It might sound harsh, but tree climbers don't expect much innovation from a company like Buckingham. Still, the new Buck Throttle has ignited interest among tree climbers seeking alternatives to the NOTCH Rope Runner Pro/Vertec, Rock Exotica Akimbo, Unicender, and the Petzl ZigZag Chicane combo.
Adding grooved cleats in the ..
A few days after first blogging about this subject, Treetools was alerted to overlooked information in the Petzl ZigZag Technical Notice regarding using the ZigZag as a lanyard. See more information in the addendum below.
Just when you think you've heard (and seen) it all, another curly one comes along. A ..
Tree climbers worldwide recognise the 'fern climber' image designed by Zane Wedding as the de facto New Zealand tree climbing icon. But don't take the illustration too literally. Anyone familiar with the Ponga (silver fern) will know the mature tree only grows to about 10m, and it's impossible to climb ..
Arborist rigging blocks, commonly called 'impact blocks', must be configured correctly, and failure to do so can have catastrophic consequences, apart from rendering your device, useless.
Although rigging blocks resemble pulleys and share similar characteristics, they have one significant difference. A pulley is always above the ..
What does the TS no.53420-2021 number on the NOTCH Rope Runner Pro refer to? Let's break it down.
The same TS number is etched onto all Rope Runner Pro's currently in production. 'TS' is the European Standard acronym for Technical Specification.
In tree climbing equipment (and other gear), ..
Introducing innovative new climbing products, such as the Petzl NEOX, opens up further possibilities for climbers. When Petzl introduced this new device, many tree climbers were eager to explore its potential application in tree work, particularly as a mechanical lanyard adjuster.
The Petzl Neox shares ..
The default starting position when defining PPE equipment life span is the Date of Manufacture (DoM) since this data is almost always present on the equipment, usually via the serial number.
However, climbers and gear checkers should note that the ART-product range is ..
There is so much history in the new Kinisi Max harness from DMM, which was made even more poignant with research assistance from Drew Bristow (Fiji) and Sam Smith (New Zealand), both long-time DMM supporters and ..
Petzl France has initiated an inspection notice for Petzl GRILLON products manufactured between October 2023 and December 2023 following the detection of ropes mounted incorrectly in the rope adjuster (back to front). When the lanyard ropes are mounted this way, the Grillon adjuster fails to ..
In late August 2021, Petzl/Spelean (Australia/New Zealand) released a notice reporting several customer returns citing rope slippage on a tiny number of Petzl ZigZag/Zillons produced between 2018 and 2021. By 'tiny', I mean 0.025% of all ..
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