It would not be a good idea. Snaps tend to be burly and do not depend on their gates for strength like a key locking carabiner does. Gates on snaps are just there to prevent hardware from falling out when not under load and as such tend to be more easily defeated. Most steel snap gates also tend to be rather coarse and not rope friendly.
Makes total sense.
I'm trying to work out whether or not I want to use that secondary lanyard as an ultra short cinched tie-in, or use it as a short lanyard. In either case, I am only using it to ensure that I'm always tied in at least twice at all times, even when passing limbs.
The only thing swinging me towards wanting to cinch it, versus connecting it to the hip D's like a traditional lanyard for ascending, is that I'd like something to keep me from sliding down the tree and busting my knees up if a gaff lets loose for some reason while I'm only connected to the tree with the steel flipline.
But it's not a big deal either way. I can get over it I guess. It seems like the rope lanyard grabs sooner than the steel core when gaffing out anyway, from the couple of times I've tested it.
UPDATE: Went out yesterday and tried everything - Vortex with HH2, rope lanyard as backup only when passing limbs, cinching the climb line with a steel carabiner, descending on the HH2, towing chainsaw on saddle, ascending using steel flipline and cinched TIP at the same time, steel pads instead of leather soft pads on spurs, etc etc etc. Observations...
Advancing the cinched TIP along with the flipline is a pain to not get them crossed up. The dynamics of how those materials act when throwing them up the back of the trunk is different enough between the two, that it is difficult to smoothly ascend. Maybe it's just something I need to play with. I ended up advancing them separately most of the time. Pretty slow.
Scaffold knot (I tripled it versus only wrapping it twice before passing working end through home left by thumb when tying it) worked awesome and looked beautiful in that Vortex. Tried to add an overhand and double overhand knot around the standing part of the line, but because of all of the chaffing from cinching and un-cinching, it would continually loosen and come undone. Finally just tied a figure 8 in there and left it hanging.
Steel pads on spurs. I may have to readjust the height of these things with the different pads now, because after 30min or so, I had some major hot spots (that still hurt) on the inside of my legs, just below my knees. They are bruised as well.
Ran major risk of gaffing my climbing line or the tail of my steel flipline. How do you go about managing these? The climb line, I will allow to run out of the HH2 and over one leg, so I think that'll take care of that (or I can carry it with me up the tree perhaps). And maybe the steel flipline loose end, I can clip that into a biner on the side or rear of my saddle. I'm just concerned about the chainsaw coming into contact with anything, really) when the saw is hanging directly from my saddle on a ring through a tool carabiner, instead of at the end of it's own lanyard.
HH2 on Vortex is smooth as silk compared with the 3-strand, and I'm sure I don't have it optimized according to you guys' standards. But, it was pleasant to use.
