Blake's Hitch on SRT

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Just wondering if anyone has tried to srt on a blake's hitch and if it works, have not seen or heard anywhere that you can use it, I know you would have to make safety knots on the ascend (most definitely) for the ride back down unless you use a rappel device
I guess it would be worth trying if you use an ascender as back-up

Ya know…

There is actually a write-up on that very subject.

I cant remember if it’s Jeff Jepson’s book or perhaps one of the PDF files that are on Tree Buzz. I’ll dig around and, if I find it I’ll forward it to you.

The short answer is…
When doing DRT the friction necessary to slow you down on descent “without” burning up your Blake’s Hitch is shared by your tree saver and your friction hitch.

When on single line, your descender has to carry the full heat-load of your descent since there is no rope going over a branch through a tree saver to help burn off some of that energy.

I’ve been known to “smoke” a Blake’s Hitch on a fast DRT decent and I’m only 180 pounds. On SRT a husky fellow would surely produce enough heat on a Blake’s Hitch to cause catastrophic failure.

If you try it…
Do it over water, deep water.

When I get down from a 40' rap the eight is pretty warm. The friction given off while you slide down the rope IS very high. Just a question as to why? If you want to stop on the way down get an 8 (with ears) and use it in the extended fashion with a Prusik below it. One handed control and stop when you want. You can also tie off the 8 (with ears is better) and be more secure.

The dynamics of using a the Blakes on DdRT is very different that SRT. It won't let you lower yourself in a controlled manner.

It will be a good lesson in physics to try it out- but make sure you have a separate belay while you do it or you just might get stuck up there!

love
nick

Originally posted by davidmbeasley
Just wondering if anyone has tried to srt on a blake's hitch and if it works

I have tried it. The hitch didn't allow controlled descent like when used with a dynamic rope system, and I was not happy with its performance. "Low and slow" will allow you to try this and other techniques while reducing risk.

Related information can be found in Why is descending w/ Blake's + DRT the exception? .

Bradley Ford,

Thanks for posting that link on the SRT - Blake’s hitch theme. I was stumbling through the TreeBuzz pdf articles when it was right here on TCI all along.

Thanks for the re-direct!
Electrojake

I had hoped you wouldnt have tried it Bradley...after all I ranted about...

Good to see you learned the lesson, and didn't crash and burn...or rather burn and crash as the case might have been.

Thanks for playing the safety guy now though.

Climb Safe!
Icabod

Thanks for all the responses, I had thought about friction after I had wrote it, and was just wondering if anyone had tried it, so far after many descents with double rope I have not destroyed my rope, just got a new friction saver today and can't wait to put it in the tree along with myself...

May all your climbs be joyous...

Hey that's the ticket. Glad to read that your are taking the right procautions to protect the cambium and your ropes. I have compared ropes used without sleeves versus mine that have always used protection and the wear is very noticable. SO as Karl Maldren always used to say; (Kinda of) Never climb without them.

See you at the top,
Dan and I approved this message.

I've spent a lot of time working with the various friction hitches on SRT. There are many variables that need to be accounted for and adjustments made to the systems. Since all of your load is on the hitch more wraps are going to be needed. Where I use a 3 over 1 distel on DdRT I generally need 4 over 1 on SRT.

The cord that's used for the friction hitch on SRT makes a big difference too. Using cord that has been developed specifically for hitches is a good idea. HRC from New England Ropes and Bee Line from Yale are good choices. Both are made to put up with the extreme demands of friction hitches.

I use the HRC (Heat Resistant Cord) cord from N.E. that Tom mentioned and it works great - hardly any heat buildup and won't glaze your rope like the Blakes will. I use it with the Knut hitch which also works great - grabs quickly and releases quickly. Also, like Tom, I use one more rap for SRT than on DdRT.