Climbing Rope Eye Splice

[doc holiday13]

So I'm getting into this saddle hunting thing and seeing companies making a crap ton of money on their tree tethers and lineman ropes. Selling point IMO is the spliced eye. Cleaner look. eye splices retain 90% of the rope strength vs 80% with a knot. But damn they're making money hand over fist on those 8ft sections. They charge even more for smaller 8mm and 9mm ropes. I'm seeing an 8ft section of rope with a carabiner and prusik knot selling for $75. you can buy 150 ft of static 9mm for like $100-120. So i started looking at my old rock climbing gear and started learning the art of splicing kernmantle type climbing rope. I think I might have the hang of it now. I've screwed up 2 but now successfully done 3. 2 of them were on 9mm static line and 1 on 11mm dynamic rope. I've had climbing ropes sitting around for awhile now because I used to rock climb in my younger years and my ropes were still in great condition.

 

[mgstucson]

I made these about 20+ years ago as safety rope attachment to tree for traditional climbing tree stands. This one has been used countless times and is still as good as the day I made it. That way I was tethered to the tree from the ground up. Never a fall risk while climbing or sitting/standing in stand. They are made out of 1/4" stainless aircraft cable with a loop on each end. (had them custom made at local wire rope shop for under $10 each and rated for thousands of pounds. They call them "slings" and they make them for industry all the time.) Then I slid a piece of 1" tublar webbing over it, lashed the ends with orange nylon cord. The loose 1" nylon webbing is quite "grabby" on tree bark and usually stays where you put it. The aircraft cable always holds itself in a natural coil (as in pic below), so it is not easily tangled on anything in storage or in use. Light enough, cannot accidently get severed by anything in the woods, it is quiet in use even on metal climbing tree stands. I used it in exactly the same way saddle hunters today use their tree tethers except I never used a prusik, I just moved the tether up or down the tree to adjust height or tension. (Although I often use prusiks with my rock climbing gear and prusiks can work with these with proper precautions observed for using prusiks, end stopping, etc.)