It's Moving Rope December!

It’s December and we’re close to moving onto the new year! So, it’s only right that we do that with a Moving Rope System! Whether you’re on a Blake’s hitch closed system, Split Tail open Blake’s, Hitch Climber System or on a mechanical prussik it’s all about you! MRS systems are predominantly used throughout the whole tree care industry and for good reason too, we can’t forget the foundations of climbing. A majority of the tree community started out on the core fundamentals of climbing which is either on a Taunt line or Blake’s hitch, it’s engraved into our climber brains! Think about it; if you were to leave a piece of gear at the shop and get to the site, we don’t just turn around and leave. We find a way to accomplish that job and more, because that’s the type of badass people we are! That’s where the Blake’s hitch comes into play again. Remember your fundamentals!

Anyhoo, we know that climbing has come a long way from where it once began, and it’s awesome! One significant change that you may notice is in the title of this here blog: Moving Rope System (MRS). Most of us knew it as DDRT, DRT or Doubled Rope System. So why the name change? From what I was able to gather, it was to help better communicate with fire rescue involving a technical rescue team and to further advance our industry to stay up to date with other at height industries. Doubled Rope System (DDRT/DRT) is the act of throwing your main climb line up and over limb or through a friction saver. Having done so you have double your rope over your primary suspension point, but other industries perceive it as working with two individual ropes, which we don’t. What the rope actually does is move up, down and around through the limb or friction saver with you as you climb through the canopy. It also lets the technical teams know that we are working off of one rope, not two.

A tip that I learned while climbing on an MRS system was to keep an 8oz shotpouch on my harness along with a mini carabiner, however a spliced eye is required for ease of connecting. Having a light harness helps us stay nimble while aloft, so then why add on extra weight? Elementary, my dear Watson (I watch a lot of movies), to advance my climb system to the next higher union without having to fuss around with tying a Monkey Fist! When I learned this trick, it completely blew my mind. It wasn’t some expensive tool or super advanced technique, this simple yet super effective trick helped me get to the best tie in point when my throw line game is off.

Here’s another trick that may get overlooked, using the piece of rope between the hitch and hitch climber pulley to create a haul system. Picture this, up aloft using a 500i and you run out of fuel, now you have to send it down only to pull it back up after handling some beefy sections, talk about exhausting! By using your climb line as a haul system, you get a buttery smooth send. Sending down the equipment in this fashion requires almost no strenuous movement. Now the best part comes when you’re ready to haul your gear back up, you get a 2:1 mechanical advantage! Either pull on the falling end or have your ground crew pull on the falling end to help save you or your climber some energy, remember TEAMWORK MAKES THE DREAM WORK!