Why SRT?

Thanks for the link to that thread Chris - good for a young dog like me to read!

Dave, and all - I'm a DdRT climber right now, and can't understand how you manage to keep your weight suspended in your climbing line in circumstances like returning from a branch walk. In DdRT, this move is accomplished mostly with your upper body muscles, with the legs mostly just doing the work of balancing on the limb that you're trying to keep your weight off. Right?

Can anyone help me understand how this is done effectively on an SRT system? Is the technique all that different?

just tryin' to learn...
 
In that photo dave you have a foot ascender on your right leg, correct? That's what you climb for access and working the tree?

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Thanks for the link to that thread Chris - good for a young dog like me to read!

Dave, and all - I'm a DdRT climber right now, and can't understand how you manage to keep your weight suspended in your climbing line in circumstances like returning from a branch walk. In DdRT, this move is accomplished mostly with your upper body muscles, with the legs mostly just doing the work of balancing on the limb that you're trying to keep your weight off. Right?

Can anyone help me understand how this is done effectively on an SRT system? Is the technique all that different?

just tryin' to learn...

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Thanks for asking the question, I'd like to know too!
Two handed, one handed...what are the mechanics of returning from a branch walk SRT?
I'm assuming that you all are using an ascender/descender device for moving around the tree once you get up there...or what?
 
Cause its cool and everybody is doing it.Even me especially if its a long way up or Im feeling lazy.But mostly if I feel its the most effcient means for gettin the tree done.If not I love to footlock still,just not those 70+ footers.But doing a removal without spurs,I'll race yuh-especially blocking down big wood.
 
All this talk really makes me think about SRT. The thing I am wondering is what is the tree size range for SRT vs DdrT. I ask this because where I live and do tree work you can set up a ladder and get almost half way up a tree. Then you just climb it with alternate lanyard technique to the top set your climbing line and go to work.

I guess I just don't understand all of it yet because I just haven't seen it used on a regular basis.

I do have this idea though that goes along with the F8 Revolver but is a little different.

Will post pics and video later.
 
Yeah Casey seems like a large percentage of trees we climb are of the small variety lately.I just like to pretend I get to climb larger ones more often than we do.Guess thats why I do like to footlock so much,I dont usually have to go that high .ha ha.Or maybe its just the time of year.
 
One of the first times I got really thinking about SRT was on a roofing job for my sister in Baltimore. The roof was very steep. I dont know how roofers do that jobwithout tieing in it blows my mind. I threw a line over the roof and secured it to a tree. accessed the roof via ladder but always tied in with a hitch. When I got to the roof top I eye-bolted anchors into each peak of the roof. I tensioned this using mechanical advantage and secured it and backed it up. Then I installed pulleys with SRT lines attached to them. The pulleys ran across the roof like a zip line. me and my coworker remained tied in at all times and had acces to all points of the roof. I couldnt believe more roofers don't do that. That was SRT with just hitches.


i miss ddrt when carrying a big saw.

I was trying to figure out the limb walk question and I realized that I use the rope like a hand rail. I tend with my other hand. I really do walk the limb a lot like a balance beam. I never really pulled myself in from limb walks in doubled line and i found having to figure out which leg of the rope to grab in order to tend very annoying. You only have to tend half the line when you come in from a walk.

I also set my redirects so my walks are easy.
 
I have been climbing Srt only now for about 3 months. I find it easier and simpler than Ddrt for a lot of the same reasons that others have already stated. I will say it might not be for everyone and I can't say that I will never climb Ddrt ever again, but for now it's the way I roll.

What I want to address is the mostly wrong assumption that it takes a lot of gear to climb Srt. I will list the pieces of gear that I use for srt and I will list the pieces that I used to use for Ddrt. Right before I switched, I was using Srt to access the tree and setting a floating false crotch (secret weapon) to climb Ddrt from. I will include this gear in my Ddrt list.

Ddrt Gear.

