Let's talk lanyards

Jehinten said:
As a beginner climber I would steer clear of hand sewn eyes, if you'll need to remotely retrieve your lanyard just put it through a larger crotch. I know moss and a few others have sewn eyes by hand and its certainly an option but I would suggest some more experience first. As for the hitches not releasing smoothly, try a larger diameter hitch cord. 8 mm is a little on the small side for 1/2", I've had good results from 10mm and 9.3 on 1/2" you can buy them with sewn eyes as well.
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I'm definitely not going to sew my own eyes. If I don't like my knots, I'll just buy a manufactured eye to eye. I just tried a distel hitch. It wouldn't hold with 4 wraps but did with 5. It was still super hard to get it to release though? Here's a pic of it with my full weight on it. This is my first time ever tying a distel hitch, (or even spelling it!) It took two hands to get it released. I'll have to try some thicker cord next.IMG_8730.webp
 
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Scratch said:
I'm definitely not going to sew my own eyes. . . .
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Probably a wise choice. The ones that I did took forever and were rather dodgy looking, although plenty strong enough I think. I kept nicking my finger and the whole exercise was not a good use of my time, considering how close I am to WesSpur and their sewing machines. But I was able to prove to myself that I could indeed do it by hand if necessary.
 
Today I tried some 10.5mm climbing line and tried it out with a distel hitch and pulley. I had to go with 5 wraps to get it to hold. It releases easily with full weight using two fingers, but when I do put full weight on it, and bounce, it will slip about half an inch each bounce.

Is that normal?
Do I want to try a little bit thinner line next?
Is my main line (the 1/2") too slick?
Is dynamic climbing line not good for this test?
How many licks does it take to get the center of a tootsie roll pop?
46733564_10217080183852006_1828580552450506752_n.webp
 
Bango Skank said:
What diameter cord are you using there? Looks close in size to the line.
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The tag says 10.5mm, when I measure it, it seems closer to 11mm, it's all I had.
The black rope measures out to about 12mm.

My next size down I have is 8mm. Looks like I might have to find some 9-ish and try that.
 
sounds like you are getting closer to a good combination. I do not use the distel myself, but I do believe it is supposed to be a compact hitch. Yours looks a little stretched out, I would try adjusting your termination knots to shorten your hitch cord and then retie the hitch.

With tying your own eyes you get a lot of adjustment opportunities, you may find with shorter legs on the hitch that you may not need 5 wraps to get it to grab, also once the cordage breaks in it will act a little different as well.
 
Jehinten said:
sounds like you are getting closer to a good combination. I do not use the distel myself, but I do believe it is supposed to be a compact hitch. Yours looks a little stretched out, I would try adjusting your termination knots to shorten your hitch cord and then retie the hitch.

With tying your own eyes you get a lot of adjustment opportunities, you may find with shorter legs on the hitch that you may not need 5 wraps to get it to grab, also once the cordage breaks in it will act a little different as well.
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since I don't have anything around 9mm right now, but have plenty of time, I'll try shortening up my distel hitch and see if that helps. I did try shortening it with the 8mm and it seemed to be a more compact, cleaner hitch, but it still didn't release.

I was thinking about trying another friction hitch too, what are some other good choices for a lanyard adjuster?
 
Scratch said:
.....

I was thinking about trying another friction hitch too, what are some other good choices for a lanyard adjuster?
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Michoacan, Knut, VT seem to be, together with the Distel, amongst the most popular for a lanyard.
When you conduct your tests and find out that the hitch locks with your full weight on the line, is your line doubled or SRT?
You might consider trying a friction hitch made of 9.3mm Epicord.
 
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Scratch said:
since I don't have anything around 9mm right now, but have plenty of time, I'll try shortening up my distel hitch and see if that helps. I did try shortening it with the 8mm and it seemed to be a more compact, cleaner hitch, but it still didn't release.

I was thinking about trying another friction hitch too, what are some other good choices for a lanyard adjuster?
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any climbing hitch will work, and all behave differently along with variations of each hitch. it basically comes down to the climbers preference, just test them out low and slow at first. If you don't mind sit back, the coopers hitch is one that I have had good results with and tends smoothly.
 
Jehinten said:
As a beginner climber I would steer clear of hand sewn eyes, if you'll need to remotely retrieve your lanyard just put it through a larger crotch. I know moss and a few others have sewn eyes by hand and its certainly an option but I would suggest some more experience first. As for the hitches not releasing smoothly, try a larger diameter hitch cord. 8 mm is a little on the small side for 1/2", I've had good results from 10mm and 9.3 on 1/2" you can buy them with sewn eyes as well.
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I climbed at least 5 years on lanyards using a knotted termination for a carabiner, this was rec climbing. If you’re in a situation where you think the knot might jam coming back through a tight union, simply remove the carabiner, a double overhand noose knot termination comes apart easily once the carabiner is removed. Simply tie the carabiner back on when you retrieve the end of the lanyard. This is a reason not to use a snap on the end of your lanyard, much more difficult to get a closed ring off the end of a lanyard.

