Ascender Selection

TreesRGood

TreesRGood

Location
King of Prussia, Pennsylvania 19406
I footlock daily and have been getting better. I usually use a prusik, and was jogging the thought of using an ascender. I have never used any mechanical ascenders before, for means to access the canopy. Does anyone have any suggestions to what ascender might be best for daily access to the canopy in work related situatioons?
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For me double rope foot-lock is fine without an ascender. Ascending a single line is much better with an ascender. I use a Kong dual ascender because it is what I have, the grips are a little small for my hands is my main problem with it. The Petzl Ascentree looks like a nice ascender to me but I have not used it.
 
Petzl Ascentree is very nice for both static double rope and single rope ascending. Couple of guys and I at work have them and have put adjustable tethers to our saddles so depending on what kind of mood your in you can have a real agressive throw per footlock or shorten it and basicially sit into your system in between locks and take your time (the lazy way). Most of us use a petzl shunt to back it up as well. For single line if you dont want to footlock the single rope, you can use a petzl pantin.

-Tyler
 
I have not seen the unicender in person or seen it used as well. Would you still have to back it up as if you were backing up any other mechanical ascender? If so, how would you? Just curious! Cant afford a piece of that price right now anyway.

-Tyler
 
Okay, thanks Jamin.

Do you have any pictures of its set-up? Ive seen it in the catalogs but never seen it a little zoomed out (how the rope is set up in it, how your attached to it, etc) Sorry, just trying to understand how it works and if its really worth the $300+.
 
I believe the Uni is a pioneer tool for working SRT in the trees. It needs modifications and feedback from the users.

My first complaint is the useage of aluminum for the rope grabs. I started using mine in mid January with Posion Ivy. It began creeping too much at the begining of May. So, I had to switch to my older climbline. I'm now using the Uni on 1/2 XTC rope. It grabs just fine again. But, I'm wondering if I'll have to get it rebuilt in 5 months.
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Young buzzer,

I met Morgan Thompson about 5-6 years ago and got my first Uni then. If you go through the TB archives and search for 'unicender' in the title and my name in the 'name' you'll find a LOT Of pictures and info. I doubt taht there is a TB Uni thread that I haven't participated on.

Jamin,

which Uni do you have? the UniIII has the centers of the clutches milled out and is made from tougher aluminum than the previous. Morgan may have started milling the slots a bit smaller to give more wear. Don't quote me on that!
 
Ron,

I would have to differ on your comments on the tooth pattern of the ascenders.

Based on an extensive series of tests we did last year looking at various ascent configs, we were struck by the wide range of different tooth patterns of the cams used by the various manufacturers.

One of the things that became apparent during testing was that an aggressive tooth pattern will grip mantle and core of the rope simultaneously, causing them to behave in a homogenous, balanced fashion - as one rope. More blunt cams seemed more prone to stripping the mantle, probably due to the fact that they will first grip the mantle and take a moment to pass through to the core. Because of this the load on the rope is not being balanced as efficiently as with the other type cam.

Still wading through the data, fascinating stuff. We will write it up in the course of the year, stay tuned - but don't hold your breath! Got to earn a living in between doing this stuff...
 
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He goes on to say that less aggressive ascenders are more likely to slide without damaging the rope and he claims they hold greater loads.



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Ron,

I'm afraid I don't quite understand.

Why would the toothed cam be able to slide at all? Isn't the whole point that ascenders offer a positive grip?

When testing in compliance to EN 567 (rope clamps), paragraph 4.1.1 states that, "Rope clamps shall have a locking device or similar mechanism to prevent a single rope ... from slipping out of the rope clamp" and 4.1.2 "Rope clamps shall be designed to lock automatically in one rope direction and to slip freely in the opposite direction".

Ascenders should not slip on the mantle. What they will do is shear it off and slip on the core.

We don't have to battle this one out, just observations on my part, don't get me wrong...

Regards,

Mark.
 
Best ascenders I ever used were Jumars, somebody stole them from me, another tree climbing colleague, I had my suspicions but couldn't prove it. Never bought another set again as they were so expensive.

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I know the proper methods of removing an ascender is to move it up slightly as you open the cam. In a perfect world maybe, but in our real world we don't/can't always remove etc. ascenders correctly. We may even think we are removing and ascender correctly, not realizing we've loaded the ascender ever so slightly and hence pick the rope.

Then there are common practices that are inherent in a system. For example, the Mitchell ropewalker. One of the strong suits of the Mitchell system is that it can down walk just about as good as it up walks. However down climbing requires thumbing cams to release them from the rope. I'd challenge anyone to down walk 20 or 30 feet on a rope on ascenders with aggressive teeth and not pick the rope multiple times.

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Ron,
I think you just need to be more careful when removing your ascenders. Each person on our crew has the petzl ascenders with the long hooked cam, and we dont have any problems with picking. As for "down walking" a rope... WHY? With the descenders (rig, grigri, ID, 8, and rack for you recies) why not change over to one of those. Ive never heard of anyone, (industrial rope access, tree climbing, or fire rescue) Down walking a rope. Your woops video was the first time Ive ever seen it. Again, why?
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flyingsquirrel25,
Has nothing to do with someone 'needing' to down climb. The point I was making is that under demanding operations such as down walking the straight, shorter toothed cams are much less likely to snag the rope.

But, digressing to the why, the world is bigger than tree and industrial work. There are people who climb on rope, photographers, cavers, etc. that find the ability to easily climb up a rope with a ropewalker and with the same system have the ability to to come back down some to a more advantageous point without having to change over to rappel, then back to ascend very helpful.


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Ron,
I think it has everything to do with it. What is an ascender designed for and its proper use? Ascending. When Ascending a tree, or anything, you disconnect the device once maybe twice depending on what you have to do. When down walking a rope, you have to disconnect every step, say every foot. Maybe every Two if you have long arms. Thus increasing the chances of a pick, just by shear numbers. If you know disconnecting "may" cause a pick, why use it in that manner. I have also found when I am reaching for my ascender, to disconnect I dont get the proper upward motion and it can be more difficult to disconnect. I saw Marks demonstration at ISA RI last year and saw, the difference between the two, strait tooth strip easly, hooked tooth, took more force. Nice, demo Mark, even with the buses.
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