Mast Climbing - single handed

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Ian_Rob

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I have a piece of kit that I made for climbing my mast - basically a homemade version of the Easy Climb. This works by pushing up with the legs on a plywood 'step' whilst someone takes up the slack on a line attached to a bosun's chair. I would like to be able climb my mast single handed. Any reason why attaching the bosun's chair to the mainsail halyard with a jumar whilst using the "easy climb" to push up with feet wouldn't work? I think this would be easier than just using two jumars with footslings particularly when working at the top of the mast.
 
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If you go up the mast single handed....
Just something to reflect on - what happens if the one jumar fails while you are up the mast? - just a thought.
As a youngster I did a lot of potholing. The top jumar was always connected to the bottom jumar with a piece of 10mm climbing rope - just in case one of them failed. I have seen this happen once - 200ft up Gaping Gill in Yorkshire - the guy survived.
Another option is a prussic knot on a separate halyard
Your board idea sounds good for working at the top of the mast.
2 jumars also allows you to descend on your own - simply reverse the stand sit
Good video here
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rjjY_XoxA5U
Good luck and fair winds
John
 
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I had assumed that by unloading the jumar that it was possible to slide it down in steps but I am not so sure? There does seem to be climbing kit (grigri) that can be used in combination with the jumar to give controlled descent but it is getting a bit complicated.
 
Way back in the mists of time before tree work became compicated, we would toss a rope over a limb, tie a bowline to the harness and with a tail from the bowline tie a prussic to the other side of rope and finish of fwith stopper knot - with this set up we could hoist ourselves up and release prussic to descend. I've used it for mast work with rope through pulley at top of mast, but you need faith in the pulley .... (as we needed faith in the branches we used as anchor).
 
Ian_Rob said:
Apparently a grigri is feasible but it looks complicated and precarious
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I have been using an ascender and a GriGri 2 for solo mast climbing for a couple of years now I find it really works well. Foot loop onto the ascender with the Grigri underneath, piece of cake.

A Prusik safety on a separate halyard is a sensible precaution but once you are used to the Grigri it makes climbing and especially decent really easy.
 
Hi Ian, I use a mini ascender ( similar to https://www.petzl.com/GB/en/Sport/Ascenders/BASIC#.Vq8hofmLSM8 ) and on the bottom of this I have a DMM Revolver Carabiner, this does the job of the anodised blue pulley you have identified in the video. Nothing wrong with the setup in the video I have just managed to reduce the items needed by one by using a dual purpose carabiner/pully.

Hope this helps, it's hard to explain without pics and the kit is on the boat.
 
Coastguard cliff-rescue teams use the Gri-Gri; not for full descent (they are lowered and hauled up from the cliff top) but for fine height adjustment to work on a casualty on the cliff face.
 
Ian_Rob said:
I had assumed that by unloading the jumar that it was possible to slide it down in steps but I am not so sure? There does seem to be climbing kit (grigri) that can be used in combination with the jumar to give controlled descent but it is getting a bit complicated.
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You can descend fine with jumars but be aware that the cams have spikes that grip the rope so it's easy to pull a thread on the mantle. I bought a petzl shunt for this reason.

Don't forget to draw and inspect your halyards before you climb them. It's not uncommon for them to wear inside the mast.

I find it a lot easier jumar with the halyard attached to the foot of the mast and pre-tensioned on a winch (and cleated!)
 
To avoid wear on the halyards and to ensure I have the correct size of rope for the ascender and more importantly the GriGir I have a climbing rope the length of the mast that I haul up on one halyard and use that for climbing. The safety (Prusik) is on a second halyard.

I did try and use the Grigri on a halyard that had suffered some UV degradation on the outside braid and it was very jerky in lowering. Climbing ropes are generally smooth and soft on the outside.
 
SteveSarabande said:
With a spare rope you could just abseil down, far easier than reverse jumaring
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That's what we advocate with the MastaClimba. Make sure you transfer your weight onto the figure of eight (Anka better) while you are still otherwise supported.

Your abseil line can be hoisted with the same halyard you climb on (or the static line if you are using one).
 
Ruffles said:
You can descend fine with jumars but be aware that the cams have spikes that grip the rope so it's easy to pull a thread on the mantle. I bought a petzl shunt for this reason.
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Yes a shunt is a fantastic piece of kit, use with jumars or prussik knots for added safety in ascent and descent.
Less complicated and probably cheaper than a Grigi too.
 
I was kindly given a climbing rope and harness by my tree surgeon brother and a lesson on how to use it. But basicaly i use the main halyard and topping lift together to hoist the climbing rope to the top of the mast. i use both for peace of mind. One end of the climbing rope is clipped to the harness and the other is just left hanging lose. Another shorter line comes off the harness and is tied to the lose end of the climbing rope with a prusic knot. You then thrust your hips as you push the prussic knot up the climbing rope. Every time your weight comes back on the prusic knot the friction prevents it from slipping. When you want to come down you just grip the top of the prusic knot and pull it down in increments until you are back on deck. The harness he gave me is a tree surgeons seat type and very comfortable. It also has an extra piece of rope to clip around the mast to keep me against the mast for if i need to go up at sea. It is quite a labour intensive method and takes me a while to get up but my brother will shoot to the top in a matter of seconds and literally falls back down in a controlled maner
 
Does the shunt have to be used together with a figure of eight?

Also came across the upgraded version of a Petzl zigzag which looks very simple and easy to use but expensive. It is difficult to tell from the videos but it appears not to rely on any toothed mechanism which would be kinder to the halyards.

There is a good video of the original version [which had some safety issues] at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PoRtzvmfKMY
 
I have a very long piece of rope threaded through some spare tackle to give me a 4:1 purchase and I just pull myself up! When I get where I want I jam the line and run it upwards through a carabiner which is also around the other four lengths of line, to prevent accidental un-jamming. I also put a prussik round another halyard in case I should get vertigo and let go the rope.
 
PotatoNavigator said:
I have a very long piece of rope threaded through some spare tackle to give me a 4:1 purchase and I just pull myself up! When I get where I want I jam the line and run it upwards through a carabiner which is also around the other four lengths of line, to prevent accidental un-jamming. I also put a prussik round another halyard in case I should get vertigo and let go the rope.
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I like this idea but you are relying on two blocks not breaking. The normal method with a rope over the sheaves seems safer. I suppose if the blocks are in good condition they are just as strong though.
 
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