Can you help me choose my first rope?

iclimbtreesbro said:
Not to derail the thread but how has the Lava rope worn for you, and how often have you used a friction saver while climbing? I am hoping that natural crotching this rope will not destroy it in a matter of weeks.

Back to the main topic: OP, let us know what rope you decide to order because that decision can dictate the ideal friction hitch diameter and material. Obviously there are other factors like knot selection and bodyweight but we can help you make informed decisions; eye-to-eye prusiks are not cheap enough to keep buying the wrong ones. What are your primary knots and ascension method(s) at this point?
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I used lava for natural crotch in and it held up pretty good. You won't destroy tachyon in a couple weeks. That being said.... a simple ring and ring makes life much better all around. Much less friction and much longer rope life.
 
iclimbtreesbro said:
Not to derail the thread but how has the Lava rope worn for you, and how often have you used a friction saver while climbing? I am hoping that natural crotching this rope will not destroy it in a matter of weeks.

Back to the main topic: OP, let us know what rope you decide to order because that decision can dictate the ideal friction hitch diameter and material. Obviously there are other factors like knot selection and bodyweight but we can help you make informed decisions; eye-to-eye prusiks are not cheap enough to keep buying the wrong ones. What are your primary knots and ascension method(s) at this point?
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Pretty tough stuff. I ran my last one for over a year before it just started to weird me out because i dropped a huge chunk on it. Mostly Srt or with a cambium saver, but I'm hard on them besides that.
 
I personally like vortex rope. Its just great in hand and holds up well. I know a few people have picked it but that can happen to any rope.

Allgear 11.7 or any of the Yale 11.7 are gonna fit your every need flawless though. I keep a brand new hank with me on every job in case something happens to my main rope.
 
Can you find Cougar over there? I've never heard of Tachyon/lava/sterling/Samson/Yale 11.7s.....

Kidding, I just love the coug. I've ran Lava/Tachyon the most behind Cougar. Also the Yale 11.7s, then probably equal time on New England's Fly and Samsons vortex.

I'm not really adding anything to the post other than my preference.

Cougar
Yale 11.7s
Vortex
Tachyon
Everything else that I've tried
 
TimBr said:
@JustinK; That list you just gave is rank ordered from most favorite to least favorite, correct? Thanks in advance.

Tim
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Yes sir.

I imagine it to be like a Ford vs Chevy thing. You love what you buy that serves the purpose even if there isn't a huge real world difference.

Cougar I bought for myself. The others were either company supplied or using someone else's to try out or because it was convenient at the time. That side, I love the cougar but the Yale 11.7s I've used have been pretty much the same, which makes sense after Reed said Donaghys designed it after Yales 11.7 ropes.

After the 11.7s on my list there are things I didn't care for about the others.
 
iclimbtreesbro said:
Not to derail the thread but how has the Lava rope worn for you, and how often have you used a friction saver while climbing? I am hoping that natural crotching this rope will not destroy it in a matter of weeks.


Natural crotching is not going to destroy Tachyon in a few weeks, although it may give it a well-used look. I have several lengths of Tachyon that we use a lot in classes and for occasional removals. They have been used pretty hard for 2-4 years and are pretty fuzzy with a few nicked or broken cover strands. Most of the time they have been run through friction savers because we climb the same big oak trees over-and-over in our classes and don't want to damage the trees, but they have also been used over natural crotches at least occasionally. All of these ropes have been washed once or twice because they got extremely dirty or pitched up. My general impression that they have held up pretty well, although they definitely look a bit rough in places.
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So, it's been a little over a year and a half since i joined this forum and posted the question above, and i thought that i'd post a quick update just in case anybody has any further thoughts before i move on to my next question (in another topic) ;-)

I ended up purchasing 50m of a Beal Industrie 11mm low-stretch rope, and that's what i've been using ever since. I've been climbing recreationally with relatively frequent use over 1--2-months-long periods of time with long breaks in between, inspecting it every once a week, or before the next use (whichever came later). It's worked fine so far, and it shows very little signs of wear besides some very minor fraying, and smudges from rubbing against the trees.

