I have an 11mm Fly rope and am not a big fan of the Distel, and the other one I can't spell. I had a Posion Ivy rope before this, and the blakes hitch with a 13mm tail did not work on it. It slid. Now, I just missed around with my fly with another 13mm tail and it held!!! So I'm wondering if the tail diameter matters, does it have to be as skinny or skinnery than the rope it's used on or what. I'll have to try it with all my weight on it tommorrow after school, but from putting alot of weight on it tonight it held pretty could. Thanks for your help again.

IF you are using an 11 mm rope your open split tail, should be the same size rope.

an open system is when only one end it terminated
a closed system is when both ends are terminated

SO on a closed system you need to use a small cord , 10 or 9 or 8 mm NO SMALLER - a 9 or 8 works great.

try all this ON THE GROUND before you go on rope.

A blake 4 wrap with an open system of "the fly" rope on the Posion Ivy works great.
A blake 5 wrap 5/3 is to much and sticks.

I use Poison Hi-V and "The fly" with a open system with a 4 wrap blakes.

Practice and practice and stay on the ground UNTIL you are comfortable that your hitch will not slip.

Welcome to the tree world

jz

rangerdude, the answer to your question is "yes"

and "no."

Generally speaking...for 95% of the time- yes- your blakes hitch is tied with the same material that the climbing line is tied on. You can almost always get away with something tied just a hair thinner than the climbing line. I've seen people use an 8mm cord on a half inch climbing line and it worked for them. I've also seen people use half inch split tails in 11mm rope. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.

A few weeks ago I was climbing with another LA climber and his Blakes was just not holding. The rope was brand new or almost brand new...but it wasn't holding. We set him up with something totally different eventually- and he really liked it.

So to really answer your question- follow jerseygirl's advice. Get out there and tie some knots and try it out...safely of course.

Welcome to the site!

love
nick

rangerdude,

I had a problem with a B53 on 1/2" ArborPlex rope. I tried several different knots, including wrap and weave types and the one that has worked most reliably and consistently for me is the Helical. The local rescue guys around here use it.

I have a variation of it that's easier to tie and inspect, and it works to perfection. I used it with very light climbers to pretty heavy climbers without making any adjustment to it at all - for some reason the thing just works.

We climbed on it all afternoon Saturday and I didn't have to make any adjustments to improve grip, etc. and I didn't have to 'loosen' it before descending. In fact, I didn't do a thing to it all afternoon.

I used a DDRT split tail, ArborPlex climbing rope and ArborPlex split tail.

nickfromwi wrote:
rangerdude, the answer to your question is "yes"

and "no."

Generally speaking...for 95% of the time- yes- your blakes hitch is tied with the same material that the climbing line is tied on. You can almost always get away with something tied just a hair thinner than the climbing line. I've seen people use an 8mm cord on a half inch climbing line and it worked for them. I've also seen people use half inch split tails in 11mm rope. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.

A few weeks ago I was climbing with another LA climber and his Blakes was just not holding. The rope was brand new or almost brand new...but it wasn't holding. We set him up with something totally different eventually- and he really liked it.

So to really answer your question- follow jerseygirl's advice. Get out there and tie some knots and try it out...safely of course.

Welcome to the site!

love
nick

The other L.A. climber here. So after using the Prusik tail and the lanyard you showed me, I got itchy and went out and bought more gear. I know, I could have waited and got a better deal from you, but my enthusiasm got the best of me. Next time. Anyway, I made the lanyard, and I bought a couple Prusik tails and pulleys.

In other words, when are we going climbing again? I'd like to climb those big ponderosas up on the AC at some point.

SWEET! I knew you would like it. I'll email you...so as not to hijack this thread!

(what prusiks did you buy? )

love
nick