Nick,
You mentioned the VT in your post.
Are you referring to the Valdotain Tresse???

You use this hitch often?
Isn’t it a bit unpredictable?
Do you consider the micro pulley on the carabiner a “must-have” item to get the VT to function properly?

Thanks for your input on this!
Electrojake

Yes, VT=Valdotain Tress

Touchy? Yes, if you don't find a version of it that works well for you.

Pulley is absolutely NOT essential. You can use the carabiner or many other things as slack tenders. Or, if you were feeling massochistic, you could just use no slack tender at all!

love
nick

By the way - docteric,

If you feel your Goldstreak is a bit unpredictable new out of the bag…
Dan H. mentioned that he got some New England Fly and he liked it a lot. It is indeed some interesting line.

The stuff is static kernmantle yet you can tie a hitch in it (or so they say). I found it to work great on SRT cause it glides through the aluminum hardware beautifully however, for a simple DRT climber such as myself, it seems a little too s_link_y.

There are a number of posts that discuss Fly climbing line at: TCI Message Board » Gear » "The Fly" climbing rope by New England Rope. And of course you can have a look at www.newtribe.com to learn more.

If you don’t already own some, I would say that it is worth its price just to see how incredibly different it is as compared to the line most of us DRT lovers usually climb on.

By using a bunch of different friction hitches, doing a lot of SRT, and just plain playing with the line, it's now working much better. I think it just needed to be broken in a bit. Being new to the field, I think I sort of panicked when it didn't work perfectly right out of the box. I don't think it was ever dangerous (or I wouldn't have used it again), just a bit touchy.

Re: the Fly, I know I can't buy any right now. IfI start spending a lot of money on another expensive hobby (in addition to backpacking, kayaking, wood working, etc) my wife will disown me - and she makes most of the money! I got the Gold streak because one of the companies had it on a great sale.

Interestingly, the hardware store down the road has started carrying arborist equipment for the local treemen. So I've gotten a chance to fondle the Fly and it seems to be everything people have said it is. Maybe when she gets a raise ...

New Rope Question
I recently got a new rope from a friend. It is still in the original package from New England Ropes. It appear to me like a "static " Rope used for cave exploration so you can not easily tie knots on it but I assume that it could be used for SRT climbing if I figure out how to secure it to the tree with a couple of Gibbs grabs and Prusik knots or slings.

The question is this. Is this a good idea or should I just try to return the rope or sell it to a rock climber and buy me a more appropriate and versatile rope for tree climbing?


I want to hear from the experts, specially Treeman, Treetramp and Nickfrom WI, Icabob and Rescueman, if you are still around. etc.

I will try to post the actual details from the rope package tag. (I know it is 120 ft long about 11mm thick.)

Here is what comes to mind for uses for static 120 foot rope:

SRT- use a figure 8 bend on a locking biner to secure to the anchor point or all the way up an over and secure to the trunk.

Traverse- low stretch and high strength makes it the rope of choice.

Top Roping- belay or aid a climber.

Trade or Sell it at TreeBuzz's tree-bay.

Cut in up into spider legs for a great tree tramp. (sorry I couldn't resist)

See you at the top,
Dan