother to use them.
I attach the end of the rope to the kid and then up to a pulley and down to a belay device (Grigri, RIG, D4) on a basal anchor. Then I strap my granddaughters (ages 3 and 5) into an Edelrid kid's full body harness and clip them to the end of the rope. Then I pull them up and let them swing...
My favorite is the H-harness. Super easy to adjust for anybody from a really small person to a big person. I also just leave it on most of the time. I have gotten so used to it that it doesn't bother me.
In case you have not heard, BMS single chest rollers are now available at OnRope1. They are not as pretty as the ones that Rock Exotica and PMI used to make, but they look to me like they should work just fine. For anybody looking to avoid wear-and-tear on your shoulders and elbows when doing...
Looks good Butch. The standard Tachyon splice is always hard and stiff in the throat because the cover is tight and there is a lot of material crammed in there. That is why the bury is so hard to pull home. Considering that the spLife splice in Tachyon will not pull through my Zigzag, I am not...