Going aloft on a static line

[CJV]

Hi,
I am planning to go aloft solo, on a pair of prussiks on a static line, employing a mechanism similar to that used by ATN's Topclimber product. For a secondary line I'm thinking of using a spare halyard on a descender at my harness. Seems like a complicated arrangement but manageable. Has anyone tried a similar thing? I could wait 'til I have a skilled hand on belay but think this could work and be safe enough.
Thoughts?

[Ian McColgin]

I've used climbing gear for going aloft for the last forty five years. Static lines are fine. In mountaineering it's usually one fixed line but on a boat it'susually one half of a halyard belayed. Thus you put twice your weight on the upper pulley.

Another problem with a static line is that your weight puts slack in the part below and this slack makes ascending harder. A halyard doubled just makes for more and springier slack. Your first practice with the ascenders or prussicks (buy ascenders - a good investment and they make the downclimb so much easier) will get this point across.

So I hit on the idea of hitching the hoist to my harness, bringing the fall under a block fixed to something about at deck level or the gooseneck or something, and back up to the harness. One ascender goes from the harness to the fall. The other is above that and has a couple of foot loops at equal height. Reach the leg ascender as high as you can and straighten your legs to rise, sliding the harness ascender up with you. Sit on the harness and repeat.

This approach leaves no slack hanging.

For a safety I have a tether from a figure 8 chest harness and the sit harness that I strop around the mast a couple of times like a salvagee. It can lie loose against my lap but will tighten up around the mast and stop a fall if something breaks. The pain in the neck of
switching it over any spreaders is less than trying to manage a live safety. If you get to working height and need to move away from the mast, you can make the tether longer.

I also keep a descending ring on my sit harness. For going down I loop the fall through that in the usual way, take the load off the two ascenders, and slide down nice and smooth.

There are many variations on how to do this, depending on your comfort. What ever system you hit on, practice going down before you are more than a foot or two up.

G'luck

[CJV]

Great ideas, thanks! I'll probably go ahead and invest in those ascenders, the more I think about it-- The amount of effort spent just to get down is not where I want my head at that stage.

[Ian McColgin]

To all looking into this, if you're not already experienced in rappelling on a descending ring, get some real instruction and work out the method of transferring the strain from the ascenders to the ring before you're high. These are safe and proven methods but a light reference here is no substitute for detailed instruction and practice.

G'luck

[CJV]

Originally Posted by Ian McColgin

To all looking into this, if you're not already experienced in rappelling on a descending ring, get some real instruction and work out the method of transferring the strain from the ascenders to the ring before you're high. These are safe and proven methods but a light reference here is no substitute for detailed instruction and practice.

G'luck

Thanks, I found your earlier post most valuable as I was experimenting w/ a descent on prussiks... they were very difficult to ease and slide down, almost every time. I went up and down some 6 feet about 4 times, and found no easy way to slip them down, perhaps it was the diameter of the line (1/4" sta set x prussiks on 3/8" sta set static line) making them too hard to grip and push down. Buying ascenders this Friday on the way home from work..

Will do as you suggest re: the figure 8.

Thanks again,
CJV

[Ian McColgin]

I use a chest and sit harness together for both safety and comfort. By itself a sit harness is much less comfortable than an oldfashioned plank bo's'n's chair but it's much safer for all the leg movement in climbing. So I run the fall and hoist up through a large 'biner connection the two sides of the chest harness. That keeps everything nice and close - less physical effort staying near verticle - and it allows a near reclining position while working thus taking some strain off my buttocks and giving me far longer - like an hour or so as opposed to mere minutes - before my legs numb out.

There are two different ways to utilize the ascenders, and I switch back and forth.

The classic mountaineer method I learned on has a loop to each foot with a second loop from whatever's the lower ascender to the sit harness. This lets you climb and descend using both legs and can be quite smooth and fast.

Alternativly, some preferr to hand two loops from one ascender and keep the other only for the connection to the sit harness. You hoist using both legs dragging the harness ascender up as you go. Sit on it, push the feet ascender up, and repeat.

If you're going up on one static line, it's well to sit in the harness down near the deck and, weight on the line, secure the lower end. That minimizes the stretch. If you're as lazy as I and go up on a pully, sitting on the hoist and usin the ascenders on the fall, bring the line through a deck level (or so) pulley and secure to the sit harness. Again, sit on it while securing to get the slack out.

The single line approach does not leave enough slack to hook in a descending ring, which I dearly love, so I mostly go the pulley approach. That way, sitting on the hoist and one ascender, I can ease the part of the fall leading up to me from deck, creating enough slack to feed the ring into the fall a bit below the ascenders. Then I shift weight to the descending ring, hold with one hand, and unclip at least the feet only ascender with the other. Easy enough to hold the other ascender gate open with one hand, controling the descent with the other.

The selvagee safety is really simple. Just a tape with a 'biner at each end wrapped around the mast three or four times and both 'biner's to the chest harness (less clutter there). Mostly the coils just lay loose against my thighs which are usually on either side of the mast. In test falls I've tried, it takes about 4' - 6' to tighten up around the mast and stop me. It does involve shifting the safety at every set of spreaders and any intermediate halyards. I usually hook the safety to something fixed while working to give a little more freedom, like one loop around the mast above the spreaders on itself through a 'biner, the other 'biner still on the harness, if my work is out at the end of the spreader. Or, if wrestling with a tricolour or antenna, having the tape tight around my buttocks and the mast head, like a lineman, and standing up on shortened stirrups to position my body a bit over the truck.

Have fun in the air & G'luck

[benz]

Hi Ian,

Have you checked out the 'Grigri', made by Petzl? (they make the most commonly used ascenders, also). It's a self-locking rapelling device: pull the lever, down you go; let go, you're at full stop, hands-free. You can set it up before you go up the rope, and the fall of the rope will feed through it as you go up, so it serves as a failsafe should both ascenders someow pop off. I always go up a single line with ascenders (it's called 'jugging'), then take the ascenders off completely at the top, hanging only fron the grigri (it's rated for far more than that), and that way there is almost zero clutter. I can pull the lever to go down, then let go and have both hands free to work wherever I need. If I need to go back up, I just clap an ascender back on the line and pull the slack through the grigri as I stand on the ascender. It works wonders.
Best,
Ben