Mast Climbing using Texas Prussiks

I went up the mast twice this week to do some maintenance and additions; my first time up the mast. I had some old climbing gear around the house so I resurrected it to use the Texas Prussik technique to climb up the jib halyard. Here are some links to the background info on the system.
For additional safety, I ran a second prussik hitch to the main halyard (backup #1), and clipped this into the harness's main locking caribeener. As a second backup, I threw a 1/2" rope around the lower spreaders, hitched another prussik around it, and clipped this prussik off to a second locking caribeener placed around the waist loop of the harness (note; once you ascend above the lower spreaders, you lose backup #3 until you climb high enough to re-loop the 1/2" rope around the upper spreaders).

Anyone who owns, or is a fan of, a bosun's chair would probably not be swayed to switch, but if you don't have either equipment, you can probably pick up a climbing harness, caribeeners and the necessary cordage for about $100. And, I do see some advantages to the prussik technique:
Wear boots--the foot prussiks "strangle" your feet a bit and would be painful in tennis or boat shoes. Also, don't forget the sunscreen......

Kenneth K said:

I went up the mast twice this week to do some maintenance and additions; my first time up the mast. I had some old climbing gear around the house so I resurrected it to use the Texas Prussik technique to climb up the jib halyard. Here are some links to the background info on the system.

http://www.animatedknots.com/prusik/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GWH3lnnl0ro (just the first 1:20 sec of the video....)​

For additional safety, I ran a second prussik hitch to the main halyard (backup #1), and clipped this into the harness's main locking caribeener. As a second backup, I threw a 1/2" rope around the lower spreaders, hitched another prussik around it, and clipped this prussik off to a second locking caribeener placed around the waist loop of the harness (note; once you ascend above the lower spreaders, you lose backup #3 until you climb high enough to re-loop the 1/2" rope around the upper spreaders).

Anyone who owns, or is a fan of, a bosun's chair would probably not be swayed to switch, but if you don't have either equipment, you can probably pick up a climbing harness, caribeeners and the necessary cordage for about $100. And, I do see some advantages to the prussik technique:

1. It's nice to be able to go up solo. I went up the first day with a helper watching. I didn't have anyone scheduled for the second climb, but that didn't hold up my progress. Also, it's nice to know for a single-hander, that you can get up and down the mast unassisted.

2. The prussik technique requires no moving parts on the boat. You just need a solid cleat to secure each halyard--the halyards never move (I double-cleated each halyard--first to the cabin-top cleat, then aft to the mooring cleats). On my boat, all the winches, deck organizers, turning blocks, and mast sheaves are likely original. A failure of any one of these devices would throw a wrench into a bosun-chair climb.​

3. I was told a climbing harness would be uncomfortable (they are designed for arresting falls, not for sitting/hanging for long periods). I was up 2 hours each time and found it to be pretty comfortable. When you place all your weight in the foot prussiks, the harness becomes "unloaded" so it's possible to move it around a little bit to adjust for uncomfortable spots. I also used a piece of webbing as a chest harness (and ran the chest prussik through it--see the second video at 0:20 sec). That way, even if I'd been knocked unconsciousness, I'd be hanging upright in the waist harness.

​

Wear boots--the foot prussiks "strangle" your feet a bit and would be painful in tennis or boat shoes. Also, don't forget the sunscreen......

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Good report!
I use a very similar system (including the 2 back-ups you used - my 'around the mast' backup is tended by a Prussik behind a pulley), but I use a Petzl Ascender. Because it's a bit harsh on the climbing rope, I have a length of arborist climbing rope that haul up on the main halyard, and I climb that. An advantage of the Prussiks is you can go up in the halyards. But they can be a little more fiddle to unload and slid up.
I use a Grigri belaying unit to descend - very quick. It's a bit more of a deal to descend on a couple of Prissiks because they don't 'unlock' unless they are unloaded.
What's your descending protocol?

nquigley said:

But they can be a little more fiddle to unload and slid up.
I use a Grigri belaying unit to descend - very quick. It's a bit more of a deal to descend on a couple of Prissiks because they don't 'unlock' unless they are unloaded.
What's your descending protocol?

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Your comments are right on. Because of my two back-ups, I had 4 prussik knots to move up and down with me. Occasionally, I would forget to move one of the backup knots and get hung up on it. In the interest of safety, it was an inconvenience I could live with. I was surprised my main (waist) prussik never slipped once. As I got more confident, I even let the knot slacken off a bit from where I normally kept it tightened and still, no slippage.

The only problems I had descending were: 1) there is a normally tendency to try too move to fast--if you move the foot prussik down too low as you're descending, you can't fully unweight the chest prussik to lower it. I did this several times. And, 2) It's a bit cumbersome to lower yourself over the spreaders. Sometimes I knelt on the spreaders, sometimes I just placed my feet below them--never perfected a preferred method.

nquigley said:

Good report!
I use a very similar system (including the 2 back-ups you used - my 'around the mast' backup is tended by a Prussik behind a pulley), but I use a Petzl Ascender. Because it's a bit harsh on the climbing rope, I have a length of arborist climbing rope that haul up on the main halyard, and I climb that. An advantage of the Prussiks is you can go up in the halyards. But they can be a little more fiddle to unload and slid up.
I use a Grigri belaying unit to descend - very quick. It's a bit more of a deal to descend on a couple of Prissiks because they don't 'unlock' unless they are unloaded.
What's your descending protocol?

