No21 SRT Banzai (Hooray for SRT)
SRT anchoring is a strategy that contains Access,
Work Positioning and Traversing movement.
SRT climbers do not need extra equipment like Ddrt climbers do because SRT climbers integrate anchors into their climb line.
Some anchors incorporate karabiners so are safer when the climber is close to them, others, tied with knots, allow the climber to safely move far away from them.
Some are retrievable and others are not.
Ddrt anchoring is simple and limiting.
SRT anchoring is more complex and a lot more liberating.
Hooray for SRT.
Day by day SRT climbers are finding more uses for the stationary aspect of the SRT rope.
1 SRT rope gives the climber many options for safe climbing and work positioning.
The green and blue lines in the diagram show possibilities for the red line.
1 Trunk anchor
2 Natural load sharing re-directs
3 Working anchor
4 & 4a Traverse line with temporary anchor
5 & 6 Load-transfering re-direct
7 Retrievable re-direct
Things to learn and think about
Knots - “A knot is never tied half right.
It is either tied correctly or disastrously wrong” - Clifford Ashley
Learn to tie:
Double Loop Running Bowline
Alpine Butterfly
Scaffold Knot
Zeppelin Bend
EDK (European Death Knot)
Double Fishermans
Hardware -
Anchor rings - 34mm and 40mm.
Triple locking karabiners keep the climber safe at a close distance.
How about quadruple locking karabiners, are they safe enough to be out of sight or should we remove karabiners from the anchor?
Locations -
Bottom Trunk, High Trunk, Crown.
Tree Type -
Size of tree and type of bark = amount of friction.
Configurations -
New anchor ideas must follow certain base lines for good configuration.
1- Karabiners must never be side loaded.
2- Tree Climbers weight and then un-weight their anchors, this means MOVEMENT at the anchor.
Anchors must be free to move without unsafe loading of their components or becoming loose.
3- An anchor is either in-sight or out-ofsight.
4- Only reputable and strength stamped components should be used.
Strategy
There are different tying methods for different tasks and different trees.
Where the climber IS and where they want to GO TO influences anchor choice.
So does the trees morphology and state of health/strength.
Risk Assessment
A climbing risk assessment should be split into 2 categories, that of Access and Work Positioning.
Access refers to the initial upward movement to obtain the working anchor point.
The access line should not be allowed to interfere with the working process.
This means that work positioning trunk anchor systems must be considered carefully.
ANCHOR EXAMPLES
TRUNK ANCHOR systems
Tying the line to the bottom of the trunk brings many benefits to SRT climbers.
It is easy to install because the climber need not isolate 1 branch and it is easy to retrieve because their is no hardware in the tree.
There are disadvantages, a line that runs through many parts of the tree will become out of sight and can inadvertently enter the working and cutting zone.
Set your trunk anchor carefully so that the anchor leg either runs tight to the trunk or far away from the work zone.
Working End Trunk Anchor
1
Components
34 or 40mm anchor ring - Scaffold knot - DMM Durolock karabiner
Configuration
Tie the working end to the anchor ring with a Scaffold knot. Take a wrap of line around the trunk, pass a bight through the ring
and install the karabiner.
Consideration
Make sure that the rope has been pulled tight.
Thin and smooth barked trees will need 2 wraps.
2
Components
Double loop running bowline
Configuration
Take a wrap of line around the trunk and tie the Double Loop Running Bowline.
Consideration
Make sure that the rope has been pulled tight.
Thin and smooth barked trees will need 2 wraps.
Mid Line Trunk Anchor
1
Components
40mm anchor ring - midline girth hitch - sinnet chain and half hitch - triple locking karabiner
Configuration
Girth hitch the ring, take a wrap of line around the trunk, tie the sinner chain to the ring and secure the end with half hitch knot and karabiner.
Consideration
Make sure that the rope has been pulled tight.
Thin and smooth barked trees will need 2 wraps.
Here is how to tie it….
CROWN ANCHOR systems
1
Components
Double loop running bowline
Configuration
Pass the working end over a crotch and tie the double loop running bowline.
Consideration
The cinching aspect to this knot is easily opened when the line is unweighted, causing the loop to slip down, if there is no crotch then wrap the line twice around the stem.
The knot can be feasibly tied with a 2M tail hanging out of the knot for short distance retrieving.
2
Components
Alpine Butterfly
Configuration
Pass the working end over a crotch, tie an alpine butterfly in the standing end and pass the working end through it.
Consideration
The cinching aspect to this knot is easily opened when the line is unweighted, causing the loop to slip down, if there is no crotch then wrap the nline twice around the stem.
3
Components
Alpine butterfly, Pinto pulley, triple locking karabiner.
Configuration
Pass the working end over a crotch, tie an alpine butterfly in the standing end and attach the pinto pulley and karabiner as shown.
Consideration
The cinching aspect to this knot is easily opened when the line is unweighted, causing the loop to slip down, if there is no crotch then wrap the line twice around the stem.
The karabiner must be positioned with the nose pointing down and the gate pointing out.
HIGH TRUNK ANCHOR systems
1
Components
34mm anchor ring, 2x triple locking karabiners, scaffold knot or splice.
Configuration
Tie a scaffold knot to the ring, pass a bight through the ring, pull tight and install 2 opposed karabiners.
Consideration
Both karabiners should have a downward facing nose.
Opposing the gates lessens the chance of them opening.
It feels natural to push the bight from the back of the ring but this makes retrieving difficult or impossible as the retrieving force squashes the ring on to the rope.
Tie the end of the rope to the karabiner to retrieve.
2
Components
Alpine Butterfly, Pinto pulley, triple locking karabiner.
Configuration
Pass the working end over a crotch, tie an alpine butterfly in the standing end and attach the pinto pulley and karabiner as shown.
Consideration
The cinching aspect to this knot is easily opened when the line is unweighted, causing the loop to slip down, if there is no crotch then wrap the line twice around the stem.
The karabiner must be positioned with the nose pointing down and the gate pointing out.
3
Components
Double loop running bowline
Configuration
Pass the working end over a crotch and tie the double loop running bowline.
Consideration
The cinching aspect to this knot is easily opened when the line is unweighted, causing the loop to slip down, if there is no crotch then wrap the line twice around the stem.
The knot can be feasibly tied with a 2M tail hanging out of the knot for short distance retrieving.
4
Components
Alpine Butterfly
Configuration
Pass the working end around the trunk, tie an alpine butterfly in the standing end and pass the working end through it.
Consideration
The cinching aspect to this knot is easily opened when the line is unweighted, causing the loop to slip down, if there is no crotch then wrap the line twice around the stem.
JOINING ROPES
There are times when you mis-judge the tree and rope length compatibility or feel that adding extra length at the bottom trunk anchor may abate certain risks.
The following three knots, when tied well, are safe to use.
1 Double Fishermans knot is the most secure because it tightens so strongly.
You may need touse a marlin spike to untie it.
2 The European Death Knot or EDK so called because it looks non-professional.
When tied correctly with long tails (80cm) it is perfectly safe and has a low profile that makes it pass through crotches easily.
3 The Zeppelin Bend also has a low profile, tie with tails of at least 60cm.
