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Tried a rope wrench for the first time on a 90 foot oak in Georgia, nearly came off the tree
I climbed with a rope wrench on a massive red oak outside Athens last Tuesday and honestly, the SRT felt smooth as butter, but I forgot to put a backup knot on my friction hitch. Halfway down a limb walk, the hitch slipped and I swung about 6 feet before my lanyard caught me. I learned my lesson: never trust a new setup without a secondary tie-off, no matter how good the gear feels. Has anyone else had a close call switching from DRT to SRT?
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wendysmith1mo ago
That backup knot habit is a game changer once you get burned by it. Same thing happened to me when I first switched, except mine was a dead ash and the hitch grabbed about three feet from the ground. Now I always run a micro pulley or a simple stopper knot below the hitch, even on easy limb walks. It slows you down a bit, but the extra few seconds beat a hospital visit every time.
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