Last Summer i decided to cut those 50m in half during my cycle tour in order to reduce weight and volume, and that's what i've been climbing with since then. The main disadvantage so far is that i sometimes need to rappel in more than one stage, and accordingly plan my route down the tree very carefully. But it has otherwise worked fine for recreational tree-climbing --- i've actually enjoyed the puzzle (and often times extra workout) coming from working with a smaller piece of rope!

IMG_3360.webp

In the near future i plan to invest on a bonafide, 60m-long or so arborist rope following some of your recommendations to use with my "stationary" tree-climbing kit, leaving the 25m of the Beal Industrie 11mm to use with my "travel" kit.

@TimBr i'm a big fan of the climbingarborist.com videos as well --- thanks for sharing your story :)

@iclimbtreesbro When i cannot "free climb," my main ascension method is what i understand to be the DRT --- i tie myself in to a prusik loop, attached to the doubled rope with a prusik knot or klemheist, which i find easier to untie with only one hand, and a "footloop" sling clipped to a second prusik, to which i also tie myself in with another locking carabiner as a backup. I use 6mm accessory cords for the prusiks, but i'm thinking about switching to 7mm following the guidelines in Jeff Jepson's Tree Climber's Companion. Once i'm "on the tree," i try to "free climb" as much as possible, advancing my tethers as i move along. I currently use a daisy chain and a multi-chain that i clip to girth-hitched slings, and whose lengths i adjust so it's always as stretched as possible. (I want to switch to lanyards, but i'll develop on that in a separate thread.)

Thank you all once again, and looking forward to talking more tree-climbing with you!

Cheers,
Mika
 
Whoever told you climbing on a rock climbing rope in a tree is unsafe needs to do some research, that’s a lie - don’t believe it. Rick climbing ropes come in both flavours too static for hauling and some aid climbing applications, and dynamic for energy absorption. Some guys use the dynamic energy to pump their way up a rope- not my style though.
All ropes designed to climb stuff can be used. The arborist generally stays tight to his or her rope at all times, whereas a lead climber may be 20 feet above his last anchor, so there will be energy in the lead climbers fall and not so much in the tree workers fall. That said there are different degrees of stretch in a dynamic rope and most static ropes are still somewhat dynamic. In fact, rope from other genres such as sailing are perfectly suitable for tree work.
 
Stephen Moore said:
Whoever told you climbing on a rock climbing rope in a tree is unsafe needs to do some research, that’s a lie - don’t believe it. Rick climbing ropes come in both flavours too static for hauling and some aid climbing applications, and dynamic for energy absorption. Some guys use the dynamic energy to pump their way up a rope- not my style though.
All ropes designed to climb stuff can be used. The arborist generally stays tight to his or her rope at all times, whereas a lead climber may be 20 feet above his last anchor, so there will be energy in the lead climbers fall and not so much in the tree workers fall. That said there are different degrees of stretch in a dynamic rope and most static ropes are still somewhat dynamic. In fact, rope from other genres such as sailing are perfectly suitable for tree work.
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I'm not going to lie but I strongly disagree.
Rock climbing rope is completely wrong for the trees. First of all you can't walk on those or you have to buy everyone beer. Second (and beyond)...diameter, wrong, stretch, wrong, fall arrest, wrong, construction, kinda wrong, that's enough. It is just wrong.
 
I agree with Richard that dynamic isn't the best for daily tree work. I like it a lot for rec climbing though.
 
Brocky said:
I agree with Richard that dynamic isn't the best for daily tree work. I like it a lot for rec climbing though.
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All ropes are somewhat dynamic but yes, I agree the best ropes for tree climbing are those with very little stretch, when you start bombing big wood on them, then the rules change!
 
If you wish, for whatever reason, to use a static rope for bombing runs I suggest you step up the load handling on everything including the TIP and your kidneys! Oh and you must enlarge your nuts!
 
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