Skylotec Power Ascender

Dan Cobb

Dan Cobb

Been here a while
Location
Hoover
I got an email about an expo which included an ad for this acender.
Screenshot_20220415-171224_Samsung Internet.jpg
It's expensive, but it has a service life of TEN years. Better beat the rush and order yours now!

If you use it 5 days every week for 10 years and don't incur any maintenance expense, it's less than $7/day. I suppose it could be worth it for some people (meaning people other than me.)
 
ka ching! $32,995 Can. at Maple Leaf Ropes!! You should look up the military ascender that scoots a frogman up the side of a ship on a grapple hook for serious ka ching action. I don't think it even had published pricing. Take off the 1 and the 7 and you've got a rollgliss.

Turns out it was skylotec who did the frogman action:

ActSafe TCX Seal

The ActSafe TCX SEAL rope ascender has been specifically designed with maritime interventions in mind, resulting in an innovative unit which is compact, lightweight and rated IP68 standard (dust-tight and waterproof). It comes with removable,…
www.skylotec.com www.skylotec.com

Been on the market for about 10 years I think. I first saw it when doing my first ascender. I tried to find the frogman video but no luck.
 
I live about 25 minutes away from skylotec, and have tried the winch at the Vertical Pro in Germany last year. (I actually got my ticket for free from skylotec, one of their instructors is in the same mountain rescue group I'm in).
It's definitely a very nice piece of gear, I can really see it being great for certain rope access jobs with long ascents, or for rescue of course.
Ropewalking is faster though...
 
I just came across a video discussing certain aspects of the Ronin Lift Power Ascender and looked into it a bit out of curiosity. Seems like a pretty sweet tool, and not.... absurdly expensive?


I was thinking about it the other day because I did three 120-150' firs in a row, shooting lines around the 90-110' mark each time with the BigShot, ascending to the top then working my way back down. I was tired that day and my ascents were slower than usual, so some power would have been awesome.

00 tall fir 01.jpg

00 tall fir 02.jpg
 
Has anyone used a grcs for ascent, obviously in conjunction with a a separate lifeline set that your life support approved devicewould go on (in my case a rrp)? Seems like it could work well to get you up there if you had to get through a lot of tall trees in one day assuming you had the attachment for a drill.
 
@27RMT0N

What's your name, and meaning of the screen name, anyway?

You are a prime candidate for a power ascender.


I bought a Roll-glis 500, IIRC, on a whim. Never did anything with it since I own a Wraptor.


If you have any interest, let me know.



If you set a speedine, bottom anchored, and bring a lowering line ( unless your rope is twice the speedline length) you can power ascend, lower your power ascender down the speed line, out of the drop zone. Throw your rope(s) clear off the drop zone, and work.

Topping, then chunking down firs, after power-ascending with a big saw is great. Going to do it today, likely.
 
Yes, that's the frogman video I remembered.

Did I hear it right, the Ronin weighs 25 lbs, is not life support rated, is picky about rope type and they recommend a second rope, in case it severs your rope. Feels a bit not encouraging. And 500 lbs safety cut out. I figure my bod might have experienced some crunching at 500 lbs load if I effed up.

I suddenly feel pretty good about my 7 lb Arbscender even as little as I use it. Props to inspiration from the Wraptor.
 
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southsoundtree said:
@27RMT0N

What's your name, and meaning of the screen name, anyway?

You are a prime candidate for a power ascender.


I bought a Roll-glis 500, IIRC, on a whim. Never did anything with it since I own a Wraptor.


If you have any interest, let me know.



If you set a speedine, bottom anchored, and bring a lowering line ( unless your rope is twice the speedline length) you can power ascend, lower your power ascender down the speed line, out of the drop zone. Throw your rope(s) clear off the drop zone, and work.

Topping, then chunking down firs, after power-ascending with a big saw is great. Going to do it today, likely.
Click to expand...

