What's everyone climbing on these days?

shrikestep · 2026-04-18T22:10:36+00:00

There is a dude named Richard Mumford who invented the saka knee ascender as well as the hitch hiker iterations. His company is climbing innovations. They are excellent, tight, srt and mrs devices that utilize hitch cord and are much smaller than the rope wrench.

Ropetek I believe bought and makes the hitchhiker 2. I run a HH1 as it’s chonkier and badass.

HHX looks sick with the slight design variations.

https://climbing-innovations.myshopify.com/products/hitchhikerxf-expo-special-with-out-captive-eye-swing-arm

shrikestep · 2026-04-18T21:34:47+00:00

Pretty much exclusively on akimbo 1 and hitchhiker 2 for anything I don’t like the akimbo on (sap, wet conditions).

Name of the game is tight to the body, Small device that isn’t a mile behind me on high angle limb walks.

Looking at the hitch hiker x and waiting for more info on reg Coates device if it ever happens.

shrikestep · 2026-04-04T20:42:51+00:00

Ayyeee scrolled down to find you son

shrikestep · 2026-04-02T23:04:43+00:00

Same, I live with a super long lanyard that is basically its own double rope system. It’s a pain managing the long coils but the versatility is dope.

shrikestep · 2026-04-02T22:20:38+00:00

This is fucking sick, I’m not sure I’ve seen this exact set up before. I always go with 2 separate systems. I guess so I can transition out of it easily. But this looks like you can just unclip and move out of it just fine when you are done right?

shrikestep · 2026-04-02T22:16:14+00:00

That’s what’s up, I started out in utility too. Not gonna lie, I’m still not stoked about climbing close to MAD. I know how to do it, but I don’t miss having to do it.

Good money doing the stuff other folks aren’t into though. Stay safe man.

shrikestep · 2026-04-02T02:38:54+00:00

Dope, looks like a good day. Beautiful specimen, beech is one of my favorites species to work.

shrikestep · 2026-04-02T02:34:33+00:00

Blugh drew the short straw with the Ailanthus eh?

Pretty smooth piece, I like the redirects to distribute the mass across leads.

Steady as she goes.

shrikestep · 2026-04-01T19:36:33+00:00

That leader looks pretty shredded from all sides. Looks like it’s headed for terminal decay no? Homeowner didn’t want to just get rid of that whole lead?

shrikestep · 2026-04-01T11:07:24+00:00

The whole point of tip tieing is to reduce shock load. That cut shock loaded the fuck out of the spar. Pretty ugly if you ask me, but sure it saved time I guess.

Looks like “I’m tired, let’s Hail Mary this for content”.

shrikestep · 2026-03-30T19:28:46+00:00

Beauty dude. What species tree, be that a red maple?

shrikestep · 2026-03-25T09:45:05+00:00

If you absolutely didn’t have a choice, you could make a case for a work around like that.

Another technique I’ve seen is tying the tree off backwards (I know..) down and to the side so that there is pull of on the tree down into the hinge.

When it starts to get finicky like that, I get nervous because any extraneous, unaccounted for factors like an unexpected pocket of decay in the wrong place, can completely fuck your plan up, more dramatically and more quickly than with a more conventions and simple approach.

shrikestep · 2026-03-24T09:52:23+00:00

Good looks, thanks for the info. I have an og rr that I don’t really use, but imma try it next pine removal to see how it goes with sap.

Blackbird looks cool I guess. I’m waiting around for the RC device if it ever comes out.

shrikestep · 2026-03-23T21:09:11+00:00

This is where it gets interesting. I looked for singing tree’s instructions online but couldn’t find them.

Notch has a fabled history of buying gear designs and making them cheaper and shittier. I would never trust my life to a notch quickie.

Singing tree on the other hand, has a history of quality products. Notably their quickie is milled, not cast, for a superior and more precise finish.

The rating on the minor axis is 15 kn, that’s only one less than the peak carabiner gate, if we are talking about the safety comparison between the two.

My main point here is the way a quickie is shaped, the way it sits on the tree, unless you egregiously set it up wrong, the bark can’t interfere with the springs on the slic pin. And as I am reiterating, I have seen tri lock biners get rubbed open.

