Moss- I agree 100%- anyone who is learning to climb MUST know how to tie all their own knots, even if they are using splices.

Treebird- I might be phrasing it wrong- but the triacts have (usually) orange gates and lock by pushing and twisting the gate in the right order. The Am'D (I'm thinking of) are the ones with the black gates and the little green button.

I like the green button.

love
nick

Originally posted by moss
I guess by advanced I mean "not a beginner". I think it's very useful for a new climber to know how to tie (and climb on) their system from scratch using knots.

I frequently climb on both ends of my rope (every climb) and use pipe or sleeve _style_ cambium savers so an eye splice is not a good option for my climbing _style_.

I am with you on starting from the basics...that is what I want to do learn with the mimimal amount of equipment and knots possible. I need to make sure I understand the foundation before I add any fancy stuff. The way I see it, the more equipment and knots I add the more likely I am going to mess something up. I work on making it more effienct after I know what I'm doing.

And I can't thank you enough for mentioning the problem of eyesplice and cambium savers I am definately *edit NOT*getting an eyeplice on my rope.

Ok I see what you are saying. I'm tracking now. I just checked and the the Tri-Act and Ball lock are two types of locking mechanisms, and William and Am'd are two shapes of the biners. (as far as I can tell)

Hey why not? I'll probably try the two type of locks.

I really would like to thank everyone sooooo much for helping me out with this stuff. Yall are great!

Thank you for straightening me out.

Triact and Ball lock are locking _style_s. Am'D and William are 'biner shapes.

love
nick

Just read this post. I have a poison ivy rope and love it. Only one thing. It's 11.7mm and the grigri I would love to have is for ropes up-to 11mm.
Of course you can get other descenders but sorta had my mind on a grigri. It cost effective for what you get.

I have used the Grigri on smaller and thicker diameter ropes and the main difference is that on the smaller diameter rope (new) Sporline. It slips along if it is not loaded properly before descending; on the thicker diameter ropes it is a bit harder to go down since the rope does has more friction going into the unit but I would not see it as dangerous under proper supervision. Be aware of your moves or you could be sorry of the results. ( have personal experience) but them again that applies to any tool or piece of gear that you operate in a tree environment. Other people may disagree and your mileage will vary and all-that-jazz. If you are afraid or uncomfortable of using any piece of gear don't use it!
The opinion expressed by this or any of my posts is my opinion and can not be considered professional advise for any new climbers. So there I said it!