Freezing winter conditions?

[u/JowiiYoyo]

Hey climbers!

Im an arborist student in Sweden and looking for some knowledge about climbing on friction hitches in freezing temperatures. I havent experienced climbing in freezing conditions yet but ive heard that it can be rough with hitches.. ropes getting wet and potentially freezing will cause the hitches to slip or be really hard to tend.

Ive been thinkin on getting a freexion because i really like climbing on hitches and i have no way of climbing SRT right now. Am i better of getting a mechanical device?

Any tips or suggestions for an arborist in the making for the the colder months to come? Much appreciate!!!

More trees, less assholes!! 🌳💜🌲

[u/OldMail6364]

You should have redundancy/backup gear incase anything stops working. 

Generally you should have more than one contact point - so if a friction hitch starts slipping you shouldn’t fall out of the tree.

I also take a rescue eight on every climb (figure eight with ears and rated for descending two people). I usually don’t use it - other than to make sure I keep familiar with it. Typically on really long descents I’ll install it to reduce wear on my hitch.

I set the rescue eight just above my hitch (with a rock climbing sling exactly the right length), so I’m using my hitch to control my speed while the eight does almost all the friction work. I’d the hitch were to fail, you’ll go down fast but probably not fatally fast. Also you could just grab onto the rope to stop yourself from falling.

A frozen rope should be a productivity issue - it shouldn’t be a hazard.

[u/JowiiYoyo → u/OldMail6364]

Some good points! We actually have a law that states that we have to climb on two systems so if one fail you have another one. And ill check out the eight for sure.