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Diddo on the Petzl performance. Used two ropes raised on separate halyards (Spinnaker & Main) tied with a bowline and not through the shackle. One Petzl went to the climbing harness on one line, and the other Petzl was for chest harness on the other line. I happened to have a web MastMate available and ran it up the mains'l track with the main halyard line, sure made ascending and working aloft a lot easier. Without the MastMate I would have doubled up foot loops with the chest harness. A bit belt and suspenders perhaps 'cuz the fall won't kill you, but the stop at the deck just might.

For descending I just ran the film in reverse. Descending does take longer and you have to be careful not to completely unclip the Petzl at hand. I find the harness much more comfortable as it is easier for me to move around in than a bosuns chair, but that's just me. If you're wanting to try a climbing harness go visit your local REI. They will usually have a rope to test the harnesses and don't seem to mind if you hang out for a bit.

I'll have to dig further for the ol' Grigri, hadn't thought about it at the time.

Max

fool said:

Diddo on the Petzl performance. Used two ropes raised on separate halyards (Spinnaker & Main) tied with a bowline and not through the shackle. One Petzl went to the climbing harness on one line, and the other Petzl was for chest harness on the other line. I happened to have a web MastMate available and ran it up the mains'l track with the main halyard line, sure made ascending and working aloft a lot easier. Without the MastMate I would have doubled up foot loops with the chest harness. A bit belt and suspenders perhaps 'cuz the fall won't kill you, but the stop at the deck just might.

For descending I just ran the film in reverse. Descending does take longer and you have to be careful not to completely unclip the Petzl at hand. I find the harness much more comfortable as it is easier for me to move around in than a bosuns chair, but that's just me. If you're wanting to try a climbing harness go visit your local REI. They will usually have a rope to test the harnesses and don't seem to mind if you hang out for a bit.

I'll have to dig further for the ol' Grigri, hadn't thought about it at the time.

Max

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I got an arborist harness instead of a rock climbing one - much more comfortable to sit in for long periods while fixing something up the mast.
The Grigri is the bomb for descending - the climbing line runs through it as I ascend, so it's 'in place' when you need to descend (no need to hook it into the line ... when you're tired, cold and need to pee, and really want to get down asap). When ready, you load the Grigri with your weight, unhook the ascender (it's on a short tether to the harness so you can just let it hang, or clip it to a loop on the harness). The Grigri lets you control your descent speed, but if your hand slips off it's spring-loaded control lever, the device locks immediately to prevent a fall - in this way, it's much safer than a regular manual belaying device which has to be kept under tension/friction.
Even through I installed a pair of same-height folding mast steps about 3.5' down from the mast head, I can't quite step onto them when I'm at the top of my halyard in the climbing harness, so I also use an etrier (a short webbing stepladder) to step up to and down from the mast steps. I used to just stand on the etrier when working at the top of the mast, but it's uncomfortable underfoot - the 2 mast steps make all the difference ... but it took me about 1.5 hours to install them a couple months ago

nquigley said:

Even through I installed a pair of same-height folding mast steps about 3.5' down from the mast head....

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That's a great idea. I would never consider running steps all the way up the mast, but having two near the masthead would be great.

That was another problem with my prussik setup (which I assume would be the same with a bosun's chair)--it's hard to get your head and shoulders around the shrouds and stays at the top, as well as climbing high enough when your're hanging from a rope dropped from the masthead. I think two steps at the top would do the trick!

Kenneth K said:

That's a great idea. I would never consider running steps all the way up the mast, but having two near the masthead would be great.

That was another problem with my prussik setup (which I assume would be the same with a bosun's chair)--it's hard to get your head and shoulders around the shrouds and stays at the top, as well as climbing high enough when your're hanging from a rope dropped from the masthead. I think two steps at the top would do the trick!

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Positioning the steps needs a little thought. I read discussions about mast steps on several cruising forums before going ahead. There's a range of recommended positions for the top steps - I'm on the short side, so I put mine about 6" higher than the average bear might. For safety and operational efficiency, you want the mast head to line up with about the middle of your ribcage. If the steps are located too low (e.g., putting the masthead at armpit/shoulder height) and you can't easily reach over the masthead and work on stuff up there - you'll have very limited ability to reach around the sides. But, if they're mounted too high, they'll be very hard to get onto, and, for safety reasons, you don't want your center of mass (~belly button?) to be above the masthead.

About 30 years ago I was taking Red Cross Sailing lessons with our local group. They had Cal 20's with no motors to train on. We were out with the class and of course one of the other students let go of the free end of the halyard and up the mast it went. So everyone spent some time trying to figure out how to get the thing back down but of course it was out of reach of every pole or extension we had on board. Being an old climber I grabbed a couple of lengths of line and tied two prussic knots around the mast itself. Luckily the spreader was far enough up the mast that this wasn't a problem. Stuck my feet in the loops and up I went - no safety lines, my plan was just to push off and try to hit the water rather than the deck if I lost it. Coming down I just untied the knots and dropped them to the deck with my legs wrapped around the mast then slid back down like a fireman's pole.

Also used the same technique to go up a flag pole one time, but that's another story when I was younger and dumber.

Kevin Wright
E35 Hydro Therapy