climbing with a panten

J

jwp

Oldoakman gave me a panten and today I got to try it out. I liked the panten and it was much easier to climb with than the foot loop prusik.

I need to find a way that I can also use my left leg for climbing. Maybe I need a panten for my left foot. I could alternate between legs this way. Does anyone have any suggestions?

I liked being able to unclip the panten from the line when needed and not have to retrieve it later like I was having to do with the foot loop prusik.

Once I got up to my tip I was thinking about placing the tip higher but I chicken out because I was in a water oak and I realized that I was having a very difficult time telling the difference between a live and dead limb. I decided to trim some dead limbs as I came back down and I did trim one limb that I thought was dead but it was a live limb. How do you tell if a limb is alive or dead when there are not leaves showing?

Today was another great day to climb. The weather was clear skies, 60 degrees with a light wind. I hope everyone had a great day.
 
jwp,

Foot ascenders are awesome. Some are reversible, but the Petzl's are not. So if you like the brand, get a left. Alternatively, get a copy do the book On Rope, by Padgett and Smith. Seems to me like you enjoy the journey and On Rope will take you on one for climbing systems ect.

Thanks for your enthusiasm! It is refreshing. It is easy to get bogged down and forget the fun in climbing trees when it is a job. You have reminded me of it. I will make myself take a step back and look at what I do with a beginner's mind. Again ,thanks!

Tony
 
X2 On Rope is a must have. I would suggest instead of getting a second foot ascender, get a HAAS it is a "knee" ascender. Handmade by treehive, here on the buzz. Check out the videos on his website, or tree stuff. Works ddrt or SRT. Makes ascent a breeze,IMHO.
 
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...I realized that I was having a very difficult time telling the difference between a live and dead limb. ...How do you tell if a limb is alive or dead when there are not leaves showing?

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A few ways to tell if a limb or branch is dead or alive in winter...

First the obvious:
1. Bark is falling off
2. Visible signs like rot, holes etc.
3. Shelf fungus or other types of mushrooms growing out of the branch or limb.

The more subtle indicators:
1. Twig complexity - dead limbs and trees lack fine twigs and small branch structure
2. Buds - a dead branch doesn't have buds unless it died very recently. A live branch has healthy looking buds, a live bud will not be shriveled and dried out.

Also, a branch or limb can be alive but not strong or in good health or both. Excessive sucker growth tells you some thing is wrong with a limb. A limb can be hollow and still have plenty of live twigs and buds, or in summer have plenty of leaves. Leaves alone do not tell you that a limb is strong enough to hang your rope on.
-AJ
 
Moss you are scaring me now. I have been getting the rope over a limb and being happy. Maybe now I need to get the rope over a limb and then back around the tree so if the limb lets go then the rope would catch on the next lower limb. I am a little lazy so I may just try to pick good limbs and cross my fingers.

I happened to have a Petzl Microcender Rope Grab, I took some cord and tied on to the lever making a foot loop and a loop around my leg along with a small cord which I can attach to my harness. I am going to see how this works as a knee ascender the next time that I climb. It will be a little more trouble that a pantin because it is a little more work to unhook from the line.

I used a double fisherman loop today on my main hookup just to see how it would react. I didn't get to test it like I wanted because I had both sides of the knot loaded so I couldn't check for slippage. The double fisherman loop seemed to work great but it was a little harder to untie than the anchor knot.

I have a little gear ordered so that I can try out the O-Rig. I will be going low and slow as I see how this set up responds. I think that using foot ascenders and not having to push a blakes hitch up the line just may be a true joy. The rescue knot going to the blakes hitch always found a way to scrape my hands. This brings up another question. Do I need to put a rescue knot on O-rig? Maybe a figure 8 that will not pass back through the O. I guess that I need to go back and look at the O-rig system again to see if it uses a rescue knot.

Thanks for all the kind words and help.
 
putting your rope around the trunk is a safe way to go but not always practical , branches can be safe to climb on depending on diameter, species, branch angle/ attachment and health of the tree, in hardwoods nothing smaller than 4" softwood 6" to 8" I always do a pull test before climbing to see how the tree/ branch react to loads.
 
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Moss you are scaring me now. I have been getting the rope over a limb and being happy. Maybe now I need to get the rope over a limb and then back around the tree so if the limb lets go then the rope would catch on the next lower limb. I am a little lazy so I may just try to pick good limbs and cross my fingers.

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Yer still alive so you're doing something right ;-) Tree assessment is a skill that is acquired through years of direct observation and experience. And I don't think the learning ever ends. Smart strategy is anytime you climb a tree for the first time always hang your rope at the limb trunk union and go conservative on limb/branch diameter. Once you're in the tree you can look around and inspect stuff more closely to look for structural problems. It's amazing what you can see in the tree that you can't see from the ground.

As you visually assess from the ground, and climb and inspect different species of trees you'll start to notice problems unique to each species, and the strengths of each species.

The great thing about rec climbing is you can choose the healthiest and best examples of any tree species. Work climbing can force a climber into trees that are not much fun.

Peter Jenkin's Basic Rec Tree Climbing DVD (TCI web site) has a good section on tree assessment, it's a great start on advancing your skills if you don't already have it.
-AJ
 
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Maybe now I need to get the rope over a limb and then back around the tree so if the limb lets go then the rope would catch on the next lower limb.

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That will create quite a bit of friction on the tree and make your climbing difficult.

When I first started rec climbing I double-crotched quite a bit. I was unsure of limb strength and I was plain scared of heights at a certain point. It will slow down your climbing but there's no harm in it as you gain confidence in your gear and assessment skills. For example after you climb up on your first pitch and want to advance you can put a lanyard around the trunk and center anchor it on your harness (it sucks hanging on your side D's) Once you acquire your next anchor and start climbing up you can loosen the lanyard and bring it up the trunk. Or (true double-crotching) you can bring up the other end of your climbing line and create a second anchor. It's a variation of what Jeff Jepson calls alternate lanyard climbing technique except you're using both ends of your climbing rope instead of a lanyard.
-AJ
 
I think that I will incorparate a lanyard into my system. I noticed that Oldoakman was using his lanyard quite a bit as he climbed.
 
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