Fast descent

oldtimefiddler

oldtimefiddler

Location
north carolina
Should I add figure eight or a munter on carabiner for descending on ocean poly hitch cord... My set up is , 1/2 rope with hitch climber pulley and 8mm ocean poly with a VT ... Did what I thought ,was not a too fast descent of about 5 foot and then came down slowly.. After breaking down the rig I noticed my hitch cord looked alittle burnt... Had some places that were discolored alittle... Anyways just curious of what it should be able to take..
 
Welcome to the site fiddler, and greetings to a North Carolinian from down here in South Cakilaki. :)

So, 1/2" rope huh? What kind? Could make a difference.
Assuming you're climbing DdRT (I haven't in awhile...all SRT as of late) you might want to go with a 10mm hitch cord, though that could be debated. The hitch cord carries about half the friction in a DdRT scenario and the limb your rope is over (the anchor point) carries the other half. So more friction at the limb (larger diameter limb/thick bark vs thin bark) means less on your cord, and vice versa. That could've played a part.
But most probably your cord is fine and just needs to be rotated on occasion to let other areas share the load. Oh yeah, and hitch cords don't last forever. :)

No, I don't think you'll need a munter or figure 8 in a DdRT scenario. I don't know much about the poly Oceans cord but the other Oceans cords seem to work pretty well. EDIT: I was getting it confused with the Armor Prus poly. The Oceans cords are good.
 
Last edited:
I never really liked any of the thinner climbing ropes when climbing DdRT. 1/2" 16 strands were my faves.

I was always a Safety Blue man...
https://www.treestuff.com/store/catalog.asp?category_id=5&item=149
Not pretty but felt the best in my hands.

Now that I'm climbing SRT, and not using my hands as much, I'm liking the 24 strand ropes as they work better in mechanical devices.

For a 1/2" rope I like 10 mm cords better. My go-to cord was either Armor Prus 10mm, Oceans 10 mm, or HTC 8mm (but never got to use it on Safety Blue). I love how smooth a VT is but my main issue with the smaller cords was that when descending quickly, my hand always got hot. Probably from growing up on a fat Blakes Hitch...old habits die hard. :)

Hopefully others will reply. They might have some better suggestions.
 
Not to get too personal, but if you're a bigger guy the fatter hitch cords tend to work better. I'm ~220lbs geared up and have always found the 8mm cords bite down too hard. I have to really yank on the hitch to get it to release which causes me to descend faster than I like. I find I get more control with the 10mm cords.
 
I'm in the market for new rope so I'm gonna try and match a new hitch cord as best as I can... I like the feel of the 1/2 ropes but in the mood to try the lastest and greatest as well.. Not too sure of 24 or 16 strand...
 
As was pointed out to me by Oceans the typical burnt looking stripe on a hitch cord is primarily from the climbing rope. Todd Bremer showed me a nice maintenance trick for getting rid of that, stretch the hitch cord out horizontally on the trunk of a relatively smooth barked tree and roll the cord up and down with the flat of both hands like you were making a snake with play-do or clay. Reconditions the cover of the cord nicely.

I'm a couple years into climbing on Ocean Polyester hitch cord, love that stuff. I use the 10mm only for any diameter line including my 10mm HTP, it's optimal on larger diameter ropes. I'm a very lightweight climber but I still find the 8mm cords bite a little too hard.

The basic story on fast descents is this, if you're climbing on any of the hitch cords that have higher than polyester melting point fibers in them (most modern hitch cord does), then you're toasting your climbing rope not the hitch. If you're determined to do fast descents it's smart to make sure your hitch coils are loosened up just a bit or at the very least that your hitch isn't binding tight on the rope before you descend.
-AJ
 
Thanks guys , good info, what I have right now works so smooth and good but everybody wants more bang for the buck I guess! From you guys input and trial and error is the way to learn I guess.... Damn it's cold in NC right now!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

New threads New posts

Back
Top Bottom