What do you use for a base anchor?

[Flying~Squirrel]

I've always just used a few trunk wraps with and AB and quickie to make a base anchor, but lately I've been accessing some taller, wider trees having moved out west and I don't want to give up 30ft of climb line on my anchor. I bought a short piece of rope to use as an anchor, and I'd love to see some different ways people tie off at the base so I can get some ideas to try out. Thanks for the help, folks.

(And if there's another thread I should be looking at, let me know.)

 

[ghostice]

Tried all manner of AFS etc but keep going back to the Bugg base (Wesspur). For slick trunks I kinda default to Richard Hattier’s double wrap/choke thingy to keep stuff in one place with load/ unload. I don’t like using climbing rope wrapped on conifer stems cuz of sappy trunks. I’d be interested if there’s better out there.

 

[Boomslang]

If you're looking for cheap and basic you can use the short piece of rope you have to tie a Blake's hitch to your climb line.

 

[IvyTree]

Wish I had a picture but I usually use (for not so sappy trees) my climbing line, double it around the base and make a bowline on a bite. Cinches great and is very secure. Otherwise I will tie a perfection loop in one end of a section of rope, wrap it around the tree and put the terminal end through the loop, locate where on the line after wrapped around the trunk that the line comes through the loop tie another loop about 2 ft back from that sections and make a truckers hitch around the base to keep it tight and tie it off with 2 clove hitches then I have 2 loops to hook a carabiner to and can even run my line through both loops in the basal tie connect my binder to my rope creating even more tension... these 2 ways are how I've always done it and I have a really pitchy piece of 11.7 thats perfect size for trees less than 4 ft in diameter at the base.

 

[stheis004]

A bit expensive, but ART Snakeanchor is really nice and simple with added bonus of shock cushion should you need it. Having any separate anchor allows you to easily choose exact tail length you want which I find to be very useful.

 

[evo]

Just a running bowline and a alpine butterfly up from that. The alpine is just there in the unlikely event a second line needs to be attached for lowering.

 

[Jan_]

I usually just do 1 wrap with an alpine on the end, I then secure that with a very beefy steel carabiner. That has always worked for me, but on small slippery trees I sometimes girth hitch a long webbing loop to the base of the tree and clip my climbing line to that, this doesn't slide up the tree as much and I dont get any side loading on my carabiner.

 

[Crimsonking]

A bit expensive, but ART Snakeanchor is really nice and simple with added bonus of shock cushion should you need it. Having any separate anchor allows you to easily choose exact tail length you want which I find to be very useful.

The snakeanchor should do the job up to 5’ diameter trees by the math. @RyanCafferky, you’ve used this tool quite a bit, correct? What is your take on this topic?

 

[Serf Life]

I usually just do 1 wrap with an alpine on the end, I then secure that with a very beefy steel carabiner. That has always worked for me, but on small slippery trees I sometimes girth hitch a long webbing loop to the base of the tree and clip my climbing line to that, this doesn't slide up the tree as much and I dont get any side loading on my carabiner.

How’s it going bud? What did you decide for next steps post secondary school etc?

 

[southsoundtree]

Buy 200' ropes.

 

[evo]

I usually just do 1 wrap with an alpine on the end, I then secure that with a very beefy steel carabiner. That has always worked for me, but on small slippery trees I sometimes girth hitch a long webbing loop to the base of the tree and clip my climbing line to that, this doesn't slide up the tree as much and I dont get any side loading on my carabiner.

I avoid any kind of hardware. But if needed I suggest a steel delta.

 

[CanadianStan]

I've always just used a few trunk wraps with and AB and quickie to make a base anchor, but lately I've been accessing some taller, wider trees having moved out west and I don't want to give up 30ft of climb line on my anchor. I bought a short piece of rope to use as an anchor, and I'd love to see some different ways people tie off at the base so I can get some ideas to try out. Thanks for the help, folks.

(And if there's another thread I should be looking at, let me know.)

Spare 35' piece of rope with a choking ring/prussik setup with a Petzl ID. Instant lowerable system; added advantage of introducing more rope into the system if desired, easy peasy midline setup. You always have the perfect amount of tail And great for teaching new climbers so you can generally lower them if necessary, but more importantly there's a psychological feeling of "safety" for them

 

[CanadianStan]

The snakeanchor should do the job up to 5’ diameter trees by the math. @RyanCafferky, you’ve used this tool quite a bit, correct? What is your take on this topic?

If you've got the coin, the snake anchor is the easiest, most versatile, awesome tool for the job. Cinch it up, and clip in your device of choice onto it. Fig8, Taz, Petzl Rig, Grigri*(yeah yeah I know), prussik+RW, etc

 

[Jan_]

I avoid any kind of hardware. But if needed I suggest a steel delta.

I like my steel carabiners because they are easy to use, quicklinks also probably need to be torqued down with a wrench to get the same strength.

How’s it going bud? What did you decide for next steps post secondary school etc?

Hey, I'm doing good. I haven't really decided what to do after school, I'm probably going to university though, something with physics/engineering. I might get a side job in the tree field and travel europe for a bit before I get too many responsibilities. I have 1 1/2 years of school left though, so I guess I'm gonna see where life takes me in that time...

 

[southsoundtree]

K.i.s.s.

 

[evo]

I like my steel carabiners because they are easy to use, quicklinks also probably need to be torqued down with a wrench to get the same strength.

Hey, I'm doing good. I haven't really decided what to do after school, I'm probably going to university though, something with physics/engineering. I might get a side job in the tree field and travel europe for a bit before I get too many responsibilities. I have 1 1/2 years of school left though, so I guess I'm gonna see where life takes me in that time...

I’d at least strongly encourage you to use two opposite and opposed steel carabiners.

I’ve seen a few open when loaded and unloaded, this was tri action and we were just quickly testing the anchor point. It was alarming enough to drive it into my thick skull carabiners should never be used in this fashion. If you do, keep it within reach and sight, check often

 

[John@TreeXP]

For a basal anchor I like to use a separate rigging line, usually long enough to get a double wrap around most size trees. I cinch this with a prusik, using bound 16" loop of 8mm hitch cord. At this point, I usually opt to connect to a Petzl Rig to setup the rescue-able basal anchor. The Rig is left in lock-position and securely tied/locked off using a daisy chain above the Rig, with the tail end of the climbing line. Adding a rigging plate on the end of the rigging line is optional and while I prefer to use about 3 carabiners total, you can probably McGuyver the same sort of secure and/or rescue-able basal anchor with fewer components and by switching the Petzl Rig with a something similar. Also remember to add stopper knots on the ends of pretty much everything.

 

[Jonny]

Check this out if you haven’t seen it yet.

Seth Bihun's lowerable daisy chain basal anchor

I haven't seen this type of lowerable basal anchor before, and I think it is pretty great. It just came to my boss, Seth Bihun of Total Tree Care of Iowa City, one night when he woke at 3:00 am. (We call it the "tree a.m." anchor.) He starts with a half-hitch on a bight, but I've used a...

www.treebuzz.com

The thread didn’t really get much attention, but I think it’s a brilliant setup.

 

[JaredDTS]

I just use one wrap around the tree with my tail and a running bowline. Sometimes I tie a carabiner one the end and also clip it to the line as a back up. I thought about using a piece of rope but I feel like it's less things to go wrong.