Working Climber Series One DVD

Disk one: "The Throwline" One hour long. Types of line and weights used. Methods of knotting the throwline and weight. Styles of throwing; underhand, cradle, boomerang, hammer throw. Methods of storage; hand coiling, collapsible cube, bucket, line mug. Considerations in crotch selection from the ground. Methods of attaching and pulling in the climbline. Setting and retrieving a friction saver, several different ways. Setting a remote anchor TIP(tie-in point). Electrical hazards associated with setting lines in trees. Hazards associated with pulling out a stuck weight. And a few alternative devices used for setting lines are demonstrated. The Big Shot, bow and arrow, crossbow, retriever trainer and 45-70 line gun.

Disk two: Title 1, "Entering The Tree" 37 minutes long. Starts with old school double line setups. Which include the tautline hitch and Blake's hitch utilizing the tail of the climbline for both attachment and the friction hitch. Advances to the split tail system and the marked advantages. The French Prusik, aka machard, with minding pulley and citing the certain advantages. It's the cats meow. Adapting the Pantin and rope grabs into a double line system. Demonstrations of how to set the Lock Jack, Uniscender, Spider Jack and Gri Gri onto the climbline. For use as a friction hitch replacement, advantages and disadvantages each device. Finally fnishing up with the foot lock method of entering the tree and exiting. In all climbing systems demonstrated I show how to tie the basic knots used in each. The strength of the presentation is focused on systems and techniques, and not all the possible knots that could be used.

Disk two: Title 2, "Spur and Flip Line Climbing" 35 minutes. Tools and techniques used in the traditional old school method of hooking it up the tree. Broke down in many related topics. The spurs themselves, nomenclature of the parts. Importance of the right boots for spur climbing. Sharpening the spurs. Bark conditions conducive to the technique, and not. Flip line, laynard, construction and methods of adjusting length. Climbing small stems up to very big. Double lanyard techniques. Many practical examples of spur and flip line technique are demonstrated.

Disk two: Title 3, "SRT" (single rope technique) Discussions of the tools and methods used by most recreational climbers today. I don't go into all the gadgetry that's available and used. It's just too much and constantly changing. But I do present and demo a half a dozen or so of the more common srt systems used for single line ascent and descending. Frog system, Pump system, Sit system, Rope walker system and the RAD system. The discussions and demos are enough for anyone to get a good grasp of the idea behind SRT. After which one could mull over which direction to take and refine or tweak a system for themselves.

Disk three: "Using the Climbline" 87 minutes in length. This title is broken down into many topics and discussion. Some lengthy and some not. TIP selection in the tree (much different than when setting from the ground) Working tie-in point considerations. Advancing the climbline overhead. Crotch selection, tight crotches, sucker tops, spindly tops, ascending limbs, drooping limbs. Different ways to set the friction saver in the tree, and the many advantages of the adjustable friction saver. Several different ways to set and retrieve a climbline REDIRECT. Theory of line angles and weight supporting factors for getting out and working on limbs. Several methods of setting ropes afar and traversing, for horizontal movement. And last "Exiting the tree".