VT Prusik TESTED: Here are our results 

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More arborist material would be great, there are so many techniques and sooo much specific gear we use and it would be great to see when and how these fail. The forces on (personal or rigging) anchors could be super interesting, the behavior of various gear under dynamic loads, how spliced eyes fail, could go on for ages with ideas. Could even send some materials to test if you are cool to break them, I think quite a few 'tree people' would appreciate that.

As a climber I love to see more arborist and other industry stuff here. There must be tons of interesting gear there that I've never heard about yet :)

I hope this guy becomes a permanent how not 2 crew member, his stoke for testing gear is awesome.

Yay! Finally made it to Arborist material, well done 😀. There's probably more than 50 friction hitches like the VT that are used by Arborists. It would be rad to do a comparison of the most popular 5-20. Also, the basal anchor with the carabiner is pretty controversial in the industry especially for rigging. I don't have an issue doing it on larger diameter wood but it would be cool to break test choking configurations on different diameter wood. With and without a half hitch before it. Also some pretty interesting topics with regards to loading comparing stationary rope systems to moving rope systems. Too much cool stuff to get into

Good job guys. Your test results are consistent with others that have been done since the VT Prusik was introduced. Also, thank you for the acknowledgement, but it's not completely accurate. I learned how to make a valdotain/valdostano in Europe back in the 90s. We took a length of dynamic climbing rope and pulled out two core strands, then tied an overhand knot at each end. Missing two core strands did make it flatten out on the host rope, providing more surface area contact, thus more friction. I did not come up with that idea. I only improved upon it. The nylon valdotain/valdostano could only be used in wet conditions -- wet cord on wet host rope -- to dissipate heat. Dry on dry the friction build-up would melt through the cord. I have some humorous anecdotes to verify that. The improvement was to make a commercial product with a Technora sheath so it could be used in dry conditions as well as wet.

I like the idea of seeing more arborist content! The 10-20 minute video format you've been doing is what appeals to me the most. Enough to cover one point and pique my interest to do my own research, but not necessarily exhaust a topic.

The Valdotain tresse (VT Prusik) was used throughout Europe by canyoners after they discovered taking a few strands from the core of a rope allowing it to grip in a way that benefited them. The ends were tied in a loop of a short piece of climbing rope which worked a treat on wet rope. The Valdotain tresse is very well used by Arborists globally. Rich Carlson added the great idea to upgrade the Valdotain tresse via Bluewater and use Technora material and sew the end terminations. What a great product!

I don't entirely care about long/short videos, I want you to be happy with what you release, and for you to include what you deem valuable information.

Love this more in-dept format, personally I'm a fan of these being between 25 and 30 mins but ideally not longer than 30? I tend to watch them over lunch the day they're released. I'm really enjoying the canyoneering stuff and would like more arborist content. That said I always want MOAR bolting content because Bobby and people like him are the unsung heroes of recreational rock climbing.

Tree climbing and rock climbing are 2 different worlds it’s rad to see arborist stuff on your channel. Swift water rescue would be a cool topic to cover as well

It would be really cool to see some tests/failures with a FLIR camera, seeing how much the heat spreads/doesn't spread through different materials in different applications.

I want to see more rope access equipment. But the arborist stuff is cool as well

I'm in the military and I learned to rapel with a guide hand above the device and a break hand below. When I started climbing outdoors and learned to rig my 3rd hand, it bugged me to have it below the device because I didn't like having both hands below the device to manage the prusik and the brake. It wasn't until about a year in that I learned about asymmetric friction hitches, in particular the VT Prusik, and now I can't go back. It feels soooooo much more natural.

Hey I just wanted to say I found your channel a couple of months back and have been catching up ever since. I have zero interest in climbing myself. However, these videos are great to watch for many other reasons. Some of the things I have learnt will apply in to things I do, but generally they are very interesting and very watchable. Top work!

More arborist gear please. I find it interesting, even if I'm not a tree monkey. And I'm fine with the style/format

I agree I would love to see more arborist stuff! For the format of these videos, maybe having some text headers at the different points would help the viewer know what the next segment will be about.