As far as hand sewing goes, forget about it for now, you can order line by the foot for the lanyard and have the supplier (Wesspur, TreeStuff etc.) put a sewn or spliced eye on one end for reasonable cost.
-AJ
 
I'll be, and was... Using it in SRT mode. I'm going to try some cord around the 9mm size and see how that works. I'm not sure if the rope I have is all nylon construction or not.
I'll try the Michoacan, Knut, and VT if for nothing else to get familiar with them. Thanks all.
 
Scratch said:
I'll be, and was... Using it in SRT mode. I'm going to try some cord around the 9mm size and see how that works. I'm not sure if the rope I have is all nylon construction or not.
I'll try the Michoacan, Knut, and VT if for nothing else to get familiar with them. Thanks all.
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There's the problem, most hitches will not descend srt without binding up. When using a lanyard srt you can use it for positioning but you cannot descend on it without something else taking some of the load.

I assumed you were using it in the traditional manner of around a limb and then clipped back to yourself.
 
Jehinten said:
There's the problem, most hitches will not descend srt without binding up. When using a lanyard srt you can use it for positioning but you cannot descend on it without something else taking some of the load.

I assumed you were using it in the traditional manner of around a limb and then clipped back to yourself.
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So maybe I'm asking too much of it then or am thinking of the wrong way to correctly use it? I only had it setup SRT to test it out. I'll be using strictly as a lanyard adjuster but thought for testing, I'd hang a secure single line, then tie the hitch, and hang from it then try adjusting it, which it wasn't doing very well.

So if I'm hearing you right, you're saying that's a bad way to test it? I think you're saying that on a lanyard, your legs take most of your weight and the lanyard is just for positioning so it'll be rare to be in a situation where I'll be hanging completely by my lanyard. Is that correct? If so, then I need to try out that 8mm again I think, cause it may have been working correctly...

I'm new to tree climbing... can you tell?!?!?
 
Scratch said:
So maybe I'm asking too much of it then or am thinking of the wrong way to correctly use it? I only had it setup SRT to test it out. I'll be using strictly as a lanyard adjuster but thought for testing, I'd hang a secure single line, then tie the hitch, and hang from it then try adjusting it, which it wasn't doing very well.

So if I'm hearing you right, you're saying that's a bad way to test it? I think you're saying that on a lanyard, your legs take most of your weight and the lanyard is just for positioning so it'll be rare to be in a situation where I'll be hanging completely by my lanyard. Is that correct? If so, then I need to try out that 8mm again I think, cause it may have been working correctly...

I'm new to tree climbing... can you tell?!?!?
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We were all new at one point and I am not nearly as experienced as some of these guys. This is a good place to learn, just rake it slow until you learn all of the basics.

Climbing style will come into play as to how you use your lanyard, but you very may, and probably will have all of your weight on your lanyard at some point. It is safe to do that in srt mode, but you cannot descend that way. By taking it around the trunk or limb and then clipping it back to yourself your hitch sees less than half of your bodyweight due to mechanical advantage and friction between the rope and tree. By using it in srt your hitch sees 100% of your weight which is why it binds so tight that you can not descend on it. This is the same reason why when climbing srt with a hitch that you have to have a rope wrench above it.

Work on getting your hitch smooth in MRS (moving rope system/ the method I explained above with the tree limb/ trunk) once that works well you can use it in SRT as well to hold position or to take up slack as you climb. (Descending will still not be an option)
 
@Jehinten and @Brocky are spot on. Try the 4 wrap distel with 8mm again, sans choking.

I tried learning about your rope via Google, because I'm unfamiliar w/ it. Seems some Bluewater asaultline is 7/16" nylon cover/ nylon core, and some is 7/16" polyester cover/ nylon core. I think they made a polyester jacket one to obtain NFPA cert.
Either should be ok for a rec lanyard.
 
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Scratch said:
I finally made up a lanyard and got to try it out today (Not in a tree) I decided to model it after Sterling's Ultimate Positioning Lanyard. It's 16 feet long and made with some old, barely used, very stiff, 1/2" Bluewater Assaultline (it's the only rope I had that I was willing to cut) using 8mm prusiks. I decided to use some locking carabiners I already had for now and went with triple fishermans knots.

The problem I'm having is the prusik in my adjuster doesn't release very easily. They grab great but are very hard to get to release. Once I get tension on it, it's nearly impossible to loosen up one handed the way I've seen so many climbers do it. Is it my rope size, rope stiffness, rope construction, or maybe I should try a different friction hitch?

I'm also open to suggestions for changing up this setup in other ways like knots, tending devices, etc...

View attachment 55482
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Use a VT in front of the micro pulley. That ought to solve your tending problem.
 
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