Hitch hiker/2/x thread

Joeybagodonuts said:
Rico.. what do you find yourself using more, Srt Or MRS..?

I love my hitch climbers & shit for MRS but i constantly find myself reaching for my HHX just out of pure versatility... I ran that same setup today.. 4 wrap hrc w/some newish waxy safety blue... Shit was fast, yet stopped on a dime.

Hey let me ask you another question.. when you got the hh2 setup like that, what happens when u pull the tail.. After the biner lifts, does your hh2 body have to make contact with the pulley before cordage really starts tending? Or before when the biner rides up the track..
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I go SRT whenever possible, but will go MRS sometimes if im gonna be limbing out a big conifer for long periods of time, or if I'm chunking down logs in a super pitchy Fir or Pine.

With the DdRT configuration in the picture it basically functions like a Hitch Climber setup. Pull on the tail and the system instantly moves up the rope. Once I figured out how to get the HH2 to perform like a HC setup in DdRT it was game over, as I realized this one little tool could do everything I needed a device to do, and do it in a super compact, super smooth, bulletproof fashion.

The HH has become my absolute favorite tool. In big conifer removals I simply run it SRT in a stock configuration. When I need to go DdRT I run it as pictured and it performs flawlessly. If I'm in a tree that spreads out a little more I will run it SRT with a pulley underneath it. This little chunk of steel kicks-ass in all these scenarios and all it takes is a second to change to the proper configuration for the task at hand.

I would encourage all you folks with HH2's or HHX's to try running less wraps on your device and see what it does for you. I run mine with a 3 wrap HH hitch, or a 3/2 VT with the legs loading over the bone. When dialed in both tend almost as nice as my Rope Runner, grab instantly, a have that feel that only a hitch based system can deliver.
 
rico said:
I go SRT whenever possible, but will go MRS sometimes if im gonna be limbing out a big conifer for long periods of time, or if I'm chunking down logs in a super pitchy Fir or Pine.

With the DdRT configuration in the picture it basically functions like a Hitch Climber setup. Pull on the tail and the system instantly moves up the rope. Once I figured out how to get the HH2 to perform like a HC setup in DdRT it was game over, as I realized this one little tool could do everything I needed a device to do, and do it in a super compact, super smooth, bulletproof fashion.

The HH has become my absolute favorite tool. In big conifer removals I simply run it SRT in a stock configuration. When I need to go DdRT I run it as pictured and it performs flawlessly. If I'm in a tree that spreads out a little more I will run it SRT with a pulley underneath it. This little chunk of steel kicks-ass in all these scenarios and all it takes is a second to change to the proper configuration for the task at hand.

I would encourage all you folks with HH2's or HHX's to try running less wraps on your device and see what it does for you. I run mine with a 3 wrap HH hitch, or a 3/2 VT with the legs loading over the bone. When dialed in both tend almost as nice as my Rope Runner, grab instantly, a have that feel that only a hitch based system can deliver.
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Nice.. Nice..
My experiences are similar. I really need to better my scope of SRT & allow the device to shine even more.

I agree with the statement about wraps. At my weight, i can't get away with 3... but 4 is my magic number with HRC. Loading of legs over the bone definitely helps.

On a different note & really off topic.. but in regards to running something like a HC in Ddrt with self advancement/tending... I was finally able to get my Zillon to function like this.. it's not super smooth, but definitely opens up the option. It functions very similar to the HHx ddrt setup. What you do is, run a quickie through Zillion & capture it with a captive eye biner for saddle/bridge connection, then terminate second connection back to biners captive eye. . It works out similar to how the Swiva-eye HHx works, except I'm using a BD Gridlock as my Swiva is on the HHx.. A smaller Shackle or possibly a Delta may be useful to make it happen too as long as a captive biner is used.. i been trying to make this ability functional for quite a while, the captive eye is what finally allowed it to actually be functional without excessive slop, side loading it binding the Zillon..
 
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DSMc said:
That was a nice, informative post, Rico, and I couldn't agree more.
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Thanks Dave. I consider you to be one of the premier experts on the HH and have learned much from reading your posts and viewing pictures of your HH setup. I remember when I first began playing with the HH2 I fucking hated it. I started with the standard 5-6 wrap HH hitch which was gawd awful with my skinny ass. I then saw a pic of your 4 wrap setup with the pulley underneath and it all started to click. This year I made a real effort to put time into getting the HH dialed in and see if I could get one tool to do everything I need. I not a fan of having to use different devices for different scenarios and felt that the HH had the potential to be the one device to do it all. Big conifer removals. Hard leaning madrone and oak removals. Big sprawling oak prunes. Rope walking. Limb walking. Spar work. Seamlessly flowing from SRT to DdRt when needed. Static Kermantle, 11-12 mm 24 strand, or 1/2" 16 strand, matters not. Drive over it with a tractor. Use it as a pair of brass knuckles to fend off a home intruder, or knock some sense into an asshole in line at the DMV. The HH takes it all in stride and always seems to perform brilliantly!
 