Yes, it would be nice to see more arborist content, fall arrest and some high angle rescue gear to the test. Do to May past job as a third party safety inspector for cranes, hoist and fall arrest system. Where we would do pull test on window washing anchors, Horizontal life lines and pretty much any lifting device.

Best video yet! Not only did you cover so many great things, you did it with Brent, whose insights are always really cool and helpful. I'd love to see more arborist and canyoning content. Especially if you have Corey and Brent there for it. The timescale of this video is also perfect for me, it's filled with content, but doesn't feel rushed. That way, one can really soak it all in.

Story time. I have that same big S shape load cell from Amazon. I’m a tree guy. I discovered heat and abrasion will destroy a rope before the MBS usually. I had a 5/8 Samson stable braid (16,300lbs) that broke at only 10,500ish because it melted. Why did it melt? Knowing a steel carabiner is only rated around 50kn I instead opted to just pass lots of strands of the same rope through the eye of the load cell which was anchored around a large 2dbh smooth bark maple. I pulled on it with a big truck slowly. It was even terminated with a bowline but it didn’t fail there, believe it or not. I probably had 4 passes of rope through this thing. As it turned out, the rope melted as it stretched, passing through the metal load cell eye (basically a bow shackle eye) and heated up to failure. Had I just tied a basket configuration with 2 bowlines it would have probably broke at MBS. Just something to think about if you place equipment into a bunch of wraps on an anchor instead of a tow strap or tree slings with a proper eye splice, etc. keep in mind those splices require beefy bow shackles though. Doubling up on carabiners, as this channel will show, doesn’t mean you get twice the strength. The gates can also become compromised even in the D shaped ones. TLDR; Wraps can work, but it was much less MBS than anticipated.

please guys get into arborist material looks pretty interesting. love vt

It's great to see the VT getting some love! I wish we had seen Ryan or Bobby tie one of them. Friction hitches in general can't just be slapped on a rope and trusted to engage, but the VT is especially fiddly in my experience and not something you can count on to execute efficiently if you don't use it often. Definitely looking forward to more arborist and rigging content!

As a climbing arborist I watch your videos exactly for this sort of content. I would love to see more arborist specific stuff. I appreciate this more then you know.

Definitely would like to see more Arborist type stuff, I've been climbing cypress trees on the weekends here in Florida, perfect for your rope smooth and clean. The technora is tough stuff they make firemen escape ropes out of it too, I think the claim is 1100ﾟ melting point. Here's one more if you hook up a vinegar bath with a couple of those 9 V batteries you can anodize your titanium hardware, higher voltage lighter color.

I personally think the 12-18 minute range is perfect for these videos. BUT sometimes a good conversation is 1000% worth a long video. thinking of the legends of climbing type vids

Just my opinion but this channel seems perfect for some longer videos with shorts to compliment for the attention impaired and maybe draw them in for more. For me it's the personalities that keep we watching beyond just the topic or info I'm after.

I had never seen this. It is extremely helpful seeing techniques and skills like this.

I was brought to this channel to help learn the ropes so they say but with a background and primary interest as an arborist and rope climbing has also taken over the deer hunting/tree stand community and now we all need to know knots and ropes in order to hunt deer. Gone are the days of a wood tree stand nailed in, now we use ascenders, prusiks, and climbing harnesses (look up tree saddles).

Bobby, those are actually AAAA cells and not all 9v batteries have them. The effectiveness of the Prusik is mostly a relationship between the diameters of the two ropes. Generally, it is better to have a small diameter for the Prusik than the rope it is grabbing. As you observed there is a tendency to slip when the inverse is true. Not a climber not climbing advice!

Yes. More Brent and more Arborist / Rope Access content. It’s super cool and useful to see lots of the same or similar gear being used in the different applications! Break gear fear for all I say!

love the arborist stuff! Would love to see some bow line stuff, since we "tree monkeys" pretty much only use them, none of this figure 8 stuff

I would really like to see how some of the different friction hitches hold, I use the schwabisch prusik for tree work. It would also be interesting to see how it works on tree specific lines like drenaline or arbormaster.

Awesome, I was actually asked to write a review of the hollowblock and the review was basically "an Eye-to-eye prusik like the VT or flex cord is better in every way". They chose not to publish the review ;-)

I want as many videos with Brent as he is willing to let you make.

