“Light rigging”, snapcuts

[moss]

This is nothing new to pro climbers, showing snap cuts as a “light rigging” technique, ie: no rigging ;-) Snap cuts allow a climber to get pieces to the ground in a controlled way. The caution is if you bite off more than you can chew you’d better have a place on the ground you can push the piece to.

Also showing a few of the ways I safely choke my lanyard for positioning.

-AJ

 

[LordFarkwad]

@moss, just to make sure I'm understanding what's going on correctly, at ~1:50, are you simply using the lanyard so you can unweight your main system and get it over the stub?

Also - is this stock music or something? Dang, this would light wet wood. Good stuff.

 

[moss]

@moss, just to make sure I'm understanding what's going on correctly, at ~1:50, are you simply using the lanyard so you can unweight your main system and get it over the stub?

Also - is this stock music or something? Dang, this would light wet wood. Good stuff.

Yes, there's a fairly severe rope angle from the upper redirect, the lanyard position is to allow me to get the rope off the stub redirect and continue without having to work too hard. I could cling to the limb against the rope angle and wrestle the rope over the stub then slide down the back of the angled limb but no need to.

The music is stuff I wrote when I was recovering from an eye injury a year ago, and one piece that I wrote later on spec for an animation about forest ecology, was never used but I can use it ;-) It's amazing what can be accomplished with enforced downtime.

With snap cuts I always start small per tree and scale up as I get a sense of how the wood is behaving for that particular tree. Always good to practice snap cuts without targets below to get the hang of it before you get in a situation where you could actually break something on the ground. Green wood is easier to snap than dead, every species has different characteristics and there can be hidden rot, hollows etc, so some small pieces first to test what's going on.
-AJ

 

[LordFarkwad]

It's amazing what can be accomplished with enforced downtime.

No kidding. Prime example: inmates.

Man - lots of jazz stuff in there (11ths, maybe some 13ths?). Good, good stuff! You are an arteeeeest. Me gusta.

I ask about the lanyard thing because I do stuff like that constantly, but there is always a little shoulder angel that pops up, telling me a real pro would cringe seeing stuff like that. Makes me feel less jack-leg seeing someone legit do it! Btw, you ever do any rope-management involving your mouth? Another goodie that I've wondered if any pros do

 

[LordFarkwad]

With snap cuts I always start small per tree and scale up as I get a sense of how the wood is behaving for that particular tree

Do you scale the height of the bypass down to feel out the wood, or do you keep the consistent, through the 'exploratory' phase?

 

[moss]

No kidding. Prime example: folks in prison.

Man - lots of jazz stuff in there (11ths, maybe some 13ths?). Good, good stuff! You are an arteeeeest. Me gusta.

I ask about the lanyard thing because I do stuff like that constantly, but there is always a little shoulder angel that pops up, telling me a real pro would cringe seeing stuff like that. Makes me feel less jack-leg seeing someone legit do it! Btw, you ever do any rope-management involving your mouth? Another goodie that I've wondered if any pros do

Ha, I'm a self-eduma-cated musician so I do things that the trained folks sometimes claim is not legit. Sound familiar? ;-)

Don't worry about what anyone thinks, do what feels right to get where you're going in the tree. Smoothness and agility in the tree takes many many hours to get there.

General rule in all high angle disciplines is don't put ropes in your mouth. Choose your battles wisely. I would be a liar if I said I didn't grab a lanyard line with my teeth once in a blue moon when both hands are otherwise occupied. I stay away from grabbing long lines with teeth, it's asking for trouble.
-AJ

 

[LordFarkwad]

Ha, I'm a self-eduma-cated musician so I do things that the trained folks sometimes claim is not legit. Sound familiar? ;-)

Don't worry about what anyone thinks, do what feels right to get where you're going in the tree. Smoothness and agility in the tree takes many many hours to get there.

General rule in all high angle disciplines is don't put ropes in your mouth. Choose your battles wisely. I would be a liar if I said I didn't grab a lanyard line with my teeth once in a blue moon when both hands are otherwise occupied. I stay away from grabbing long lines with teeth, it's asking for trouble.
-AJ

Okay - I shoulda been more specific: lanyard! Not 15lbs of climb line.

 

[moss]

Do you scale the height of the bypass down to feel out the wood, or do you keep the consistent, through the 'exploratory' phase?

Yep, usually a couple of pieces is enough to tell me whether to widen or narrow the distance between bypass cuts. In the video the left side of the "Y" was firm bone dry deadwood so I had to recut to narrow the distance between bypass cuts. Below the Y was green so no problems there.
-AJ

 

[LordFarkwad]

Yep, usually a couple of pieces is enough to tell me whether to widen or narrow the distance between bypass cuts. In the video the left side of the "Y" was firm bone dry deadwood so I had to recut to narrow the distance between bypass cuts. Below the Y was green so no problems there.
-AJ

Can you give me a timestamp for that? It seems like in drier wood, you'd want to have a taller hinge, but I've never done a snap cut except on sticks, so I have no idea what I'm talking about.

Edit: er, 'bypass', not hinge.

 

[moss]

It's great to see a climber work with small pieces like that. A take-down becomes more doable and manageable for a single climber using this method.

I noticed you were using a webbing loop for a foot hold on the spar. This is something I do often in recreational tree climbing to create a slightly more comfortable spot for the next pitch in a difficult section of the tree. Is there a reason you aren't using spurs to aid with foot placement on this take down?

Is there any species of trees that the snap cut should be avoided completely?

I bombed and rigged the entire crown on what was a massive crown spread on the tree. Over a weekend the crew was not available so I took out some tricky upper stuff solo. Once that was done the big wood is fairly easily rigged with a crew.

It was easier to work the section I was doing without spurs, the girthed sling foot loop made up for a couple spots where spurs would've helped. Onnce you get to the bigger wood spurs are the way to go.

Snap cut works with any species, you have to test per species and find the comfort zone.
-AJ

 

[moss]

Can you give me a timestamp for that? It seems like in drier wood, you'd want to have a taller hinge, but I've never done a snap cut except on sticks, so I have no idea what I'm talking about.

Edit: er, 'bypass', not hinge.

At 5:20 I'm sliding my choked lanyard up the dead side of the Y.

Deadwood that is not rotted or punky is extremely hard compared to green wood and requires a tighter distance on the bypass cuts.

The foliage above the Y is extending from a higher leader to the right which was taken out later in the same climbing session in the following vid which was originally posted in your climbing thread...

-AJ

 

[moss]

It's great to see a climber work with small pieces like that. A take-down becomes more doable and manageable for a single climber using this method.

I noticed you were using a webbing loop for a foot hold on the spar. This is something I do often in recreational tree climbing to create a slightly more comfortable spot for the next pitch in a difficult section of the tree. Is there a reason you aren't using spurs to aid with foot placement on this take down?

Is there any species of trees that the snap cut should be avoided completely?

Sorry I missed responding Bob Bob. Yes I use sling foot loops rec climbing. There are times when it makes all the difference getting a foot up so I can get a line over something so I can progress upward.

Snap cut is good for any species, you’ll have to experiment a little and find out what works (distance between bypass cuts) for a given tree or species.
-AJ