CampFireJack
Well-Known Member
- #1
I have a question that I haven't been able to find an answer for as of yet. Let's say that I've spiked up a tree to attach a single rope to be used as a pull rope for a take-down cut from the bottom. All I want to do is climb (spike) the tree a good ways up, attach the rope to the stick and then come back down to make my cut from the base. A groundman will pull the rope to help the tree fall in the direction I desire.
As far as I know, a rappelling device such as a traditional figure 8 or a figure 8 with ears is a great method for descent as opposed to spiking back down while using my lanyard to assist. Also, as far as I know, it's smart to have a backup for the figure 8, such as a prusik, in case anything goes wrong, such as loss of control, loss of consciousness, etc... The last thing I want is to be free-falling to the ground because I got myself knocked out by hitting my head on a branch or something like that.
So here's my question: popular opinion says that a prusik is a popular device to use as that backup, but can't I just use a split tail to do the same thing? Let's say I am still tied in with my lanyard and I set up my figure 8. Instead of setting up the prusik, I can clip my split tail to my harness and then tie a Blake's hitch to the pull rope and descend from there. What's the difference? I haven't heard this idea or suggestion anywhere out there and I'm starting to think I'm missing something. Is it because of the friction of the Blake's hitch? Are prusiks made out of different more high temperature rope? That's the only thing I could think of as both would be suitable as a backup. Or perhaps the Blake's hitch needs to be set by the arborist to remain tight, else it will slide too fast.
Please let me know.
As far as I know, a rappelling device such as a traditional figure 8 or a figure 8 with ears is a great method for descent as opposed to spiking back down while using my lanyard to assist. Also, as far as I know, it's smart to have a backup for the figure 8, such as a prusik, in case anything goes wrong, such as loss of control, loss of consciousness, etc... The last thing I want is to be free-falling to the ground because I got myself knocked out by hitting my head on a branch or something like that.
So here's my question: popular opinion says that a prusik is a popular device to use as that backup, but can't I just use a split tail to do the same thing? Let's say I am still tied in with my lanyard and I set up my figure 8. Instead of setting up the prusik, I can clip my split tail to my harness and then tie a Blake's hitch to the pull rope and descend from there. What's the difference? I haven't heard this idea or suggestion anywhere out there and I'm starting to think I'm missing something. Is it because of the friction of the Blake's hitch? Are prusiks made out of different more high temperature rope? That's the only thing I could think of as both would be suitable as a backup. Or perhaps the Blake's hitch needs to be set by the arborist to remain tight, else it will slide too fast.
Please let me know.