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rico said:
...first began playing with the HH2 I fucking hated it...
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I bought one of the original HH devices about 3 or 4 years ago, and I really didn't like it. In all fairness, I didn't give it much of a chance. I sold it a few days later to a local guy who I sometimes work with. I'm beginning to regret getting rid of it. I need something that will reliably work on some fat, 1/2" ropes I have.
 
JeffGu said:
I bought one of the original HH devices about 3 or 4 years ago, and I really didn't like it. In all fairness, I didn't give it much of a chance. I sold it a few days later to a local guy who I sometimes work with. I'm beginning to regret getting rid of it. I need something that will reliably work on some fat, 1/2" ropes I have.
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Yeah, I climb 1/2 a lot on conifers and the hh is the only way to go for me. I really wanted to find an all mechanical I liked, but it seems like the hybrid mech/cord devices are still number 1.
 
I'm hoping more hhx's will be available soon. I modified my hh2 to work with a quickie shackle, but it is not ideal in that it is a little bit of a pain in the ass to get it back out. However it is really nice in that it is always perfectly aligned unlike the biner which sometimes gets a little crooked, even with the fixe pulley. If @yoyoman is reading this, I will buy an hhx as soon as it is available
 
Is it just me or do some of you HH2 users have almost no issues with the biner misaligning?
Happens so little I don't even think about it.

That being said I think you would really dig the HHX RBJ. Richard has done an amazing job with this device.
 
Misalignment of the carabiner is mostly caused by un-weighted movements, and how you pick up slack afterwards. The HH2 will not tend as well when it is used like a Hitchclimber or RW. Trying to tend a fully slacked line by pulling with one hand, from under the HH2, it will inevitably bunch things up.

There are two ways to deal with this. The first would be to tend your line better, more often, static lines with a few feet of slack are not good in an SRS. When you do a big move that gives you a pile of slack, pick up the line above the HH first, so things line back up, then start pulling slack. Yes that takes two hands, but it works a treat.
 
DSMc said:
Misalignment of the carabiner is mostly caused by un-weighted movements, and how you pick up slack afterwards. The HH2 will not tend as well when it is used like a Hitchclimber or RW. Trying to tend a fully slacked line by pulling with one hand, from under the HH2, it will inevitably bunch things up.

There are two ways to deal with this. The first would be to tend your line better, more often, static lines with a few feet of slack are not good in an SRS. When you do a big move that gives you a pile of slack, pick up the line above the HH first, so things line back up, then start pulling slack. Yes that takes two hands, but it works a treat.
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Interesting. I'm flying an OG HH, no pulley or anything. I tend it like a hitch climber all the time. Never had the biner get weird on me. If this is a common issue with the 2, maybe I ought to just skip out on the 2 altogether and get the X when the next batch comes out. I was mainly eyeballing the 2 over the x because I like steel whenever I can have it, but I don't want to fight slack tending.
 
DSMc said:
Misalignment of the carabiner is mostly caused by un-weighted movements, and how you pick up slack afterwards. The HH2 will not tend as well when it is used like a Hitchclimber or RW. Trying to tend a fully slacked line by pulling with one hand, from under the HH2, it will inevitably bunch things up.

There are two ways to deal with this. The first would be to tend your line better, more often, static lines with a few feet of slack are not good in an SRS. When you do a big move that gives you a pile of slack, pick up the line above the HH first, so things line back up, then start pulling slack. Yes that takes two hands, but it works a treat.
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That is exactly when I have alignment problems. The pulley helps some, but not totally. The shackle makes it a non issue. I do think there are other advantages to the biner, but for me, the shackle wins for now.
 
There are a lot of guys climbing on the HHX that just love them. Nice to have a choice.

For me the HH2 works much better and I have no problems with the carabiner, slack tending or variable friction.
 
I think that the HH Holster keeps the HH pretty oriented. Tightens it up a bit.





I rarely run a pulley. I need a bigger ring. Don't really need it. Lotta rope-walking up, or using a foot ascender.





Fiona gets credit for clipping a second biner to the same bridge ring, for better tending.





When the down-strand of a basal-tie anchor is in the way, resting where you want to cut, it's easy to use this second biner (non-locking is smaller and lighter) to redirect the down-strand of the rope back to your harness and away from the cut-zone.
 
I rarely found myself having carabiner issues in the HH2 when I climbed on it, been on the roperunner for a little while now, I figured the rubber grommeted holes in my rook pulley on the bridge held the carabiner in place.

If your having issues with it, maybe try a rubber keeper on the carabiner? The end on the HH2 may work, although it may get pinched and cut with movement. Putting it on the bridge end of the carabiner will keep the carabiner from rotating but will make it a little harder to clip in and out if that's something you do a lot in the tree.
 
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