thought of the day.....

If the goal of setting your rope into a tree is to simply "get up the first branch" so you can limbwalk and climb by hand with the lanyard etc.....why not simply use a pre rigged manlift pulley setup and simply pull yourself up quickly?

for reference this is what i'm talking about:


self belaying (locks off automatically when you stop pulling the line. You can haul yourself up by hand with very little effort. Very little friction. (rope last longer). light.

I was working a 6 story window today, using a similar device and my bosun seat. took me less that 30 seconds to ascend by hand up to the window, from ground. smooth and effortless......this may have (minus the bosun chair) a very real application to treeclimbers....

just a thought, from someone who does'nt stick to the "normal'

What were you anchored to?

^ a window washing davit.

Fun. At least with a davit you know you are connected to something meant to hold you.

I'm an old (is 31 old?) widow washer. Most of my work , though, was done from wall hooks and rolling outriggers. I've put a belt on of my father-i-law. I can't believe they used to clip into those little hooks on the outside of widows with those things...

Window washers see the best stuff...I've got a few stories. I supprised a bridal party in the midst of dressing once. What a sound that was!

Oh yeah, on topic, I de-rigged a job where we used a similar system that also included a horizontal run. Pretty cool, but is a mess of rope.

On rare occasion I have used this setup to hoist others up into treeboats and such. However, I have never considered hoisting my own rump up into position with such a setup.

Disclaimer. . .
As a recreational climber, it’s important for me to make my climb somewhat of a project. Especially using DRT with my designer harness decorated with all my flashy alloy gadgets. You know, while employing one of those specialty European friction hitches tied with some of that “must-have” flame-proof pre-spliced prussic cord that you can get in the Adventure Sport catalogs!

But seriously now, When I climb, I’m playing, (recreating). Quite a bit different than a pro-climber, such as yourself doing a days work off a flat full-vertical, 6 stories up. Yes sir, on the job the pulley block does make sense.

A self-belay block can make lifting a heavy load easy. (Including one’s self!)

i'm liking it more and more too. I'm building another one right now for rec use. (my work one is nice big Petzl rescue pulleys and 12mm static line)

the rec one will be Petzl micropulleys like these:

60' in 30 seconds...very impressive. Seems like a lot of gear to haul around...but to do all that in 30 seconds, I guess it's worth it.

I use MA when needed to get weaker ones (kids) up into trees. They like it when they can't get the foot prusik thing to work out.

love
nick