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Mast Climbing

Original Post
Chuck B · · San Rafael, CA · Joined Mar 2018 · Points: 0

Hello! I’m a sailor and need to go up my mast. I’d like consult with an experienced climber on choosing equipment and answering my safety questions. More than happy of course to pay for the guidance.

Why am I wanting to consult with a climber? Climbing equipment has better standards and testing than marine equipment. And sailors just don’t know as much about climbing and vertical fall safety considerations. Plus, I’d just feel warm and fuzzy having the added wisdom of the climbing disciplines.

Unfortunately I don’t personally know any climbers, so I’m hunting for someone who’d be willing to spend some time with me. I reached out to two local climbing schools and they won’t touch me.

What do you suggest would be the best way for me to find a climber to talk with about this? Or would you recommend a completely different approach?

Thanks for your help.

Chuck

chris blatchley · · woodinville, wa · Joined Sep 2016 · Points: 6

you can jumar up the halyard.

Here's a guide using a product: https://www.westmarine.com/WestAdvisor/Mastclimber

If you want to make one yourself, buy one ascender for each hand. You can get a bosuns chair for pretty cheap. Use some accessory cord or flat webbing from REI or wherever to make the foot loops.

maybe also consider instead of using two ascenders, opt for one ascender and a grigri since, as i hadn't realized at first, you will want to get back down afterwards. here's a good video demonstrating the process.

good luck, YGD!

Matt Himmelstein · · Orange, CA · Joined Jun 2014 · Points: 194

Marine hardwear is made for marine environments, climbing hardware is not.  Yeah, climbers are more focused on moving vertically than sailors, but sailors have been ascending masts for way longer than anything resembling modern climbing has existed.

Devin Quince · · Longmont · Joined Jun 2011 · Points: 10

bosun chair?

chris blatchley · · woodinville, wa · Joined Sep 2016 · Points: 6
Matt Himmelstein wrote:

Marine hardwear is made for marine environments, climbing hardware is not.  Yeah, climbers are more focused on moving vertically than sailors, but sailors have been ascending masts for way longer than anything resembling modern climbing has existed.

the jumars in the marine specific product are made from aluminum and stainless steel, same as the petzl jumars. probably should be ok as long as they are inspected regularly and stored in an airtight container.

John Barritt · · The 405 · Joined Oct 2016 · Points: 1,083
Devin Quince wrote:

bosun chair?

Aka, the original "your arse is in a sling" device....... ;)

Handy for looooong routes with multiple hanging belays.

Jim Titt · · Germany · Joined Nov 2009 · Points: 490

In the boatyard we always (when we didn´t use the crane) used a length of 10mm (9mm is fine as well) static rope hauled up with TWO halyards, a Petzl rope clamp and a GriGri. Unless you are going to work for hours up there a bosuns chair is a pain to ascend in and swing around, a climbing harness is better and a couple of foot loops, for most of the work at the masthead you want to be as high as possible and bosuns chairs don´t cut it.

Chuck B · · San Rafael, CA · Joined Mar 2018 · Points: 0

Hello all, thank you for all the thoughtful input.

Here's an example of issues facing marine equipment: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/2018/03/14/safety-tether-clip-caution/

"...testers were able to devise a combination of twists and bumps that could dislodge every sailing tether hook in our comparison with less than 30 pounds of force."

"Loading a nose-hooked snap hook was the easiest way for our testers to duplicate the bend described in Mr. Speirs’ tether snap hook, which was recovered after the accident. This test is similar to one that has long been required of certified via ferrata climbing tether carabiners."

I looked into the ATN Mastclimber a while back. Google around a bit and you'll find some interesting reading of people's experiences with it. A home-brewed solution may work well - the clamp & grigri combo seems promising - though I'd still want a little hand-holding from someone who knows what they're doing before I'd feel confident with a self-devised system.

Jim - When you have your ascension line hoisted by two halyards, am I correct in understanding that this wouldn't protect against a failure of the ascension line? What if you had two separate lines, one on each halyard, using one for ascension and the other as a backup - perhaps using a fall arrestor and/or dynamic from the backup line to the harness? I'm not a climber so I could totally be speaking nonsense.

Also, what knot do you use for securing the ascension line to the halyard?

Chuck

Andrew Rice · · Los Angeles, CA · Joined Jan 2016 · Points: 11

I'm a sailor and a climber, both. Honestly, the safety issues of going up a mast have to do with the basic sailboat mast rigging, not what kind of harness you sit in. Rock climbers who aren't sailors aren't going to know about what is actually important. And while many of us could probably scamper up a mast, free-solo, just because we're good a climbing things, that's not your real question.

The oldest technique in the book is just to clip yourself to the halyard (preferably two of them) and get winched up. The other way is to winch up a static line (also prefereably on two seperate halyards for redundancy) secure the bottom well, and then use ascenders to climb up. If you need info on proper jugging up a static line there's lots of that online. 

Guideline #1: Don't be a jerk.

Beginning Climbers
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