Great foto Moss, thanks.

That's a good question: Do I really need a Split Tail at this point?

I guess I'm just experimenting with a number of configurations to get the feel of several. Although admittedly, I haven't spent enough time mastering any single method yet. I did find it a little irritating last time I had to untie my knots in order to climb to a higher anchor.

Although, I have yet to "snap" out of a first anchor by disconnecting a Split Tail, my understanding is that it will go much quicker. But I haven't done it yet; it just made sense reading about it.

TW

treeweasel wrote:
That's a good question: Do I really need a Split Tail at this point?

I guess I'm just experimenting with a number of configurations to get the feel of several. Although admittedly, I haven't spent enough time mastering any single method yet. I did find it a little irritating last time I had to untie my knots in order to climb to a higher anchor.

Although, I have yet to "snap" out of a first anchor by disconnecting a Split Tail, my understanding is that it will go much quicker. But I haven't done it yet; it just made sense reading about it.

TW

If you set your next pitch with the other end of your climbing rope then all you have to do is untie the Blake's on your first anchor to move up. I agree though that a split tail makes it easier to reset your anchors going up or traversing. I climbed for two years trad/Blakes before starting to work split tails into my system on a regular basis. One reason I liked tying in traditional is that only two carabiners were required to be tied in to both ends of my rope (double anchored). I also hated the way the split tail carabiner would flop around as I was climbing. When I use a split tail for a Blake's now I tie the split tail directly to my harness delta to avoid the extra carabiner and eliminate the "floppping" problem.

In this photo you can see my split tail (orange rope) attached to the harness delta, it's tied around a plastic thimble on the screw_link_. The photo is of an SRT setup but the split tail is ready for use for DRT.



-moss

I am with Moss in not cutting a piece of your climbimg rope for this purpose. A couple of split tails is a good addition to your climbing gear but there are other alternatives to get one that will do the job and save your long rope in one piece.

Sherill offers several split tail ropes at a reasonable price (cheaper than cutting your new climbing rope).

Here is a _link_
http://gear.sherrilltree.com/iwwidb.pvx?;multi_item_submit

Another cheaper alternative is buy some 10 feet of accessory cord (8 mm works well for me) and tie your own split tail using one of the regular knots appropriate for the task and that set up can be very low cost anything from around 50-90cents per foot and higher up as fancy as you want to get.

Look at some alternatives below.
Prusiks and accessory cords
http://gear.sherrilltree.com/iwwidb.pvx?;multi_item_submit

If you are planning to attend the 2008 Rendezvous in Atlanta in about four of weeks Some of the gear manufactures will be there offering climbing supplies at discounted rates (sometimes they do that).

Looking forward to the Rendezvous!

I bought 150' of Prolite 24 7/16ths. So, should I cut off 4' of my climbing rope to use as a Split Line?

A "4 feet piece" is not long enough for a split tail. You will need around 8 to 10 feet piece for a good working split tail so that you can tie the needed knots, anything shorter is just wasted rope. It will not work for anything.