First day on the rope runner

Steve Connally said:
It's funny. Mine tends perfectly from one tending spot and I have never though about any hand discomfort. I haven't noticed it. It's just a fine device!!
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Hey, Steve! Forgive me if I've asked you this already, but when you go to do a new redirect, are you able to make the swap with the Rope Runner without having any loose parts at all, by way of not having to risk dropping a piece?

I've seen you mention climbing on the Bulldog Bone. I was wondering whether either device has won your heart in a decisive fashion yet, and if the answer is yes, if you could explain why that is so?

Next to JohnnyPro, you seem like one of the Rope Runner's biggest fans.

One last question would be, how long would you say it takes you to swap the Rope Runner from one side of the line to the other? Kevin Bingham did it in his video in about 42 seconds or so, and it looked as though he was taking his time.

Thanks a lot in advance for any answers that you choose to provide.

Tim
 
MikePowers321 said:
So I found these thin metal plates with holes in them at Lowes. Did some simple drilling and cutting and tried to mimmick that piece on the opposite side. Thanks Mac for posting that picture. Works very well and is super easy to set up.

What is the formable play doe stuff you guys are putting on the runner for comfort? I know its in here somewhere but couldn't find it. Thanks.

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Great photographs, Mike! Thanks for posting those.

Tim

P.S. What is the purpose of the dogleg bend in the metal? Apologies if this has been answered already.
 
TimBr said:
Great photographs, Mike! Thanks for posting those.

Tim

P.S. What is the purpose of the dogleg bend in the metal? Apologies if this has been answered already.
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Not sure really....I just made it look symmetrical. The original one twists around so it probably keeps knots or whatever for hitting and rubbing on the side plates.
 
Tim. I just don't take it off the line. If I need to do some kind of maneuver like that I just lanyard in and remove the whole enchilada, Biner and all, from my bridge and pass is over the redirect. I also climb on one end of the rope and wouldn't change to the other leg due to the way I have my retrieve able canopy anchor. On basal anchors switching the leg of the rope would be certain death for me. Lol. I have no issues doing it this way and don't mind having to move the tail of my rope if need be. That is he most time consuming event. I climbed on the bone for a while and now have been burning aluminum off the rr for a while now. I need to go back to the Bdb and reevaluate it again. The rr is sweet. Just totally dig it. I guess the deciding factor would be that it loves just about any rope you put in it. I could probably change ropes tomorrow with no adjustment of the bollard but with the Bdb that's not the case. I couldn't change ropes without changing the friction bollard sizes. To be honest. The both kick arse. It like blondes or brunette, depends on my mood but in the end who cares. Now the zigzag was a redhead and I love redheads. Lol
 
Steve Connally said:
Tim. I just don't take it off the line. If I need to do some kind of maneuver like that I just lanyard in and remove the whole enchilada, Biner and all, from my bridge and pass is over the redirect. I also climb on one end of the rope and wouldn't change to the other leg due to the way I have my retrieve able canopy anchor. On basal anchors switching the leg of the rope would be certain death for me. Lol. I have no issues doing it this way and don't mind having to move the tail of my rope if need be. That is he most time consuming event. I climbed on the bone for a while and now have been burning aluminum off the rr for a while now. I need to go back to the Bdb and reevaluate it again. The rr is sweet. Just totally dig it. I guess the deciding factor would be that it loves just about any rope you put in it. I could probably change ropes tomorrow with no adjustment of the bollard but with the Bdb that's not the case. I couldn't change ropes without changing the friction bollard sizes. To be honest. The both kick arse. It like blondes or brunette, depends on my mood but in the end who cares. Now the zigzag was a redhead and I love redheads. Lol
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Steve, thanks for this entire answer, especially the part about how easy it is to use different sizes of rope with the Rope Runner. Very helpful. I think it adds to the base of knowledge available to folks researching the topic.

As regards the redirect, I guess I'm talking about a situation where I have a base tie, and my rope is running up and over a really high suspension point, and back down to me. The leg of rope from the suspension point down to me will not change. Say at this point I want to go over a new suspension point that is way below my high one, just 25 feet away laterally, and also higher than my current position. If I get a throwball over that new suspension point, and manage to pull the tail of my rope through this lower suspension point and back to me, I can now detach the Runner from the side that runs up to my highest suspension point, and swap it to the short leg that leads to the lower, more offset suspension point. This would allow me to easily access a part of the canopy that was unreachable prior to this, without having to climb all the way up to the new suspension point just to pass the Runner through it. Huge run-on sentence, just then.

I don't know if I'm writing clearly enough to be understood or not. The basic question though is whether or not you think it's possible to detach the Rope Runner and then reattach it, all the while having zero loose parts in your hands that you might possibly drop.

Zero loose parts would be a huge selling point for me, and would make the Rope Runner a slam-dunk for me personally as the first all mechanical device I end up purchasing at some point in the future.

Thanks again for your help, Steve, and for any further comments you choose to make.

Tim
 
Tim, it is not as easy as the Bulldog bone, but I have been playing around with the transfer from rope to rope at work with the runner, and it is quite easy. The only part you need to be careful of is when you open up the one side plate of the pulley. Kevin's video show it perfectly, smooth and calm
 
MikePowers321 said:
Tim, it is not as easy as the Bulldog bone, but I have been playing around with the transfer from rope to rope at work with the runner, and it is quite easy. The only part you need to be careful of is when you open up the one side plate of the pulley. Kevin's video show it perfectly, smooth and calm
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Thanks so much for this answer, Mike! This pretty much seals the deal for me. It's nice to hear from someone who has tried out the scenario that I'm thinking of and who finds it "quite easy".

