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The Way Up
The Way Up

This is the easiest way of using ropes to climb up into a tree. The rope is threaded through metal rings slung below a convenient high branch. You attach your harness to the bottom carabiner. That is attached to the top carabiner which in turn is clipped to one end of the rope. The rope then goes up, slides through a metal ring, a carabiner, a pulley, or some comination thereof, slung under a high branch, and then comes back down.

This other end passes through a special cylindrical grabbing knot or hitch, and through a pulley known as the hitch managing pulley which is clipped to the top carabiner. The hitch is clipped to a carabiner which in turn is fastened to your harness.

The result of all this is that when you let your weight hang on the rope, one end is attached directly to your harness via a carabiner and ling and second carabiner, and the other end is being grabbed firmly by the hitch which is also attached to your harness. So you hang there quite securely.

But when you pull down on the free end of the rope hard enough to take up your weight (not all of it because of the mechanical advantage of the pully or whatever up above) the pulley jams up into the hitch which widens it and releases its grip of the rope, and it slides up the rope. Then as soon as you let go of the rope it pulls the hitch out which tightens and grabs the rope so you end up hanging again, but moved up by half the length of the rope you pulled through the pulley.

This is the easiest way of climbing a rope because you can rest anytime with no effort, and you don't have to pull up all your weight, just half times the friction of the pulley or whatever up above.

A photograph of an arborist using this gear can be found here.

Original DSC06396

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Taken on: June 14, 2008
Tags: Everybody's photos tagged with Edinburgh Edinburgh Everybody's photos tagged with Treefest Treefest Everybody's photos tagged with 2008 2008 more » Everybody's photos tagged with arborism arborism Everybody's photos tagged with tree climbing tree climbing Everybody's photos tagged with Scotland Scotland « less
Sets appears in:   • Arborism Demo 2008    • Product Shots    more » • Ropey Devices    • Treefest 2008    « less
Groups appears in:   • Treeclimbing    • Edinburgh Photographers    more » • Rope Access / High Angle Environment    « less
Camera: Sony DSC-R1, f/4.8, 1/125 sec, 71.5mm, ISO 400 (more info) (hide info)
Camera: Sony DSC-R1
Aperture: f/4.8
Exposure Time: 0.008 sec (1/125)
Focal Length: 71.5mm
ISO: 400
Exposure Bias: +1 EV
Flash: Off, Did not fire
Exposure Program: Program AE
Exposure Mode: Manual
Metering Mode: Center-weighted average
White Balance: Auto
Contrast: Low
Saturation: Low
Sharpness: Soft
Color Space: Uncalibrated
Software: Picasa 3.0
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The Way Up

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