Noob questions

[Lord Baby Arm]

Hey guys, I’m a new member on the forum, but I’ve been lurking around as a guest since 2014. I started climbing last year with some supervision from a buddy who climbed for asplundh. I’ve since moved to southern North Carolina and don’t have someone to bother with amateur questions anymore. So I’m not sure if this is the right place to do so or if someone wanted to volunteer to let me message them with my silly questions (that I haven’t been able to find answers to with the search function). My questions range from gear related, to work related (I’m interested in pursuing a career in tree work starting from the ground with the opportunity to move to climbing). I hope this is ok to post here and please let me know if it’s not. Thank you in advance!
Seth,

 

[Reach]

Welcome, Seth! Feel free to post whatever questions you wish, although you might do a search first to see if someone else has already asked and/or answered the question. Most of the people here are willing to answer questions, and some are even worth listening to!

 

[Nish]

Welcome to NC! Looking forward to your questions!

 

[Tom Dunlap]

Glad to see you out from behind the curtains.

Welcome.

Someone may step up to help you out with questions off-line. But...look at how much you've learned here since 2014. And from your friend. THere are plenty of others who have the same questions you do. No reason to feel bad about asking.

Thinking back on how I learned feels like being in an empty gym trying to figure out moves on the side horse...I was a gymnast. I learned wayyyyy more from having others to help me on a team.

 

[Lord Baby Arm]

Thank you guys so much for the very warm welcome! So my first question was about my rope bridge on my saddle... I always see rings being used on the rope bridge but my sequoia srt didn’t come with one. I’ve been climbing for about a year without a ring, but what are the reasons to have one? Is it something I should be looking to add? The only reason I could really see was that it would give a better orientation for my rope wrench. Should I not be clipping my biner directly to the bridge for any reason? I’ve seen a few threads discuss the different rings that they use but out of the 10 pages the search revealed, my question wasn’t really answered. Thank you guys again

 

[SomethingWitty]

Thank you guys so much for the very warm welcome! So my first question was about my rope bridge on my saddle... I always see rings being used on the rope bridge but my sequoia srt didn’t come with one. I’ve been climbing for about a year without a ring, but what are the reasons to have one? Is it something I should be looking to add? The only reason I could really see was that it would give a better orientation for my rope wrench. Should I not be clipping my biner directly to the bridge for any reason? I’ve seen a few threads discuss the different rings that they use but out of the 10 pages the search revealed, my question wasn’t really answered. Thank you guys again

Orientation is the biggest one.
You'll also eventually wear a groove in the carabinier. Rings rotate freely, so you generally rub all over the inside and they have a very long life.
I have no idea why there are modern rope bridge saddles that don't come with a $10 aluminum bridge ring.

 

[Jonny]

(I’m interested in pursuing a career in tree work starting from the ground with the opportunity to move to climbing).

You got the right idea for sure. Starting on the ground with a reputable tree service is the way to go, in my opinion. You should be very proficient with a chainsaw on the ground first, and you should learn a ton about good tree care and safe work practices and rigging. There’s a lot more to it than dragging brush and raking. At most companies I worked for, the brush dragging, raking, chipping, bucking, etc didn’t stop when I became a climber. I’d come down when I was done, maybe get a drink of water and take 5 minutes, but then I was expected to help finish the rest of the job. The exception was contract climbing for a fatter rate, I’d get shooed off the job when the climbing was done then.

 

[Treehuggn4life]

Welcome to the big time amigo. I cut my teeth on this and a couple of other forums that I dare not speak their names. Your gonna meet some great guys and probably tick off your significant other because you pay more attention to us than you do to her. This place is a wealth of knowledge soak it up like a sponge and you will be light years ahead of your non-treebuzz peers.

 

[Jonny]

Orientation is the biggest one.
You'll also eventually wear a groove in the carabinier. Rings rotate freely, so you generally rub all over the inside and they have a very long life.
I have no idea why there are modern rope bridge saddles that don't come with a $10 aluminum bridge ring.

What he said. Just pick a reputable company. ISC rings are great and really almost as inexpensive as no name Chinese ones. I want to stress that it’s important to go with a good manufacturer for every piece of life support gear. Every component that could drop you if it fails needs to be from a company that really values their customers safety, strives to keep a good reputation, and doesn’t cheap out on materials and manufacturing. Usually good rings, biners, pulleys and other hardware cost more for a reason.

