Spent 4 hours climbing a 100-foot oak only to realize my rope was twisted the whole time

I was up there for an hour trying to figure out why my friction hitch kept jamming (super frustrating), then I came down and saw the rope had a full twist in it from when I flaked it out of my truck bed. Has anyone else wasted a whole morning on a simple rope management mistake like that?

3 comments

3 Comments

owens.cameron23d ago

Yeah, "simple rope management mistake" really hits home... it's like how I'll spend 20 minutes looking for my phone while I'm literally holding it in my hand. Or how I once drove an extra 15 miles because I didn't double check my GPS was set right. It's like the little things we skip because we think they're too basic to matter, but those are exactly the things that end up eating your whole day. It's like a pattern where you get so focused on the big goal, the climb, that you ignore the small stuff that actually makes it all work.

patriciareed23d ago

Ugh that is so frustrating lol. My buddy Dave did something similar last summer. He was all set to climb this big pine tree out in his parents backyard, he had his rope all flaked out on a tarp and everything looked perfect. Well he spent a good 45 minutes fighting his system up the tree, getting stuck, dropping stuff, the whole deal. Finally he comes down and realizes his rope had a massive tangle inside the bag we had put it in the night before, he never even looked inside. He just assumed it was fine since it was flaked on the tarp. The whole climb was basically a waste and he was so mad he just packed up and went home lol. It's always the dumb little stuff that gets you.

the_adam23d ago

Make sure you learn the over-under method for flaking rope, because a twist in the line will haunt you the whole climb. How many times have you caught yourself rushing the setup, knowing full well it's going to bite you later?