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| Messages 1 - 11 of total 11 in this topic |
Fritz
Social climber
Choss Creek, ID
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Topic Author's Original Post - Oct 16, 2018 - 07:36pm PT
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I learned about the Z- pulley system from the book Mountaineering! The Freedom of the Hills, in 1970, for glacier crevasse rescue. I saw it employed later that year on Mt. Rainier, but I've never used it for a climbing rescue.
Instead, after a fellow river-guide wrapped a raft on a big rock on the Middle Fork Salmon in 1972, I showed the non-climbing guides how to set a Z-Pulley up & gain a 3 to 1 mechanical advantage for river rescue. I've used it twice since for river rescue, but have also used it for stretching fence wire & hauling trees out of the creek on our ranchette.
It got used again yesterday, after we cut a big branch out of a creekside Russian Olive with our pole prunning saw, but the branch jammed up high in the tree.
Of course the Z-pulley worked like a charm.
Fritz's Z-pulley rig, closed up for the photo. The top rope-slip anchor is a Petzel ascender & the bottom, is of course, the traditional prussic.
The system anchor is a substantial Hackberry tree, native to the Choss Creek area.
Heidi demonstrating the system.
We cut the high limb out with our pole-prunner at maximum-extension & managed a clean cut, but when the branches hit the creek, the butt jammed against the tree-trunk.
After using the z-pulley's 3 to 1 mechanical advantage & pulling hard for a few minutes, we managed to pull the top of the branch towards us & the base dislodged from the cut at top-center & lodged again lower. No problem, I got it on the ground after a few more minutes of work.
On the ground at last. I took down the system & staggered home, then went back & cut up the limb & hauled it to our cordwood & burn pile today.
And a Halloween moment. The skull & bones in the background of the 3rd photo are on Heidi's new work project, the Skull Trail, which is named for the skeletal remains of rockchucks who passed on, nearby.
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fear
Ice climber
hartford, ct
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Oct 16, 2018 - 07:49pm PT
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The only feasible way for one person to raise another is a Z+C setup with real pulleys.... The friction is just too much to overcome generally with a straight Z on a dude in a crevasse scenario. Thankfully we've only had to practice this in real slots with bomber anchors easily accessible.
Try this next time for fun...
http://images.summitpost.org/original/700712.jpg
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NutAgain!
Trad climber
South Pasadena, CA
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Oct 17, 2018 - 04:22pm PT
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Tree climbing skills plus basic rope rigging makes rainy days around the picnic table more cheery and sociable:
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skywalker1
Trad climber
co
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Oct 17, 2018 - 05:18pm PT
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I guess on the domestic front for setting up my solar clothes dryer. Many others but no photos.
Some sky chair help.
Cheers!
S...
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Fossil climber
Trad climber
Atlin, B. C.
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Oct 18, 2018 - 04:40pm PT
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Old climbing gear is really useful boating. Ropes, for anchor or mooring. "Biners" for all sorts of things. I've kept a pulley system in my boat for hauling it up on the beach with rollers if needed, and used it twice to change dinged props.
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Fritz
Social climber
Choss Creek, ID
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Topic Author's Reply - Oct 18, 2018 - 05:04pm PT
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Thanks all for your stories.
When we bought our 5-acre “ranchette” in Choss Creek in 1991, there had been little recent landscaping done, since the owners had moved years before & rented the property to “white-trash.”
Heidi, with her Germanic background & strong appreciation for tidiness, led the charge to clean up the grounds. The house was nearly overgrown with vines & when we cleaned up the vines, we discovered numerous old 4” to 12” tree-stumps on the slope above our front walk.
Our front walk & house in September 1991, after I had killed the evil vine & we were starting to chop out the vegetation.
Heidi would have been content with us digging & chopping out the small, but not especially rotten stumps, but I had a better idea. We would dig the stumps out on the high side next to the house & I’d pull them from 100’ away in our driveway, with my 4-Runner, using a retired 11mm climbing rope.
It was great fun for we adrenaline junkies.
I usually would back-up aggressively in 4-WD & have a little slack in the stretchy rope. When a stump would break free with an explosion of dirt, I would back up as quickly as possible, as the elastic-band effect of the rope whipped the 10 – 40 lb. stump high in the air & of course towards me & the 4-Runner’s hood & windshield. I never had one hit me, but a 10 pounder hit beside the truck on one occasion.
Here's how the stump-pulling area above our front walk looked by 1993 with Heidi & a cat inspecting the progress.
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bobinc
Trad climber
Portland, Or
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Oct 18, 2018 - 05:29pm PT
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That must be Harley's predecessor.
I, too, have employed the Z-drag to extricate a boat or two.
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ontheedgeandscaredtodeath
Social climber
Wilds of New Mexico
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Oct 18, 2018 - 05:53pm PT
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My feet about 100+ feet up in an eagle's nest.
Probably a 5.8/5.9 mantle to get up into it. I tied off to the trunk below the nest with a Pakistani death loop and fired it. Bagging eagles for the USFS- a biologist protect.
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Fritz
Social climber
Choss Creek, ID
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Topic Author's Reply - Oct 18, 2018 - 08:02pm PT
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Again! Thank you folks, for sharing your stories!
Bobinc! That cat with Heidi was part of the semi-wild Mom-cat & kittens that adopted us in 1991, after Heidi's urban cat did not survive the local coyotes. Mom & the two kittens we kept survived & prospored for many years. Spunky, in the previous photo was the world's toughest cat, with some significant bobcat traits.
Spunky & Heidi 2002.
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skywalker1
Trad climber
co
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Oct 19, 2018 - 12:33am PT
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I remember my Dad pulling stumps to clear the 5 acres he bought using an old Scout. I know he told us to get down! We were little kids. LOL
Yeah gosh when I was training to be a raft guide I had been a climber for some time and I would show many "seasoned" guides all sorts of rope tricks even though they were leading the training and I knew nothing about whitewater.
Climbing if its in your blood transcends the common. When you think like a climber.... its a great skill set for everyday life.
S.....
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Longstick
Social climber
Seattle, WA
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Oct 19, 2018 - 11:10am PT
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| Messages 1 - 11 of total 11 in this topic |
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