- Location
- Retired in Minneapolis
This afternoon 'Bowlegs' Bill called to tell me about a solution for one of the Unis weak points. Slack tending with the current configuration of the Uni isn't as easy as tree climbers are used to in DdRT system with a slack tender.
Adding a redirect underneath is one solution and is likely to be in the next generation of Unis.
The solution that Bowlegs came up with is to piggyback a DdRT system onto the top of the Uni. The picture is of the simplest, least gear intensive, setup.
In my picture the green Tachyon is the anchored climbing line. Before heading out on the limb an in-line loop is tied, I used a lineman's loop.Then, a second rope, or the tail of the climbing line, is slipped through the bottom part of the Uni. Next, clip a biner in the loop and clip the rope through the biner.
When returning from the limbwalk the climber can use the orange rope to yard themselves in like a usual DdRT setup. The slack in the green line needs to be tended to keep the candycane from being too long. If not, the climber would fall the length of the candycane, not half the distance like in a DdRT candycane.
I found that I could use one hand on each rope to walk back in under tension and balance.
From here, there are many ways to modify and improve this setup. A small camming ascender or friction hitch could be substituted for the lineman's loop. Add a pulley to the upper biner and there's more effeciency. Add a tail to the rope that is terminated on the top eye of the Uni in my setup and the climber would have a true DdRT setup with a self-belay.
Using the tail of the climbing rope in SRT has the same limitations as in DdRT.
-Will there be enough rope to exit the tree without a changeover?
-Will the loop of rope catch falling limbs which could lead to the climber getting pulled off their feet?
-Will the loop snag on stubs or bark flakes?
A second, short rope could be packed along for a limbwalk. The second rope would not have to be too long. If the climber were careful to keep slack out of the green rope they could use smaller cord since the slack tender setup really wouldn't be part of their life support system.
Adding a redirect underneath is one solution and is likely to be in the next generation of Unis.
The solution that Bowlegs came up with is to piggyback a DdRT system onto the top of the Uni. The picture is of the simplest, least gear intensive, setup.
In my picture the green Tachyon is the anchored climbing line. Before heading out on the limb an in-line loop is tied, I used a lineman's loop.Then, a second rope, or the tail of the climbing line, is slipped through the bottom part of the Uni. Next, clip a biner in the loop and clip the rope through the biner.
When returning from the limbwalk the climber can use the orange rope to yard themselves in like a usual DdRT setup. The slack in the green line needs to be tended to keep the candycane from being too long. If not, the climber would fall the length of the candycane, not half the distance like in a DdRT candycane.
I found that I could use one hand on each rope to walk back in under tension and balance.
From here, there are many ways to modify and improve this setup. A small camming ascender or friction hitch could be substituted for the lineman's loop. Add a pulley to the upper biner and there's more effeciency. Add a tail to the rope that is terminated on the top eye of the Uni in my setup and the climber would have a true DdRT setup with a self-belay.
Using the tail of the climbing rope in SRT has the same limitations as in DdRT.
-Will there be enough rope to exit the tree without a changeover?
-Will the loop of rope catch falling limbs which could lead to the climber getting pulled off their feet?
-Will the loop snag on stubs or bark flakes?
A second, short rope could be packed along for a limbwalk. The second rope would not have to be too long. If the climber were careful to keep slack out of the green rope they could use smaller cord since the slack tender setup really wouldn't be part of their life support system.
