jumar ascenders up the mast???

[briangsmith]

OK, so i used to climb mountains when i was a kid... and we had these nifty mechanical rope-ascenders called 'jumars'- you wore a chest harness and stirrups and slid one up at a time on a 9mm or 11mm climbing rope...
and so i'm wondering... is there any reason why one can't use such a system on one's synthetic rope halyards to climb the mast for repairs, to retreive errant rigging, etc??? i'm a single-hander and, frankly, can't think of any better, or simpler, system for my needs!

has anybody tried this?? (hey, i'm already wearing a harness on deck
anyhow!)

bgs

 

[Geoff Johnson]

That's basically the idea of the ATN TopClimber, one jumar for the seat and another for the footstraps allowing you to inch your way up.

 

[mark reed]

Brian,

I'm another old climber, and I've used my old Jumars and climbing harness to climb the mast many times. I clip the Jumars onto my spin halyard, stand in one and sit on the other as I go up. Ideally, I also clip into the spare jib halyard and have my wife take in slack on that as I climb. But in a pinch I can go up alone. I have heard that other brands of ascenders (Gibbs?) are kinder to the line than Jumars, but I prefer to use what I already own!

 

[Chris Miller]

we prefer 3 people

Just as a thought...
We prefer 3 people when somebody goes up. One to climb, one to grind, and a third to watch the person climbing so that the grinder can watch the winch both going up and while easing. I know it's tough to get extra folks sometimes, but it's better than having an issue and being alone.
Just a safety thought,
Chris

 

[Guy Stevens]

Yeah but why?

these nifty mechanical rope-ascenders called 'jumars'- you wore a chest harness and stirrups and slid one up at a time on a 9mm or 11mm climbing rope...
and so i'm wondering... is there any reason why one can't use such a system

You can do it that way. However there are a couple of issues, the big one NO SAFETY LINE! You need to have two liines connected to you when you go aloaft. One to ascend on, and one to be a safety. Stuff on the top and bottoms of masts does come undone, and people do fall to their deaths.

I have seen this done with two halyards and three Jumars (TM) or Mechanical ascenders the one set of two is used to climb the mast, and the third is set up as a safet. I have gone up a mast this way and it was slow going, and a lot of work to get to the top.

Better in my opnion is a good 4 or 6 to one tackle and enough line to hoist it to the top of the mast, then if there is absolutely no way that you can get anyone aboard to handle your second line, you could use one mechanical ascender as a safety line on another halyard.

Guy

 

[u079721]

Link to my article

Guy is right to be concerned about the safety line.

For those who haven't seen it, allow me to again post a link to the online version of "Up the Mast", an article that I wrote for Good Old Boat magazine (later republished in Ocean Navigator) on techniques for going up your mast.

http://www.boatus.com/goodoldboat/upthemast.htm

I too prefer a block and tackle arrangement, but that may change as I get a bit older. (sad grin...) There are lots of mountaineering techniques that are applicable for us sailors - just take your time and be careful, use a safety line, and if possible use a seat harness, not a bosun's chair (hate those things).

As for the Gibbs ascenders, I like them too - but then I should, as the guy is my second cousin or something like that out in Utah.

 

[Sean Engle]

avi of Snapping Halyard + Going 'Splat' on the Deck

A few years ago there was an avi file going around of a guy going up a mast (real footage, shot by a friend). He sounded like he was from SoCal - saying the word 'dude' every fifteen seconds...

Anyhow - he was joking around, etc - and as he got near the masthead, there was a loud 'pop' - and he fell downward about a foot - and exclaimed 'ahhh dude, the rope broke!'. The safety arrested his fall.

I was always struck how that avi could have turned out to be a journal of the guys death or um, 'retreat from society'.

One note on climbing versus ascending the mast - you climbers, I am told, allow some amount of flexibility in your lines so that if you fall, you're arrested without the jolt of the line. You should not use climbing lines when you go up the mast. If that line opens stretches a couple of feet, permitting you to hit the boom, spreaders or other component - you've really not solved the problem.

I myself (echoing others) used a set of Harken ratching blocks on 150' of good braid, one of the Brion Toss climbing harnesses + a Petzel ascender on the safety to arrest my fall in the event of a failure. I kept the whole mess in a climbing bag; basically copying a system I saw my rigger use.

I could have friends haul me up (but at much less of a burden to them) or I could pull myself up, with the Petzel following me like a puppy. Plus, the halyards never took a beating, and I knew their state when I hauled the blocks up the mast, and the hardness permitted me to move anyway I wished - without any fear of falling down or out of the harness - so that I could focus on the work (this is also the system Toss reccomends).

Remember - it only takes one failure.

My $0.02...

//sse

 

[briangsmith]

thanks all.. as i single-hand this is an important decision..
some sort of ascenders with a safety back-up then..
will work on it over the winter while she's parked in the
driveway, mast down! (winter comes all too soon here
in alaska- sailing season only about may through sept/
early october)

bgs