The sniper teams (from what I've heard) have a mantra, "Slow is smooth, and smooth is fast". It seems like it comes into play here.

Could you elaborate on the need to be careful when you open up the one side plate of the pulley? Does that part of the process expose some component to being dropped?

Thanks in advance for any help you choose to provide in answer to these questions.

Tim
 
It's not so much the side of the pulley Tim as much as the fact that the carabineer is now open and that is where both legs of the pulley are at. If you don't pay attention you can slip the whole mess off and drop it(maybe). If you just take your time the possibility of dropping something becomes much less
 
monkeylove said:
It's not so much the side of the pulley Tim as much as the fact that the carabineer is now open and that is where both legs of the pulley are at. If you don't pay attention you can slip the whole mess off and drop it(maybe). If you just take your time the possibility of dropping something becomes much less
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Hey, monkeylove! Thanks for this comment. I can't remember who posted an idea awhile back with regard to adding a short piece of Zing-it line to 1/2 of a triple attachment pulley being used with a Rope Wrench. It made it so that you couldn't drop the pulley during the process of disassembling the system for a redirect.

Do you think that doing something like that might be possible with the Rope Runner without interferring with its function? I can imagine trying to do a redirect in colder weather wearing thicker gloves as being a time when a tether would be really helpful. I'd hate to have to try to find a small part in deep snow, not that I tend to climb much in winter, at this point.

Thanks in advance for any answer you give to this question.

Tim
 
It might work. It might also get cut pretty easily as the plate moved around on the biner. I sold my RR after I switched to the BDB. Both great tools just like the ease of the BDB. Mine run Vortex and Yale 11.7 on the same bollard just fine (However I have a different centerline than most BDB's have.) If the truth was told, I liked the Unicender but could never figure out how to advance it smoothly from underneath. I still have that and play on it also just because it is so nice for everything.
 
Ok, I just looked at Kevin's video once again. It all happens very quickly, and is tough to see, but it looks like the pulley's sides are able to swivel freely, and that Kevin's technique centers on pulling the carabiner out only as far as he needs to in order to get just the one pulley side plate to get clear and drop off, while keeping the other side of the pulley and the fat "pressure plate" component somewhat held by the carabiner.

So I see what you mean about just being careful. It looks like trying to stick a string through that bottom pulley hole would not work, as the two pieces swiveling back and forth would cut the string eventually. I don't know; it might actually be worth trying. I'd have to get a Rope Runner in my hands and try it to see what I thought.

The string would pass through the hole from the side away from the carabiner opening, and exit just before the 2nd pulley side plate. The string would pass through the carabiner near the strong side of the biner, so that if you accidentally pulled the biner all the way out, the string would catch both the pulley and the pressure plate component.

It might be worth looking at, I'll have to see for myself when the day arrives that I have my own.

Thanks.

Tim
 
monkeylove said:
It might work. It might also get cut pretty easily as the plate moved around on the biner. I sold my RR after I switched to the BDB. Both great tools just like the ease of the BDB. Mine run Vortex and Yale 11.7 on the same bollard just fine (However I have a different centerline than most BDB's have.) If the truth was told, I liked the Unicender but could never figure out how to advance it smoothly from underneath. I still have that and play on it also just because it is so nice for everything.
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Monkeylove, you beat me to the punch about the string possibly getting cut. I was still writing my post as you were posting yours. With regard to your liking of the Bulldog Bone, do you find it tends as easily as the Rope Runner? Is the (appeal of the Bulldog Bone) primarily the ease with which you can put the Bone on the rope and take it off again that makes it your favorite, or some other aspect? Thanks for your time.

Tim
 
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Ease of putting it on & off. I find that it tends fine when ascending however it does not eat rope like the RR does once you disconnect the chest harness, that thing is smoooooooth. I used both for a while before I committed to the BDB but I could have easily stayed on the RR. As a rec guy I just figured it was time to pass the RR on to a professional who wanted one. (They were still hard to come by back when I had mine)
 
I see your point Tim. In that instance I may use another method like the zigzag on the tail if I need to return to the redirect. One other thing is with the base tie I leave just enough tail to work the tree. Not a huge pile of rope. So if I wanted to be certain I wouldn't loose any parts I could just pull my tail up and out of the rr then refereed it after redirecting. Just a thought. Can't say I have been in that predicament. I may start with that 25' out route and set it with a throwbag. I had done that in the past. Start my work on the area away from the trunk and work my way up then back to the trunk.
 
Steve Connally said:
So if I wanted to be certain I wouldn't lose any parts I could just pull my tail up and out of the rr then refeed it after redirecting. Just a thought.
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Thanks for this Steve; this is an elegantly simple answer, and I have no idea why it had not occurred to me. Your time and trouble to answer this is greatly appreciated.

Tim
 
Another thought that just occurred to me with regard to swapping out the Rope Runner from one side of a rope to another is to just turn the biner that passes through the pulley and pressure plate so that the side with the gate faces up when performing the operation. In this way gravity will hold the pressure plate (I don't currently know the correct name for the part) and the other half of the pulley on the biner. You'd only need to slide the biner about an eighth of an inch down past the top pulley side plate to get it to clear, and then just swivel it out of the way. This might make it much less likely that any parts would be dropped.

No question here, just wanted to add this stray thought to the mix.

Tim
 
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