TCI Mag 6 06 Front v3.qxp 06/06/2006 2:06 PM Page A...TCI Mag 6_06_Front_v3.qxp 06/06/2006 2:07 PM Page 8 is isolated, you can pull up an ascent line and clip in double ascenders,

TCI Mag 6_06_Front_v3.qxp 06/06/2006 2:06 PM Page A

8 TREE CARE INDUSTRY – JUNE 2006

By Daniel Murphy

Footlocking is an incredibly fast andefficient way to ascend into a tree.With its speed and efficiency, it has

replaced the sluggishly difficult bodythrusting as the main method of ascensionfor many progressive arborists. By relyingprimarily on the strength of the leg mus-cles, it uses energy efficiently –especially when done with goodform.

This article will discuss how tofootlock, expound on the dos anddon’ts, and examine associated tech-niques and equipment. My intent is togive novices enough information tolearn the basic technique, use it safely, andhelp others improve their performance.

The first person I ever watched footlockwas Mark Chisholm, who happened to bethe world record holder at that time. Myjaw dropped. I had never seen anyonemove up into and around a tree like that.That revelation opened up a whole newworld of potential, and I vowed to pursuethe latest and greatest in progressive climb-ing techniques and equipment.

The vast majority of climbers todayhave yet to adopt footlocking. You have tosee someone footlock to really understandwhat a marvelous technique it is. Theworld record for the 15 meter (approxi-mately 49 feet) is under 14 seconds. Idoubt I could run 50 feet up a set of stairsin less than 14 seconds. I have seen myclimbing mentor, John Grier, set a throwline, footlock up and be tied into a big oakat 85 feet in less than five minutes fromthe time the truck door shut.

Most of what I know about footlocking I

learned from Grier. He hashad the benefit of workingfrequently with JimRoach, the perennialISA Penn-Del chaptertree climbing cham-pion. Roach, in

turn, has credited Chisholm, a two-timeinternational tree climbing champion, withhelping him refine his technique. So I amstanding on the shoulders of some giantshere in order to bring you this information.

Footlocking is primarily used for initialascent into a tree on pruning and other non-removal jobs. Footlocking is not possibleor necessary when wearing spikes onremovals. In my early climbing days toaccess a tree, I would tie in with a lanyardat the top of a ladder, use a pole saw to setmy line over a reachable branch union(crotch), and then body thrust up and slow-ly advance my line to higher branch unions

until I reached my desired tie-in point. Thiswas often an awkward, slow and tediousprocess.

Now I no longer need to fool around withthe pole saw and ladder. I set a rope at thetop of the tree with a throw line, clip on my

ascenders, and footlockup to the top of the tree.

A detailed look

When body thrust-ing, I like to have myclimbing line set in atie-in point that drawsmy body toward the

trunk of the tree. Thatway I can push off the trunk

with my legs to assist the bodythrust. Footlocking, however,

requires setting the line in a tie-inpoint away from the trunk where the

line can hang unobstructed. The inchwormlike movement of footlocking is best donein midair; otherwise, banging into the trunkwill interfere with the necessary fluidity ofmovement. Also, the line is best set in avertical zone that is as free as possible ofbrush and lower limbs. Finally, it is good tohave a platform limb or branch union closeto and just below the ascending line’sbranch union. This offers a place to standand lanyard in comfortably before youunclip your ascenders and get tied in with afriction hitch.

So footlocking is greatly facilitated byhaving the ability to accurately set anascending line in a desirable branch union.Good throw line technique is somewhat ofa pre-requisite for footlocking. Throw linetechnique is a subject for another article,and hopefully it will suffice to say for nowthat I can accurately set a throw line up to90 feet, using the Big Shot sling shot, a 12-ounce throw bag and the 1.75 mm Zing-itthrow line.

Once a throw line is set in a good branchunion, you have the option to footlock upeither a single line or double(d) line. Thereare pros and cons to each. If the throw line

1) Footlocking the tail of yourclimbing line is a safe and easy way to

practice technique. The purple micro pulleyshown automatically advances the French

Prusik friction hitch with nearly no friction.All photos in article courtesy of treeu.com.

Slack-tendingmicro pulley ��

TCI Mag 6_06_Front_v3.qxp 06/06/2006 2:07 PM Page 8

is isolated, youcan pull up anascent line andclip in doubleascenders, back

them up on bothlines and footlockthe doubled line.Footlocking a dou-ble line tends to beeasier for novicesbecause the twolines give morefriction at the boot.This provides a bet-ter grip and

therefore there is less of a tendency for theline to slip.

Most experienced climbers prefer to usea single line. A doubled line is twice asheavy, which means a lot more effort, espe-cially on long ascents where you might betailing 50 to 75 feet of rope. That extraweight makes a big difference because theclimber must use abdominals and legs tolift the weight of the rope with every bite.

There is also no need to iso-late the line when using asingle line. One end of theascent line can simply betied off to the base of thetree with some form ofchoked hitch, often arunning bowline.Also, in high branchunions where bothends of the ropewon’t reach theground, it’s easyto tie a runningbowline inthe tail ofthe ascentline, goingaround thethrow line, as theascent line is beingpulled into the tree.Then, simply run theknot up to thebranch unionleaving a singleline tied off at thebranch union

with a running bowline (image 3).There is also less hardware involved,since the single line requires only oneascender and one backup. More detailson ascenders later.

Once you have chosen single ordouble(d) line, you need to use eitherhandled ascenders with a tetherclipped to your saddle or a Prusikcord to secure yourself to the linein case of a slip. Handledascenders are mechani-cal one-way ropegrabbing devices thatcan be advanced eas-ily or moved up arope with negligible fric-tion. As their name impliesthey have a handle forgripping. They areattached to theclimber’s saddle using atether strap or cord that mustbe rated for life support. A backup system isneeded! More on that later ...

