It appears I don't need to tie my base anchor...

[Winchman]

but I'll keep doing it anyway.

I've used a piece of 5/8" Stable Braid as a base anchor on most of my climbs. I arrange it as shown in the pics. I have a piece of 5/16" braided nylon line attached to both ends of the SB with Blake's hitches, and I use those to snug the things up while setting up. They're hooked together with a small screw link you can see in the second pic. Then I tie either a figure 8 or Zeppelin bend, and snug that up. Then I bounce a few times on the climbing rig to get the slack out, and to make sure it's going to hold me.

Neither the little nylon line nor the Stable Braid have ever gotten noticeably tighter during any of my climbs. There appears to be almost no slippage at all. The knots are always just like I left them. Is this typical of base anchor systems? Do they ever get really tight in use?

Ignore the red rope in the pics. It's just there to hold the twine coming down the tree.

 

[rico]

More important than all the basal anchor nonsense is how you like the Samson Voyager?

 

[JeffGu]

You'd hate it. It is made with chemicals known to cause cancer in Canuckifornians. It's not all bouncy and stuff on SRT so it's no good for you. It has a really nice hand, and I know you prefer the rough stuff that's stiff. Hand lotion might dissolve it. Don't buy any.

But here... you can look at some more and be glad you don't have any.

 

[rico]

Canuckifornians.

\

Canuckifornians! Very nice Mr. Gu.
So does this rope have a bunch of stretch/bounce or not. Hows the durability?

 

[JeffGu]

Just got it... doesn't seem bouncy to me. 11.8mm and really nice feeling rope. Too much snow right now for me to get out and play with it more. Want to try the ZZ/Chicane combo on it. I played around in backyard elm with it in MRS with the ZZ and it's real nice with that combo.

 

[Winchman]

Voyager is the only climbing rope I've used, but I'm really pleased with it. It's easy to grip and work with when I've got gloves on, it's incredibly flexible, and it appears to hold up well. It's getting a little bit of fuzz and discoloration here and there, but I can't find anything I'm concerned about when I run it through my hands, which I do regularly. I'll probably switch it end-for-end in the climbing rig to even out the usage soon.

I can feel some bounce when I'm starting out on a high climb, but I think that's to be expected with the amount of rope in the 3-1.

 

[rico]

Just got it... doesn't seem bouncy to me. 11.8mm and really nice feeling rope. Too much snow right now for me to get out and play with it more. Want to try the ZZ/Chicane combo on it. I played around in backyard elm with it in MRS with the ZZ and it's real nice with that combo.

Just got it... doesn't seem bouncy to me. 11.8mm and really nice feeling rope. Too much snow right now for me to get out and play with it more. Want to try the ZZ/Chicane combo on it. I played around in backyard elm with it in MRS with the ZZ and it's real nice with that combo.

Thanks buddy. My intuition is telling me tha rope would kickass with the HH2?

Word to the warning for anyone here daft enough to be thinking about inviting Mr. Gu over for Turkey dinner. Me and the Mrs. had him over for Thanksgiving a few years back and everything was going along fine and dandy when all of the sudden we heard a loud scream. The entire household came running and what we found shook us to our cores. All I can say is it involved Mr. Gu, one of our prized nigerian dwarf goats, and the missing turkey baster. Now lord knows I have done some strange shit in my life, but that Mr. Gu is a straight up deviant.....

 

[rico]

Voyager is the only climbing rope I've used, but I'm really pleased with it. It's easy to grip and work with when I've got gloves on, it's incredibly flexible, and it appears to hold up well. It's getting a little bit of fuzz and discoloration here and there, but I can't find anything I'm concerned about when I run it through my hands, which I do regularly. I'll probably switch it end-for-end in the climbing rig to even out the usage soon.

I can feel some bounce when I'm starting out on a high climb, but I think that's to be expected with the amount of rope in the 3-1.

Thanks for the voyager review and welcome to TreeBuzz.

 

[treegongfu]

I think it is a thinner version of samson velocity.

 

[JeffGu]

No, it's fatter than Velocity, but slightly thinner than Vortex.

 

[JeffGu]

...would kickass with the HH2?

And the rope wrench, as well. I can only get about 12' of usable height off my hook in the garage, but the RW likes it.

I'll mail that turkey baster back to you... it's a little... umm.... discolored.

 

[Burrapeg]

No, it's fatter than Velocity, but slightly thinner than Vortex.

