Petzl is ascender ripping up my rope

M

MrAsh

I recently picked up a Petzl hand ascender and Pantin foot ascender and really noticed a lot of wear on my Samson 16 strand ArborMaster rope. Does anyone know if the teeth in the ascender are engineered to function with a particular braid/strand pattern? Could I be using them wrong?

Thanks.
 
Most ascenders have been engineered to work on a true kernmantle rope. Our arbo ropes are more like double braids.

One VERY important thing to understand is that most rope tools are engineered to work on sub 13mm/half inch ropes. Using them on larger ropes is not proper. In some circumstances they are likely to fail.

For way too many years US arbos have been using rope tools, especially handled ascenders and some descenders with half inch/13mm rope. The sloppy practice has been accepted by some people and now has become routine. This has always been unsafe!

One of the tenets of SRT that I teach is that from the beginning NO half inch rope will be used. None of the tools that I use or am familiar with are engineered for half inch rope...so leave them outside the door.

Its likely that you are getting some fuzzing from the ascender. Solution...shift to sub 13mm rope.
 
For SRT or other cammed ascents up in the tree I use industrial access ropes. They are dsigned for this use ;-)

Buy an access rope and safe the arborist ropes for the real deal.

climb safe
wouter
 
I believe that the CMI ascenders (at least the footie) are OK with the larger ropes, Petzl no. I have put alot of Petzl hand and Pantin ascender use on my Tachyon (11m) and never had a problem.

-Tom
 
I was using a Pantin on my Tachyon for a while, until I read the article. I talked to George about getting some KM III for access, or to use with the RW. He said kernmantle was the way to go for cams.
I will agree that Tachyon doesn't show much wear, but I'm pretty sure it isn't really compatible. Better safe than sorry?
 
MrAsh, I have been using your same setup for some time and I do not see very much wear. Maybe you have some extra sharp teeth on your ascenders.
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I use the rope walker system: pantin on my left foot, foot strap on my left that is attached to a hand ascender. xt hitch is tied above ascender with a little spliced piece that attaches to my bridge. Works great for me because it is so easy to switch over to Ddrt.

Arbormaster is some of the toughest rope out there.
 
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Arbormaster is some of the toughest rope out there.

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That may be...but...take the time to read the instructions that come with your tools. Oh...and look on the shell of the ascender. YOu should see an imprint of the rope size that the tool is made for.

Look here:

http://www.petzl.com/en/outdoor/ascenders-0/ascension

Over on the lower left you'll see a PDF with the ascender comparison chart.

In one of the past Sherrill catalogs they had a chart of actual, measured rope sizes. When you look at that you'll find that the ropes that are listed as 'half inch' are mostly larger.

Condoning the misuse of tools just because the practice is 'accpeted' is going to get someone hurt or killed. Then what??? The 'powers that be' take all ascenders away?
 
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Check out:

http://www.treebuzz.com/forum/showflat.php?Cat=0&Number=293418&an=0&page=0

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I don't use the ascender as the primary attachment, even when experimenting with SRT I have used a hitch (but that's another discussion). Brian's study is testing the use of the ascender as the primary attachment point in the event of a fall.

While I agree that Tachyon et. al. were not necessarily designed for use with ascenders, I regularly use a Pantin and hand ascender with my hitch on Tachyon, and I am confident that I am not damaging the rope.

-Tom
 
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