Which rope for zigzag?

F

Fivepoints

Carpal tunnel level member
Location
East of Huntsville, AL
I've climbed on a hitch climber setup for a very long time. I do a lot of our crane rigging and would like to swap to a zigzag due to the long drops as they are very rough on hitch cords. With our new crane my 150 ft rope is a bit short at times so I need to buy a 200 ft rope anyway. I'm not a small guy so I'm kinda concerned a zigzag may creep with smaller diameter lines. I'd like to keep it as small and light as I can as long as it works well. I normally carry my rope bagged up with me until I'm ready to bail. Looking for recommendations for what rope to run with it. I weigh around 225.
 
That is all I work with, Zigzags. Any of the 11.7, 11.8mm double braids work well and won't slip. You can go bigger to the Vortex size (12.7mm), and a lot of people run Vortex in theirs and love it. I prefer the 11.7-11.8s myself.
My favorite is Yale's Scandere (kernmantle), but if you run it a lot it will begin to slip after a year of really hard use, but the 48 strand cover gives you the smoothest ride there is.
If you are going to operate SRS you will need some friction added, such as a rope wrench or Petzl's Chicane, so they say. It is akin to operating the Uniscender SRS by squeezing the plates without the rope over the top. Can be done if you are adept at what you are doing, but not recommended.
I have run most 24 strand 11.7-11.8mm double braids in the Zigzags and can't tell much difference between any of them.
 
Shadowscape said:
I have run most 24 strand 11.7-11.8mm double braids in the Zigzags and can't tell much difference between any of them.
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I've gone back to Tachyon with my zig-zag(s), sometime with ring friction savers but most of the time with good old leather cambium savers (as it comes from vendor or Richard Mumford's midline attachable jobby). I find that the friction up top can make a big difference for me to the "feel" of my zig zaggin' around (I don't natural crotch even deciduous species here - they get enough damage in my books from getting pounded by hailstorms every summer, but that's just me). Maybe my friction saver matters more than the type of rope, for me anyway. I do find I downright didn't like a zig zag and pulley saver up top tho - it seemed to get rid of a bunch of friction in the system and put it back into the links, making it more jerky, at least on the Tachyon. With a leather cambium saver I can come down literally an inch at a time or right quick with great control. I love SRT, but zig zaggin' around can't be beat most days, esp. on sappy conifers around here. My two cents (I'm about 200 lbs. with the kitchen sink). Cheers
 
@ghostice
I probably should have mentioned that I always have a OmniBlock pulley up top. I base tie an anchor line (usually a kernmantle rope of 11mm) through a Rig. That holds up my OmniBlock pulley that my DRT system runs through. I can't remember the last time I ran my system over a limb. I will on occasion rerig it through a couple of rings if I need to cut down where my top is located, but it is all downhill from then on.
I'm running about 160 lbs. fully loaded.
 
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RyanCafferky said:
I climb on the fat Petzl rope with one of my Zigzags and it works great. Zero creep. My really old well used Zigzag is on a Yale Focus 11.8 mil line and that creeps really bad. I think it is more from the device being worn out that the rope being an issue.
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Ryan,
I have one set upon Focus now. Focus being WesSpur's color pattern of Bluemoon. If it is slipping your links are wearing and going to a bit larger, something like Vortex will bring it back to life.
 
I’m still climbing on my zigzag from ‘18. I had to switch from a pulley based FS to ring based to stop the creep. Side note- not enjoying komora in the zigzag. After 3 climbs it’s driving me nuts. Wish I had heard all the good about allgear’s 11.8s before dropping way too much on a bad fit.
 
Any of the Yale XTC24 variants are my goto for the Zigzag. I have one that is pretty worn that began to creep under heavy load, so I tried Samson Hyperclimb in it and the creep is gone. Slight difference in texture makes a world of difference in worn Zigzags. When that starts to creep I will probably go to Vortex and should be good for a long time down the road.
 
I will sometimes run my Zigzag SRT without a wrench or Chicane. If you grab the chain links with your hand so your fingers keep them from closing down, then operate only the top lever with your thumb tip, it works beautifully. If you try that, I suggest a practice run from a low level until you get the hang of it.
Of course, it is not recommended by Petzl, and I am not telling you to go ahead and try it. Just putting out my .02¢.
 
@Friedrich
There are no square surfaces on the links of a Zigzag. On a new one they all have a concave surface.
I just checked. I have a brand new one sitting on my bench that has not seen a rope yet. No square, or flat links for the rope to run on.
 
Shadowscape said:
I will sometimes run my Zigzag SRT without a wrench or Chicane. If you grab the chain links with your hand so your fingers keep them from closing down, then operate only the top lever with your thumb tip, it works beautifully. If you try that, I suggest a practice run from a low level until you get the hang of it.
Of course, it is not recommended by Petzl, and I am not telling you to go ahead and try it. Just putting out my .02¢.
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I considered trying that using two of them as a double rope system but didn't ever try it out.
I like the zigzag but hate the zigzag chicane combo. It is too hard to release rope when unweighted.
 
treegongfu said:
I considered trying that using two of them as a double rope system but didn't ever try it out.
I like the zigzag but hate the zigzag chicane combo. It is too hard to release rope when unweighted.
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If I run the Zigzag for a dedicated SRT system, which is not very often, I run it with a Rope Wrench and tether. I also hate the way Chicane operates when you are trying to limb walk and play out line. With the flexible tether you can pull the wrench down so your hand can also work the links. Much nicer.
If I am going to use the Zigzag SRT for just a brief time, I don't bother attaching anything and just grab the links with my fist.
 
So, I know the limits, but I have pretty much settled on only buying 11mm ropes anymore. I’m in love with the smoothness of the zigzag, but I only have one that moves from rope to rope, and I swap ropes often as I like to match the rope length to the climb, and it sucks to install a zigzag on anything bigger unless its a new rope. It’s a little jerky on new ropes, but they fatten up and run perfectly. I have been doing it for almost five years and not seen it creep ever. Not once. I use sterling workpro if I think I may take a little fall, or yale kernmaster when I’m doing easy stuff. I’m looking at samson velocity because I wanna be able to put a spliced eye on one end.
 
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I have never run 11mm with the Zigzag as it is only rated for 11.5-13mm. But if you say it works, I may give it a try. On second thought, probably not. I like the 11.7-11.8s, so why? I think I will stick with what works well for me. Maybe someday I will give it a shot if I am bored and have nothing else to do. Maybe.
 
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