Ascender and Line Wear

[Ian McColgin]

It's well to keep different uses in mind. Ascenders are so much handier than prussicks for climbing that they are worth the cost. The salvagee attachment I described above would be utterly unsuitable for climbing as it's hard to push up without a lot of back slipping as it retightens, being such a diagonal weave like "chinese finger-handcuffs. Since the way I do it has just a half knot holding the end, it's unsuited for holding a strain long-term either, especially under shakey conditions.

The advantage is that it works for holding a tackle most anywhere. I have used it on halyards, where my ascenders that I use for climbing would fit, but also for clapping on the anchor line when I really had to just plain lift since the anchor was snagged on what turned out to be about 800' of abandoned cable. The ascender would not have fit the anchor rode. And I've used it to hang a block on a stay to help pull the stay snug while trimming a deadeye. There are specially designed ascenders in arial industries for wire but you are not likely to have one unless you're in the trade.

The salvagee is a very handy and versitile thing to learn, as are the various forms of nipper that you might use (or you might stil use the salvagee) to take the strain on a jib sheet that's gotten a riding hitch of cosmic tension.

G'luck