Ha, honestly when I made this user account I was on a bit of an 'internet privacy kick' and wanted something impossible to remember or even google without copy/pasting the name itself, so it is intentionally complete gibberish :p

You are certainly right that I'd have a use for one. Most of my work is still removals on spurs, so it would only come out from time to time. That said, I've got plenty of 'occasional use' tools that are pricy but worthwhile when needed. The Ronin is the one that has interested me the most, and honestly at $2k isn't too expensive for what it is.

How do you like that Wraptor?
 
At 24lbs it is the same weight as the Wraptor, though that may be both without fuel/battery, though a battery weighs more. What would be the desire of the Ronin, the quietness, of it being motorized?
 
27RMT0N said:
I just came across a video discussing certain aspects of the Ronin Lift Power Ascender and looked into it a bit out of curiosity. Seems like a pretty sweet tool, and not.... absurdly expensive?


I was thinking about it the other day because I did three 120-150' firs in a row, shooting lines around the 90-110' mark each time with the BigShot, ascending to the top then working my way back down. I was tired that day and my ascents were slower than usual, so some power would have been awesome.

View attachment 81528

View attachment 81530
Click to expand...
Wow, you went up and down each of these 120' plus trees. The window would be going with the tree, if you were taking them down, eh? What were you doing to these three trees? Pruning the deadwood? That'd be awesome to go to the top of 150foot tree. Thanks for posting!
 
My interest in the Ronin over the Wraptor is that for such an item, batteries are more than good enough at this point, so why deal with another loud smoky engine. I've got three battery chainsaws and love them, so where I don't need a powerful gas engine, I'm fully onboard with electric.

As far as those big firs, the work was honestly focused on improving the view for the customer more than anything else. That 'window' (the section of limbs stripped bare to the trunk on the left tree) was done many years ago by someone else to open up the view of the water and islands beyond it, and I'm not a fan because 1) it looks deeply unnatural and unattractive, and b) just feels wrong to do it on such big old trees. The result of that window was weak regrown tops and sprouts, which then need to be managed, thus my 'reopening' the window. The other two trees to its right I also climbed, and that was focused on just thinning out the trees overall and shortening limbs. That photo is after the work, so you can see I was able to keep a natural form to them. Shortening limbs meant being able to see around the trees to the water better and in many ways was beneficial to the trees, because the longest limbs I reduced are the kind that tend to catch snow, wind, etc and fail completely, so it ends up also being pruning to address a structural issue.
 
It's terrible.

I hate being able to come down, drink coffee, make water, check TreeBuzz, strap a Ms 362 or 46x or 66x on my saddle and ride back up.

I stripped one fir with a 100'ish TIP (APTA), lowered the Wraptor, climbed the rest, topped it, and set a throw-line in the adjacent fir a bit higher than the first TIP/ PSP.

Stripped the next with Wraptor power.

Down and out for the day.

Wraptor back up with a felling saw to dump 12'6" mill logs.
 

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*sigh*

Ok, Ok, I'll get one at some point!

I was doing a removal yesterday, like 6 hours on spurs, and at the end of the day, still had to climb an adjacent tree to take down the rigging I'd installed at like 60' at the start of the job. Not that high, but I was sure tired and the idea of being able to just power up, remove the block, and rap back down sure sounded nice.
 
27RMT0N said:
*sigh*

Ok, Ok, I'll get one at some point!

I was doing a removal yesterday, like 6 hours on spurs, and at the end of the day, still had to climb an adjacent tree to take down the rigging I'd installed at like 60' at the start of the job. Not that high, but I was sure tired and the idea of being able to just power up, remove the block, and rap back down sure sounded nice.
Click to expand...
Not sure what your situation was but a lot of times I'm able to set all my rigging up so I can retrieve it remotely.
 
Has anyone seen a Harken PowerSeat? It seems too big and bulky to be practical for tree work. I'm not sure how they put a $2500 price tag on the battery with a straight face.

I ran across ASAT (asatsafe.com) that sells several models of powered ascenders. It's a Chinese company and the website does not have pricing or how to order.
 
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