No.35 SRT Techniques from around the world (3)
In 2018 The Wooden Hand produced a hand drawn booklet about SRT techniques which features climbers from Japan, Germany, New Zealand, UK and America. Each month this year I will introduce a technique at ODSK.
'Equalizer' by Lawrence Schultz (USA)
Lawrence Schultz or 'Pfannerman' as people know him from his popular youtube channel
is a pioneering climber and rigger from the US, formally the east coast but now in
California. He creates inspiring techniques that push the limits of arboreal movement and
rigging.
Wether a climber is working in one wide spreading tree or between poles of Pine, these
two techniques, 'Equalizer' and 'Tranferlizer' are very useful. Additionaly they will teach
you to configure two belay points and surely push your skills as climbers.
"The closest I have come to anything original is a class of remotely set, adjustable and
retrievable redirects.
So let me set the stage - You're out on a limb and see a re-direct opportunity that you can
throw to, an isolated system wouldn't hold your weight by itself so it is time for the
'Equalizer'.
Throw a second rope over the crotch and drop the working end back to yourself. Clip the
karabiner above your main system and with a combination of slack release (system 1) and
haul (system 2), the karabiner can be lifted into position, giving you a floating, adjustable
and load sharing redirect that is anchored to you and controlled at the harness.
I call it the Equalizer because there is more equal loading between the main anchor and
redirect point than if you used a second isolated system.
To keep it from shifting around you must let out equal amounts of slack from each belay
when you repel. System 2 can be unweighted and flicked back to you - leave a throw
bag on the karabiner to ease the friction.”
“Another option is the TRANFERLIZER - use a hard connection for an easy and secure
way to navigate between the redirect point and main anchor."
