- Location
- Baltimore, MD.
I thought I would share my experiences so far with the Trango cinch. I bought it, maybe 5-6 weeks ago, so as not to have to descend on my hitch and thus save some wear and tear/glazing of my hitch cord.
It’s very light and very easy to get on/off the line. I had it hooked onto my saddle until I was ready to descend. There is a hole for attaching a carabiner. With the carabiner attached the gate is prevented from opening. Thus, it has to be removed from the cinch in order to open the gate for inserting/removing the climbing line. When attached, the cinch causes a slight bend in the climbing line, similar to a gri-gri, but not as sharp. According to Trango, it work on lines from 9.4mm to 11mm and weighs 6.0 oz (170 g).
Anyway, I was finally able to try it out for the first time yesterday. I’ve had it on my saddle all this time, but just kept forgetting to attach it before descending.
I was taking down some limbs on an oak and wanted to move my climbing line to another crotch. I had to untie my hitch to do this and noticed the cinch on my saddle saying, “Try me, try me!” Since I wasn’t planning on going any higher, after re-routing my line, I attached the cinch instead of retying my hitch.
Actually, I remained up in the tree for probably another hour. At that point, I was using the cinch solely as an adjuster to take up or increase slack in my climbing line, as I made my cuts. Pull the climbing line up (like tending a hitch), then either take up slack or allow line to feed through the cinch. Release the line, lean back, and it grabs. It grabs quick and well as soon as any weight is applied. You could also use the handle on the cinch to adjust slack, but, in that case, it’s a two handed operation.
Final descent from the tree was smooth, smoother and more controllable than any hitch I’ve used so far. When descending, if you let go of the handle, you stop. While holding the handle, as per the instructions, and pulling, speed of descent can be easily adjusted. Now, this is the first time I’ve used a descender, so I’m no expert on technique, but I could adjust my speed of descent very easily and without a lot of jerkiness.
Once on the ground, I immediately disconnected the cinch and felt for excessive heat in the case and especially where the climbing line feeds through the device. It felt slightly warmer than body temp. I was especially interested in the heat aspect because when I’ve descended using a hitch (Knut or Vt) and the Ultra Tech cord, I could feel the cord get very HOT (through my gloves) before I would even reach the ground. Also, I purposely descended at a faster rate than I normally would just to further test this point.
To say that I was very pleased would be a big understatement… I was extremely impressed.
Jim
It’s very light and very easy to get on/off the line. I had it hooked onto my saddle until I was ready to descend. There is a hole for attaching a carabiner. With the carabiner attached the gate is prevented from opening. Thus, it has to be removed from the cinch in order to open the gate for inserting/removing the climbing line. When attached, the cinch causes a slight bend in the climbing line, similar to a gri-gri, but not as sharp. According to Trango, it work on lines from 9.4mm to 11mm and weighs 6.0 oz (170 g).
Anyway, I was finally able to try it out for the first time yesterday. I’ve had it on my saddle all this time, but just kept forgetting to attach it before descending.
I was taking down some limbs on an oak and wanted to move my climbing line to another crotch. I had to untie my hitch to do this and noticed the cinch on my saddle saying, “Try me, try me!” Since I wasn’t planning on going any higher, after re-routing my line, I attached the cinch instead of retying my hitch.
Actually, I remained up in the tree for probably another hour. At that point, I was using the cinch solely as an adjuster to take up or increase slack in my climbing line, as I made my cuts. Pull the climbing line up (like tending a hitch), then either take up slack or allow line to feed through the cinch. Release the line, lean back, and it grabs. It grabs quick and well as soon as any weight is applied. You could also use the handle on the cinch to adjust slack, but, in that case, it’s a two handed operation.
Final descent from the tree was smooth, smoother and more controllable than any hitch I’ve used so far. When descending, if you let go of the handle, you stop. While holding the handle, as per the instructions, and pulling, speed of descent can be easily adjusted. Now, this is the first time I’ve used a descender, so I’m no expert on technique, but I could adjust my speed of descent very easily and without a lot of jerkiness.
Once on the ground, I immediately disconnected the cinch and felt for excessive heat in the case and especially where the climbing line feeds through the device. It felt slightly warmer than body temp. I was especially interested in the heat aspect because when I’ve descended using a hitch (Knut or Vt) and the Ultra Tech cord, I could feel the cord get very HOT (through my gloves) before I would even reach the ground. Also, I purposely descended at a faster rate than I normally would just to further test this point.
To say that I was very pleased would be a big understatement… I was extremely impressed.
Jim