Any of you chaps ever climb on the Vortex? I got an 8ft piece out of the free box at WesSpur and use it for an extra lanyard. It feels so nice in the hand, like it is already broken it. A rather tight squeeze getting it into the ZZ but it worked OK once there when I tried hanging from it under my shed. The guys up there said it milks a bit so they don't like to splice both ends. Just wondering if any of you have actually climbed with it.

 

[rope-a-dope]

A coworker climbs on Voyager, it seems like good rope. More stretchy than yale 11.7, but less than tachyon. Probably not static enough for using lengths over 150'. But like the other Samson DBs, It just feels good. And will last.
Oh, and that base anchor is a mess. You are correct in believing that wrapping some 5/8" around the trunck 3+ times will hold you on a base anchor. Some searching around old threads on the subject will stir up other ideas if your interested. Cheers and climb safe.

 

[oldoakman]

I have to ask, what is the purpose on the red line in your base tie, and where did you ged t the white line? It looks like hardware store nylon and if it is, please stop using it as it is not rated for life support in climbing.

 

[misfit]

I am not the expert, but I, at least, will attempt to answer the original question. The reason your knot does not tighten up after you weight the line is because there is enough friction between the rope and the tree trunk over three wraps of the trunk to support your weight. Of course, it still must be tied off; don't ever rely on that friction alone. The amount of friction varies with the roughness of the bark and the size of the trunk, but with that tree, the top-most wrap will carry most of the weight, while the second wrap will carry most of the rest. The bottom or third wrap carries very little, so there is little stress on the knot.

I'm not sure I fully understand your setup, but I think the small white line with the Blake's hitches are used only to assist you during your setup and are not actually stressed in any way once the setup is complete and your weight is on the line. If that is so, then it appears to be okay; otherwise, absolutely not.

 

[moss]

Thanks buddy. My intuition is telling me tha rope would kickass with the HH2?

Word to the warning for anyone here daft enough to be thinking about inviting Mr. Gu over for Turkey dinner. Me and the Mrs. had him over for Thanksgiving a few years back and everything was going along fine and dandy when all of the sudden we heard a loud scream. The entire household came running and what we found shook us to our cores. All I can say is it involved Mr. Gu, one of our prized nigerian dwarf goats, and the missing turkey baster. Now lord knows I have done some strange shit in my life, but that Mr. Gu is a straight up deviant.....

No video didn't happen. Or did it?
-AJ

 

[treegongfu]

No, it's fatter than Velocity, but slightly thinner than Vortex.

I got the names mixed up. I meant vortex.

 

[Raven]

Hey Winchman, with all due respect - what in the world is going on here??? Not the stable braid - that's all good even though you could simply tie your rope to the base with a running bowline to the same effect.

No I mean your climbing system??? Looks like you've rigged a fancy 3:1 there with an adjustable extendable (anchor bridge?). Not sure Petzl would approve and this violates the very spirit of the K.I.S.S. principle. Did you already climb to anchor the end of the line in the top of the tree? Did you rig that all from the ground? - Needs pics of ends of rope, looks like you have four ends there (two ropes) or I'm just not seeing the whole picture.

 

[rico]

Klusterfuck!

 

[Jonny]

View attachment 63772 View attachment 63773
Hey Winchman, with all due respect - what in the world is going on here??? Not the stable braid - that's all good even though you could simply tie your rope to the base with a running bowline to the same effect.

No I mean your climbing system??? Looks like you've rigged a fancy 3:1 there with an adjustable extendable (anchor bridge?). Not sure Petzl would approve and this violates the very spirit of the K.I.S.S. principle. Did you already climb to anchor the end of the line in the top of the tree? Did you rig that all from the ground? - Needs pics of ends of rope, looks like you have four ends there (two ropes) or I'm just not seeing the whole picture.

I think he sets it all from the ground, he hauls up a pulley as a false crotch and that is what is anchored there. The anchor rope is separate from the climbing rope, but confusing pics because the 2 separate ropes are both Voyager. I think.... he was talking about it here:

New member with a question about 3-1 climbing rig

I'm 74 and I started climbing about eight months ago. I'm using a 3-1 pulley system with two ball-bearing Petzl pulleys, a Zig Zag, and 200 feet of Samson Voyager. I have a 150-foot piece of Voyager as an anchor line to hold the rig up. The 3-1 is a little slow, but I'm getting stronger and...

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