16 strand recomendations

J

jba

Location
Pittsburgh
Hi guys. New to the site and fairly new to climbing. Currently climbing on Yale XTC . Time for me to replace my current rope. To much pine sap and showing some wear. Anyone have a suggestion for a different brand? And what about a different type of rope? I'm doing DRT and using a Blake's hitch. Any and all advice appreciated.
 
Any of the brands make a quality product, all depends on preference. I've found the 16 strand ropes have a lot of stretch and makes for a bouncy ascent SRT. I've kind settled on the Yale 11.7 24 strand ropes. You also ought to look into a hitch climber system. I'd also start using a friction saver if you aren't already, it will help the sap situation.
 
x2 on using the friction saver on conifers. i used to just have a homemade one that was nothing fancy but just kept the line clean.
Yale Imori is an awesome line for ddrt. works good on a blakes and takes the wear very well.
but i second the Hitch Climber comment. provides more options and advances the climbing hitch easier from more positions. and can be used like a second lanyard when spiking up a tree.
but if your heart set on 16 strand, my vote is New England / Tuefelbuerger safety blue over yale, but both are sweet.
 
For a 16-strand rope, XTC is hard to beat. While the Sampson Arbormaster series is stronger, I still prefer Yale products. Price, durability, roundness, knotability, etc. make what you have hard to beat.

The responses above are also good advice. Switching to a hitch climber system can help everything.

If you like the XTC, but are willing to give 24-strand a try, order a hank of Vortex. To me, it has a 16-strand feel and it would also do well if you wanted to try SRT. Wesspur has a sale going on right now on Sampson products and I'm thinking about ordering a spool of it myself.
 
jba said:
Hi guys. New to the site and fairly new to climbing. Currently climbing on Yale XTC . Time for me to replace my current rope. To much pine sap and showing some wear. Anyone have a suggestion for a different brand? And what about a different type of rope? I'm doing DRT and using a Blake's hitch. Any and all advice appreciated.
Click to expand...
I climb on Yale XTC, I feel the XTC product is great. Very durable, user friendly,easy on the eyes and a good price point. I also strongly agree with previous post about climbing on a hitch climber. Once you do,you will be like"holly shit,why did I wait so long to switch"
 
XTC Fire is my favorite 16 strand of all time, but ya gotta evolve into a split tail set up and start using a friction saver. I dead wood a lot of big Ponderosas and a tried and true technique for me is to set a climb line in the highest convinient crotch with a throw ball, work what I can and clear out all the dead on one side of the tree as I just keep advancing the terminal end of my split tail climbing system. When I get to as high as I need to go in the tree, I will take the friction saver that I had been carrying on my saddle and tie in with that and then work my way down the opposite side of the tree.

Oh and by the way, welcome to the Buzz. Stick around, you just might learn some cool stuff.
 
  • Like
Reactions: jba
Well I ordered up another Yale XTC rope. I will use this one and improve my skills before I try a different type of line. Very interested in the hitch climber setup and will go split tail with this rope. Thanks for all the recommendations
 
Getcha a 3/8" Tenex or 8mm Bee Line tress cord and your good to go. Oh and if you havent used a slack tender pulley. Ya might want to get one of them to.

Have fun, stay safe.
 
I like Yale XTC the most for the 16 strands. I have the Poseidon color cause I didn't know about treestuff yet and wesspur gave me a free i2i lol. For a closed system on the xtc I like a 30'' 8mm ocean i2i with a 5/2 xt. For a blakes system I use a vortex split tail and it runs real nice. I'd caution to maybe start using the false crotch on the ground and test your knot (with the closed system) thru it to make sure it'll engage/disengage correctly. I found that when I started using a false crotch the lack of friction at my TIP caused my normally perfectly functioning set up to suck.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

New threads New posts

Back
Top Bottom