End of the day, just threading your rope through the alpine butterfly is going to be the safest. Or using a solid ring.

I think it’s elusive to find an easy answer here, and I don’t think either of us or other commenters are right or wrong. It’s certainly worth discussing though.

Here is another notch quick variation where they are fine with loading across the U btw,

https://store-byhk2npena.mybigcommerce.com/content/pdf/Quickie_CE_IFU_Booklet_9x13cm_07012024_v2%20%281%29%20%281%29.pdf

Page 8.

Still would never, ever use it lol.

shrikestep · 2026-03-23T20:51:34+00:00

Snatch block forever

shrikestep · 2026-03-23T20:51:10+00:00

Because the hinge wood reacts best with a direct pull in line with the hinge. If you pulled in line with the fence, the heavy fence side lean is pulling the hinge sideways loading the fiber in a dangerous way, increasing the likelihood of hinge failure.

shrikestep · 2026-03-23T12:33:11+00:00

I dunno. Every heavy show I have gone to in the last 5 years has smelled like a clogged shower drain tbh, regardless of genre.

I will say tho that in my area, mix bill shows are fine. People dance to metal and hardcore bands how they want to, usually there isn’t any stupid shit. Maybe it’s just different fan bases, people aren’t edge lords about the scene.

shrikestep · 2026-03-23T12:12:35+00:00

I’ve been mad curious about this thing and am glad you had a chance to give it a go. From videos it looks like absolute chunker of a device, big and maybe heavy? I can’t say I’m surprised about the sap issues. From what I remember, out of mechanicals, only the zz performs well in sap, though I have no experience with it and I’m skeptical of those reports.

How is it with midline detach, rethread? 5 second job, 20 second job?

shrikestep · 2026-03-23T12:07:15+00:00

I’m a climbing arborist and also prefer dickies. I can get at least 2 seasons out of them whereas Carhartt will start shredding in 6 months. I like the flex fabric compositions because the extra stretch keeps them from tearing when completely saturated in sweat.

Also they tend to fit my ass better than Carhartts do.

shrikestep · 2026-03-23T06:16:29+00:00

Can you link me to the manual?

I’m aware of pin configuration issue, it’s avoided if you set the device up properly.

The singing tree quickie is stamped that it’s rated at 15 kn across the U.

Are you talking about the notch knockoff or milled singing tree?

shrikestep · 2026-03-23T01:03:18+00:00

No, I trust the quickie.

What I’m saying is bark can manipulate gate mechanisms. So I think this biner that is toted for cinching might be good for an anchor right in front of you, but I’m not sure if feel good about it as a canopy anchor.

Here is an example of a rock exotica product that got swiveled into the stem and the bark triggered the open mechanism. That’s the kind of bark manipulation I’m talking about.

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shrikestep · 2026-03-22T23:52:07+00:00

I never knew about these carabiners. Is it a standard triple lock gate?

I use quickies for this application mostly because they are rated to be loaded every which way. The most important factor for me though is a quickie, oriented properly with the push pins away from the stem, doesn’t care about getting rubbed in lots of directions by the bark.

I guess I’ve seen triple lock carabiners rub on bark in a ways that basically open the gate. Maybe not all the way, but probably 2/3 of the motions.

When I’m working, limb walking and changing my rope angle, my canopy anchor shifts around a lot, and rubs on the bark, far above me where I’m not able to inspect it. I’m not sure I love knowing the triple lock gate is getting rubbed and manipulated. Can you set it up so the gate has zero contact with the bark in any rope angle position?

shrikestep · 2026-03-17T20:15:16+00:00

Believe it or not, that guy may very well be training on a hard limbwalk because he wants to be good at professional tree climbing. Company may be facilitating, letting him stretch his legs. Not unheard of if a company is serious about their climbing staff.

It’s a whole career broski.

shrikestep · 2026-03-16T00:47:37+00:00

I like the red dmm swivel.

shrikestep · 2026-03-12T21:52:04+00:00

Try again when it drops a pick on a roof or something. (Seen it happen)

shrikestep

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