Ring to ring friction saver(Abandoned after switching to FFC)
Rope with one end spliced into an eye
Hitch climber pulley
Hitch cord
Swivel on saddle bridge
Pantin(not used much)
Cocoon pulley on a prussic loop(FFC)
Another biner to spike access line
A pulley on a prussic loop for the "M" technique
A double pulley on a prussic for redirects
A couple biners with prussic loops for assorted redirect and retrieval duties.


Here's the list for Srt with a rope wrench

Rope wrench
Hitch climber pulley
Hitch cord
Rope with no splices(use both ends for even wear)
Handled ascender
Pantin
Biner for saddle connection

That's it! I will say in answer to opposablethumb's question about limb walks that I carry a revolver biner on a prussic loop for returning from long limb walks. I set it on the line above my head before the walk and run the tail of my line through it so I can simply pull down on the tail when returning, just like Ddrt. The hitch climber and revolver are self tending.

On an aside. When I have reached my TIP or as high as I need the handled ascender for, I put my weight onto my hitch and remove the ascender. It stores on the back of my saddle and is fairly compact when folded up. If I am in a hairy tree I may send it down to my groundie the first time I have to redirect my whole rope. When ascending throughout the climb, I simply use the pantin and climb the rope just like footlocking, only easier.

I will post a couple photos of my setup.
 
Hearing talk about SRT makes my heart warm!

Knowing that new climbers as well as us long in the tooth climbers will have a longer, healthier climbing career was my goal when I started using SRT so long ago.

Having the Unicender and the Rope Wrench available means that SRT in trees, or any rope access, will make the climb easier.

Even though I'm able to DdRT I rarely do. Basically I'm a lazy guy. I don't like working any harder than I have to. Don't confuse this with not being industrious and shirking hard work. Energy conservation and using resources correctly has been part of my life since I was a child. It just makes sense that I save the calories from the food I eat effeciently.

Even though the JLG lift at work saves me lots of climbing I still have to get on rope occasionally. When I do I go home at the end of the day feeling like having an evening ahead of me.

Limbwalking on SRT isn't a lot different than on DdRT with a good slack tender system.In fact, I think it's easier on SRT since only half the rope has to pass through the hitch. This is another place where the 1:1 aspect pays off.

On Feb. 22 at 11 am Eastern I'm doing an SRT webinar for TCIA. The lecture portion of my SRT talk at Expo '09 is going to be worked up into an article for Tree Care Industry magazine.

To paraphrase Pete Donzelli's mantra about telemarking, 'Half the rope, twice the fun'...Pete's: Half the binding, twice the fun!

Using SRT on takedowns works just as well, maybe better. Most times I will tie a choked bowline up above with a pulldown for the tail. Simple, no extra gear involved.
 
I would love to see a video of someone coming back from a really difficult limbwalk using SRT,because for some reason it just seems alot harder to me.Call me crazy But I have never found it easier to pull a tree over without mechanical advantage,just doing the strait pull just always seems harder to me.In my finite mind some how I find a correlation between the two.I could be totally wrong,im open to change-heck I did our masters climb using srt only this pass year and for the record it was the perfct set up for that system i just blew it.Im gonna to try a removal using SRT maybe a few so I can give it an honest unbias evaluation.
 
Not a video but the picture in my avatar is an srt limbwalk. I think it is slightly harder on srt but the overall benefits that Dave and Tom mentioned still make it worthwhile.
 
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Shouldnt you have a backup above the ascender?

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My setup is very similar but I dont bother to tie into the ascender at all. I use a kong futura that I have removed the lock on. I want something I can pop on and off, is not bulky. It is not life support. It is a temporary foot hold. My hitch is my life support and I just leave it at that.
 
Nice wrench by the way! what kind of wood is that? looks almost like walnut. I usually run the tether through the top of the wrench so the knot is at the bottom. I sort of felt like I get more leverage that way. I also changed the hitch climber and went to a CT fixe type thing. I will make new post later on My new hitch configuration.
 
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