Outstanding segment gentlemen. So for rescue operations we use the VT quite a bit. We have found that moving past the standard VT configuration and utilizing the XT configuration creates a much better hitch to release under load. By adding in an "X" after your 3 wraps you create a wee gap before the braid. This gap allows you to break the tension much better and elicits way more control. The Bluewater VT has got to be one of the best commercialized rescue devices any single person can own. The possibilities are many.

Not only do I like the longer form videos, I thought this was a great use of it. I would in fact suggest this as a great form to jump off into a limited or continuing series of videos on rather specific techniques much as you have done with bolting. The use and application of friction hitches itself could easily be 6 videos at 30 minutes each. I think it would be great to reference some of the standards of use for people to utilize if they wish to explore safe use for themselves (digging through manufactures sites and safety organizations can yield some gems, but it's hard to correlate sometimes). And a big shout out for Bluewater who makes some awesome stuff that, while it may lack some of the sexy of other manufactures, is absolutely solid.

Ryan, Very impressive performance of the VT Prusik! Technora (an Aramid product) is virtually indestructible. You and Brent did an outstanding job. Thanks for an excellent video!

here is a little tip using the video at 7:06, you can put the rope going inside/threw the beanr and then hook it to you, it will act as a hitch tending pulley meaning it will be easyr to pull slack though it. and for you arborists you can use that setup instead of a hitch climber pulley

I am from the technical rescue camp, but really all of this information is valuable. I have learned a ton from the sport climbing community, the canyoning community and the arborists. Nothing wrong with cross pollination

Arguably one of the most useful videos yet, this is the type of content I come here for, applications and break tests/slip tests are super interesting

As an Arborist i would love more Content from that Material and Techiques, because i think a lot of it can be used in other Climbingsituations. Keep up the good Work.

Incredible. I've been using a VT prussik as my chalk bag belt and love seeing the testing on them. I think they will gain a lot more popularity. Love the format, love the length, love the detail! thank you!

this video just stays on my list and I repeat it for memory sake. great episode

Funny to me because im just starting climbing with no rocks around me so i have to start with arborist stuff. But ive been watching you for a while. You just learning the knots im starting with is inspiring. There is so much to know with this hobby... as for the videos, i like them long and detailed lol 30 or 40 mins for one knot and how its used in different applications or industries is awesome. If there is specialty gear thats used for only one application and it requires an hour to talk about and show all the fun parts then im here for it!

Very interesting all the test about how hard is release the VT prusik, also the difference between diameters. One part from our assessment as a canyoning guide in Spain is descent from a tight rope, because the casualty is hanging on it, using a Valdotain do the pick up, change to your descender and continue going down with the casualty. The way to ascend with the figure 8 is called Italian Style and the French Prusik is the Machard or Klemheist not the Valdotain. Great video!!!

I work for an arborist for a while, and we used VTs on our ropes with a micro pulley, and we noticed that if you whipped, they were harder to loosen.

This was a fantastic video! I love the VT prusik by bluewater. It is one of the most versatile pieces of gear you can have

Probably one of my favorite episodes so far.

Yes more arborist stuff... there is so much stuff that's useful..... other friction hitches... the distel, Blake's hitch, kliemheist etc... great channel keep up the good work

5:48 eye use something simular, when eye wood tighen up anchor lines for my fishing net, and its impressive how much some of these "knots" can hold

Another vote for more arborist content. I like to see the how and why of different disciplines.

I don't care about how long the video is as long as what you're talking about is ONE focused story to tell. Videos that are long because they're mixing too many stories are hard to watch. Short videos that only tell part of a whole story can be fine if they're nicely chopped up, but often feel abrupt. The Shorts you are doing are great, nice simple self-contained stories. Honesly, like a short for every single test run. It generates more content and tells a broken story that you tie together nicely with videos like this.

I like the format. I enjoy the conversational aspect most of all

I'm not sure why, but this is one of the coolest most interesting episodes you've done. If thats the arborist gear, I'm totally up for more arborist gear.

Love the deep dive at the start explaining the typical usage of the gear before you destroy it. I used to do ziplines and rescue we used prusiks all the time.

