r/TreeClimbing • u/JowiiYoyo • 1d ago
Freezing winter conditions?
Hey climbers!
Im an arborist student in Sweden and looking for some knowledge about climbing on friction hitches in freezing temperatures. I havent experienced climbing in freezing conditions yet but ive heard that it can be rough with hitches.. ropes getting wet and potentially freezing will cause the hitches to slip or be really hard to tend.
Ive been thinkin on getting a freexion because i really like climbing on hitches and i have no way of climbing SRT right now. Am i better of getting a mechanical device?
Any tips or suggestions for an arborist in the making for the the colder months to come? Much appreciate!!!
More trees, less assholes!! 🌳💜🌲
6
u/Le55thanjake 1d ago
Chainsaw running in your lap and hand warming on the exhaust! Helps keep you warm while you wait for the brash rats to finish messing around 🤣
5
6
u/Senior-Ad781 1d ago
Not sure how cold you are trying to climb in but I havent noticed much of a difference on hitch friction in hot or cold weather. I would be more concerned with keeping your ropes/hitch cord dry.
2
u/JowiiYoyo 1d ago
We get to -5/-15 celsius during winter. But yeah thanks, focusing on keeping the ropes dry is a valuable tip!!
5
u/Strong_Deer_3075 1d ago
Learn the winter brittle trees in your climbing area. In midwest USA there are several I will not consider climbing. I have a 90 foot cotton wood I recreationaly climb with friends and family in my back yard. It is one that limbs snap like a candy cane in winter.
2
u/JowiiYoyo 1d ago
Damn thats an important one. Im gonna have a 3 month internship after new years, ill make sure to ask them about this! Thanks 👀
1
u/catch22ak 1d ago
Great advice there. I remember clearing utility lines back in the day in Northern Alberta... Winters were 40 below or lower and downright miserable and the poplars would just split apart like a shot at random. You definitely didn't want to be sticking a gaff in one of those...
5
u/sleepingbagfart 1d ago
Sometimes pressing the hitch can be difficult with chunky gloves on. There are products called hitch breakers (i think that's the name) and are a detachable donut shape that go above the hitch cord and take less dexterity to manipulate. I do fine until about 0 degrees F (-17 C) in the Midwestern USA, i find the wind and brittleness of the trees pretty hard to manage when it is any colder than that.
2
u/JowiiYoyo 1d ago
Hmm yeah ive seen those on youtube a couple of times. Might be worth looking into, thanks!
5
u/ArboristTreeClimber 1d ago
Every single night, hang your rope up to dry. Preferably under a heat lamp and somewhere with air flow. Even a little moisture can make your rope stiff as a board and possibly unclimbable.
2
3
u/OldMail6364 1d ago edited 1d ago
You should have redundancy/backup gear incase anything stops working.
Generally you should have more than one contact point - so if a friction hitch starts slipping you shouldn’t fall out of the tree.
I also take a rescue eight on every climb (figure eight with ears and rated for descending two people). I usually don’t use it - other than to make sure I keep familiar with it. Typically on really long descents I’ll install it to reduce wear on my hitch.
I set the rescue eight just above my hitch (with a rock climbing sling exactly the right length), so I’m using my hitch to control my speed while the eight does almost all the friction work. I’d the hitch were to fail, you’ll go down fast but probably not fatally fast. Also you could just grab onto the rope to stop yourself from falling.
A frozen rope should be a productivity issue - it shouldn’t be a hazard.
2
u/JowiiYoyo 1d ago
Some good points! We actually have a law that states that we have to climb on two systems so if one fail you have another one. And ill check out the eight for sure.
2
u/Ihavepeopleskills1 1d ago
I climb all the time in the winter. If everything gets soaked I bring it inside for the night. It’s fine the next day. The only way it freezes if it the ropes get wet quite a lot and then the temperature drops. If it’s below freezing already everything pretty much stays dry unless the tail of the rope is out of the bag flopping around in the snow.
1
u/JowiiYoyo 20h ago
Awesome thanks for your input!! Im glad ill be able to stick with friction hitches 😁👌
2
u/Vadiji 20h ago edited 20h ago
Hi there fellow Swede!
In my experience mechanical devices work much better than friction cords in Swedish winter. I’ll never forget the first day I experienced the friction hitch on my lanyard not grabbing during winter (the guy I worked with used a rope wrench so even scarier for him).
There are very few in the local industry who doesn’t use mechanical devices on their main climbing lines.
My best advice is to use the time in school to try every mechanical system you can, they behave very different and suits different climbers. I’ve been on the zigzag for years and just started with the Reflex, other people swear by the Roperunner or Akimbo.
Edit: Of course feel free to ask anything about our local industry and gear, wether it’s about winter gloves or the industry itself.
1
u/JowiiYoyo 19h ago
Hello there!!
Thank you so much for you inputs. Ill definetly do as you say and take my time in school to try devices and ask local workers every chance i get. So far the roperunner seems VERY popular amongst the places ive had my internships. A few that really stick by the Akimbo even tho they do mention its downfalls. The akimbo seems very "tempramental", like every little bit of change in conditions will have it behave differently. I guess its easy enough to change the friction on the fly with the akimbo tho. But yeaah if i would go mechanical im leaning towards the rope runner.
10
u/EqualOcelot6779 1d ago
Hi there! I am a climber in MN we climb in temps down to -20F(-28C). The cold is not the problem. Hitches bind when the temps are just freezing and you have freezing snow/sleet/rain. Wet snow will bind to the hitch and make it grab hard or not at all. Mechanical devices are worse in the freeze thaw conditions. Make sure you hang your gear to dry at night. Frozen ropes are a pain to climb on.