 

[Lord Baby Arm]

Ahh wearing the carabiner is something I hadn’t thought about. With how much the petzl William biner costs, I like the idea of saving wear and tear on it.
Duly noted in regards to making sure to purchase from reputable brands. Is there a generally accepted “favorite” brand and size for the rope bridge ring? I already feel like my saddle puts my hitch and wrench super high, I don’t want to push things so high that it’s difficult to tend with a chest hardness or lanyard over the shoulder. I’ve attached a picture of where it sits already and maybe someone has some advice on where it should sit or how to bring it lower a little bit.
Also thanks for mentioning that groundies do more than raking and dragging limbs. I helped my buddy out once or twice and learned a little bit about managing ropes, keeping saws fueled and oiled, keeping the drop zone cleared, and a very basic understanding of porty use. So I think I have a realistic expectation of what to expect in a basic sense. I have a partially paralyzed arm so sometimes that can affect the way I approach things, though I do regularly use chainsaws enough to know that I can handle them appropriately and safely. Is there a reason no one mentions using axes for limbing purposes? I feel like with the exception of bucking the wood they would be great to use. I can usually take a 3-4” limb off in one or two swings much quicker than I could get a saw fired up. Like I said, please forgive the fact that these may seem like silly questions. They’re just things that I haven’t found discussed that I’ve been pondering. Thank you all so much once again
edited for spelling

 

[Steve-o]

@Lord Baby Arm : I too have a Seqioa SRT harness and felt the wrench setup was way to high into my face and in the way. A few things I did to lower it was:
- Changed the standard bridge to the shorter bridge. Petzl makes 3 sizes for this saddle. Check the favorite suppliers as one has them on clearance. Pick up a couple for backup.
- Changed the hitch cord to 28" and use a tight hitch like the Knut
- Bought a 9 or 9.5" tether (can't remember which).
- Changed my biner to a DMM PerfectO. It's a bit tight to get everything in, but compact.
Hope this helps..

 

[Lord Baby Arm]

@Lord Baby Arm : I too have a Seqioa SRT harness and felt the wrench setup was way to high into my face and in the way. A few things I did to lower it was:
- Changed the standard bridge to the shorter bridge. Petzl makes 3 sizes for this saddle. Check the favorite suppliers as one has them on clearance. Pick up a couple for backup.
- Changed the hitch cord to 28" and use a tight hitch like the Knut
- Bought a 9 or 9.5" tether (can't remember which).
- Changed my biner to a DMM PerfectO. It's a bit tight to get everything in, but compact.
Hope this helps..

Thank you! This kind of advice is invaluable and I’m so grateful to you guys for freely offering it to me
Steve, I have a few petzl amd’s I can try, how do they compare to the DMM perfect o?
Would the Michoacan be considered a compact knot? That’s what I’m already using tied 5/1 with 30” rope logic oceans 10mm. I don’t notice a performance difference in 4 or 5 wraps but 5 uses more of the hitch cord and gives the wrench some breathing room. Good advice on the tether as I’m actually looking to get one with a split end for my hc pulley. Seems that now would be the time to try a shorter one too. Thank you again!

 

[Steve-o]

Lord
The PerfectO is a 15mm shorter biner than their UltraO, so it saves about 5/8" on the length. The Knut is the hitch I use because it is more compact than at VT or Michoacan. Combined with a 28" cord and it's barely enough to make the system.
I bought the 25cm bridges at Wesspur: http://www.wesspur.com/clearance/arborist-supplies-deals.html.
Let use see your setup when you get everything set!

 

[Tuebor]

Might run out of space on a Perfect-O to fit a split leg tether.

 

[Steve-o]

Yes it's tight, but doable with some trick finger work...

 

[Lord Baby Arm]

The sequoia srt that I have doesn’t have the rings, but the D’s with the removable pin so the bridge rides on the backstitched section. Would those bridges be appropriate to use still or do I need to find the srt bridges instead of the classic ones? (I pulled the end cap on the bridge back just to show that there is no loop at the end)

 

[Jonny]

Curious if anyone is using stopper knot bridges on that saddle. I can’t think of a single reason why not to, aside from Petzl wanting you to use their bridges.
A little piece of 11mm climbing line like Velocity or Blaze with double overhand stopper knots should be fine, right?

 

[Steve-o]

Sorry, I didn't realize you had the new version. Mine is the previous version with the removable rings. I have the same question as @Jonny above....why not?

 

[evo]

I wouldn’t trip too hard about the bridge ring. All these bells and whistles get expensive and being new your going to have a lot of trial and error with adding and subtracting gear to get things super dialed in.. For many of us gear is a tax write off, and we have the experience and exposure to have a foundation of what we want.
My earliest mistakes was being frugal with the limited budget I was working with. I wanted a treeflex harness, a uni, and a few other high dollar items. I wanted to lean SRT but all the bits and bobbles overwhelmed the bank account.
I bought what I could afford at the time, and a whole bunch of other bits to try to make it all better. Well the saddle pinched and never fit right, the rope wasn’t very good for srt, and I slowly updated and up graded my systems. In hindsight it would have been MUCH cheaper, and easier to learn if I would have just bought the nice stuff in the beginning.
So the take home is don’t trip on the size of carabiners and bridge rings. Get the gear you know will last and don’t be intimidated on the price. All he biners and rings, will come in time, hell most of us (maybe just me) now have buckets of cords biners, rings, swivels, ascenders, etc... focus on your harness, foot/knee ascender, multicender, and get the nicest money can buy that works for you!

 

[evo]

Sorry, I didn't realize you had the new version. Mine is the previous version with the removable rings. I have the same question as @Jonny above....why not?

I would!