This was so awesome. Really amazing. I flinched when he was explaining the surprised gripping reaction, I just imagined him sliding down full speed onto the guy he was going to rescue. I wonder how different this holds with the other end loaded. Some of the friction must come from the main line being able to snake like that, but a load might reduce that!

What an interesting video, you can’t get this anywhere on RU-vid, thanks Ryan!

I'd love to see tests like this done on a bachmann hitch. Also, I'm super interested in more arborist content.

As an apprentice arborist and climber I love the crossover content. Long videos get me stoked so keep those going!

Very interesting. I enjoyed the format like this, length and all. Would love to see more arborist stuff.

I've used the VT Prusik above the LOV2 as a backup for TR solo. Works great.

Much love from the tree side, loved the content before but the tip of the hat to the arb community is awesome :D keep up the good work

Been watching for a while and I am stoked that you’re getting into the arborist stuff- the algorithm sends a lot of us your way. I love long form content too

Love how you did this one ! 🎉🎉 the format is great and yes I am a old Nerd when it comes to exploring the world . Thanks

I have used Arborists as my go to source for knots, bends, and hardware free solutions for years. Good job. You have a tom of content you can go through with them.

I have used the valdotain tresse in many situations, climbing, arborist work and materials handling. I have even used it to hold zip line tension on a static rope although it was just in a local park and at no poit higher then 8 foot and just for myself and my little one to have a laugh. I think you would find the world of climbing arborist and work positioning equipment highly interesting and hope to see you make more videos on the subjects

You're doing great on the videos . I'm glad to see specific discipline and cross discipline content !

Would love to see more verity of content; arborist, rope access, etc. having the longer videos seeing how different industries use the same equipment really give you a better idea on how the equipment works and how it can be used.

One of the best videos on this channel so far. I learnt a lot. I kind of like a mix of fewer "deep dive" longer videos which I watch when I have time and more shorter videos (~10min) which I watch as soon they are published.

Belay escapes, or rather, belay take-overs are really common in the high-ropes/ confidence course world, and this would be a good way to have an option when you don't have the right size of assistant or one with the capabilities you need. This was a good amount of info, and I think that the format leads to better context for gear. Longer technique videos then benefit from the added knowledge from these vids.

I love it! I bought a VT and a helmet from extreme gear today. Forgot to use the code though.

I love to see long entertaining videos (with useful tricks and information like this one). What a great video!

I would definitely love to see more arborist content on the channel

I truly enjoy your videos. I watch the entire length of all your videos.

Great video! My company uses a hitch climber pulley on that setup.

Another arborist technique that would be cool to see tested would be the anchor bend. It's used in similar situations to the scaffold knot (which you already tested) so it would be interesting to compare the two.

I like the length of the video and more information about how and why to use knots and gear. More arborist stuff would be cool to see. Thanks guys.

like the longer form videos. feels like you can fully dive into subjects the way you like to 😎

I’ve been an arborist myself for many years now and I made the step from DRT to SRT not too long ago. I’d love to see much more stuff like the last 5 minutes of this video on the channel. Maybe one day you’ll even get to break test a rope runner pro (they’re freaking expensive lol).

Arborist gear. I know August Hunicke did a break test on a PETZL ZIGZAG once, but there’s SO. MUCH. MORE. Cambium savers, forces when you cut off a big piece/branch. Sometimes negative rigging, rings of rope bridges would be super interesting, too. Especially the one that has an opening (also Petzl, coincidentally). Would be super cool to know how these behave when they have two biners on them.

I'll never use it all, but I love the gear, knots and rigging. Arborist stuff would be great also.

Aramid is the same fiber used in Kevlar. The fiber optic industry uses roughly 1mm as a filler in fiber optic cables to prevent stretch. In my testing the 1mm linear aramid didn’t break until 2 tons of force was applied. Aramid is awesome if you don’t want stretch.

first off i think this video was perfect, i would watch it if it was longer! i think it was the perfect amount of info and perfect amount of action with data and teaching. here are some idea that i would love for you to try, make an eye to eye splice rope with a lockin brummel splice and see if the lenght of the tail that is buried makes the splice weaker? and you can also try different types of splices like just buring the tail and see how strong the eye is depending on the lenght of the tail buried. can you see where im going. another cool idea would be to use the prussik and drop as fast as you can on a rope and see how it holds up. and try from different levels up to say 50 foot. and try other heat resistant prusiks like from samson rope and yale and Teufelberger . another video could be tieing different friction knots and see how much they hold to befor they slip if they do and also see what the weight limit for when you can let the rope run throught the hitch. it would also be cool for you guys to play around with michanical hitches, the rope runner, rock exotica unnicender, akimbo, petzel zigzag. if you havent seen a theme here i vote for more tree stuff in your videos. one last thing i think a video of all that it is , is things breaking from start to finish with out you talking would be a good 5 min video, and you could drop one of those videos once a week as a seires and i think it would be a hit, at least people like to watch things break, have you seen the hydraulic press channel? millions of subs and all they do is crush things with a hydraulic press. ONE LOVE be kind my friend

Thank you, Ryan and all. Educational and eye opening.

One of the first bit of gear i learned to use, other than my descender, was the VT prusik.

Bluewater VT have a nylon core -which certainly melts with a torch. I recommend an eyed prusik which is 100% technora, such as a ‘Samson Ropes Bail-out 8mm’ or others available through arborist suppliers

I think VTs are a really interesting piece of equipment with a ton of niche uses and so I'm glad there was a longer-form video devoted to them. I think its ok to some degree to let the content dictate the length, I wouldn't want you to arbitrarily censor yourself if you have a lot of interesting things to say on a given topic and the video ends up running long

Awesome content and length

Please more rigger stuff, ya know all the shows you guys do are freakin awesome. In the entertainment and production business I work as a high steel builder, rigger and ground guy when needed. Also Belgian steel. Scaffold structures. We use all kinds of climbing/rigging equipment. It’s a mix of all the tools and disciplines and techniques used for anybody in a harness working with a rope. We prefer hammocks over porta ledges. Stay safe and keep on stretching stuff. Cheers!!!

Love long videos. Love Brent. Love actual force graphs. Yes. Keep it up.

you think to much - which is a good thing. I sometimes like a 10 minute video where you just snap stuff. Sometimes I want to see you hang out with guys that like to share what they know - this video here is awesome, Brent knows what he is talking about and your a great host. Sometimes I want to see where and how you actually apply all this stuff for an actual project. A video series of a few seconds carabiner unlocks? Fun as a series. Keep it coming - have fun. A lot of youtubers burn out which is always sad. You having fun and going by feel prevents that.

Yes arborist here I love this channel

Can you test a Connecticut Tree Hitch? Curious to see what that breaks at, and if the rope in the knot or the carabiner (loaded as it is in a kinda weird way) breaks first

Technora is one of the coolest materials for rope/cordage. Change my mind.

Heck yeah love every video it's great 👍

So i use to be a highrise window washer . And we used a Prusik on our safety line . My working line broke at the exact moment I was repelling to the next floor . And I did exactly what you said . I grabbed the prusik as I fell . I knew to let go , and believe me I tried to let go . But my mind and body fought it . I ended up falling 11 floors (110 feet) Broke a slew of stuff and ended up in the hospital for 84 days . After that the company moved to a device that you couldn’t panic grab . You had to squeeze it just right to move it down the line . Not sure what it was . Never went back to that job for obvious reasons lol.

Yes more arborist content.

I just tried this using a 6mm sewn aramid sling (by Edelrid) on a pretty beatup used single rope, obviously using double strands instead of the single strands of the product shown here. Seemed to work pretty neatly, better on the 120cm sling than on the 60cm, the latter was almost a little too short to get enough wraps and crossovers in. Would need some more testing before having to use it though! Thanks for putting up that stuff, it's great to learn more varied techniques and I feel like that one could be a great addition for specific occasions. It's great to now know a way to descend a weighted rope! :)

I do tree care work and have gotten into rock climbing more over the last year or so. So to me, this is a rad combination! Keep it up ! I love the VT knot! Great to see some numbers and testing with it. You should test some of the mechanical friction devices such as the Rope Runner Pro, Petzl ZigZag, Rock Exotica Akimbo and there are several others out there!

I learned to climb trees with your videos and other arborist video channels. I think more arborist content would benefit rock climbers as well. This was a great video.