A Prusik cord is a loop of soft laycordage with a slightly smaller diameterthan the host line. The loop is usuallymade by tying both ends of a length ofcord together with a double fisherman’sknot, also called a double-barrel knot.This cord is then used to tether theclimber to the ascent line with either athree-wrap Prusik, a Klemheist or anoth-er suitable friction hitch. Prusik cordscan be used when footlocking with eithersingle or double(d) line.

Although the Prusik cord is still used, inmy opinion it is inferior to ascenders forseveral reasons. It takes a little longer to tieand untie the knots. The Prusik cord isdesigned as a fail-safe mechanism that isonly there to keep you from falling shouldyou lose your grip on the rope. The knotstend to lock up when loaded, therefore youmust always support your own weight toprevent the knot from seizing. This makesit more difficult to use your hands to movearound or through brush or lower limbs, aswell as precluding the opportunity to sitback for a break. The handles also give abetter grip than the rope, which makes abig difference.

Safety must be paramount whenincorporating the footlock technique

into your climbing system. Industrysafety guidelines, called the ANSI

Z133.1 standard, contain speci-fications for all life supportequipment used in tree care,

including the Prusik cords,tether straps, ascenders andcarabineers used in footlock-ing techniques. ANSI Z133

has been developed to protectus in all phases of tree work and

especially as we incorporate newclimbing gear and techniques.

These guidelines should givecomfort to those whom may bereluctant to try new climbinggear and related techniquesbecause of safety concerns.

Conversely, it would be foolish to beginusing new gear, friction hitches, or cordagewithout fully understanding and imple-menting industry safety standards.

One very important safety concern whenfootlocking with a Prusik cord is to keepyour hands under the Prusik knot orKlemheist. Never place either hand abovethe knot while gripping the rope. If yourhand is above the knot and slips down therope, you’ll grab the knot, which couldcause an uncontrolled descent. Also whenusing a Prusik on a double(d) line, don’tadvance the knot too close to the limbwhere the line is hung. If you get too close,the spread of the rope can loosen the knot.The rule of thumb is to keep the frictionhitch below the limb a minimum distanceof five times the diameter of the limb.

The length of the Prusik cord or the teth-er on handled ascenders is very important. APrusik loop should be long enough so that itallows for a full stretch with just a little slackremaining. Remember this is only a failsafe. Never sit in it unless you need to.However, when using ascenders, you mustbe able to reach the ascenders easily whenhanging from the ascent line, so the tethermust be long enough to allow a nearly fullrange of motion. To reduce joint strain, keepthe tether just short enough so that when youreach up in a stretch you still have a veryslight bend at the elbow (image 4). Whenyou are standing on the ground under the

TREE CARE INDUSTRY – JUNE 2006 9

4) Practicing lowand slow withascenders.

3) When the branch union istoo high for both ends of therope to reach the ground, tiea running bowline aroundthe throw line and run theknot up to the branch unionfor single line ascent.

2) Two ascender rigs withsingle line back ups.


ascent line, holding the ascenders allthe way up, the bottom of yourhands should be about evenwith or slightly above thetop of your head. Thisshould keep your arms fromoverextending, which couldcause a repetitive motioninjury.

Starting the ascent

Whether using a Prusikcord or ascenders, orgoing single or doubleline, the basic motion andtechnique is the same. Start by taking allthe slack out of the line. Bend your kneeto lift your left foot to about knee height.Cock your left knee slightly out to the left,to let the line(s) hang down on the inside ofthe left knee and the outside of the leftankle. Then transfer all your weight to yourarms as you do a leg up motion into a tuck,where you lift both knees up into your

chest. As you lift both legs, keep your rightfoot under and slightly to the left of yourleft foot, so that the rope hangs between thetops of both feet.

Once you are in the tuck (orcrunch) position with the line scis-

sored between the tops of both feet, youare ready. Hook the rope with your rightfoot by pulling your toes up toward yourshin to form a hook. And then in onemotion bring your right foot under,around and then on top of your left foot.At this point the rope should be goingover the top and side of the left foot, nearthe ankle, be looped under the left foot atthe arch, then come up past the right soleat the arch and be draped over the top of


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The industry standards for safe work practices.Adhering to the American National Standards fortree care helps make you an expert in the eyes ofclients and authorities, such as your local munic-ipality. ANSI standards are recognized as the finalauthority in the United States civil court system.

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5) The Petzl pantin is a foot ascenderthat can be used to footlock the tail ofthe climbing line for those who havenot yet learned footlocking. The pantinalso reduces repetitive motion jointstrain.


the right foot (Images 6 & 7).

The final motion is very simple. Just stepdown hard on the rope with the arch ofyour right foot onto the side and top ofyour left foot and stand up on the ropequickly. This should clamp the rope tightlybetween your two feet with enough friction

so that it will not slip when weighted. As amatter of fact the more weight you put onyour feet while standing the tighter therope is held in place.

If the rope is slipping between your feet,it’s probably due to one or more of the fol-lowing mistakes. You might:

� have a bad bite with your feet� be wearing improper footwear� be using your arms to help lift as you

stand up, which takes weight off yourfeet. You need friction at the boot tokeep the rope from slipping.

When using a double(d) line, each leg ofthe line has to support only half the load, sothere is much less friction needed on eachof the two lines than is required on a singleline. This makes it easier to learn the basicmovement on double(d) line as there willbe less slipping. However once the bite andstanding motion have been perfected, mostclimbers prefer to use a single line.

When you stand up, bring your legsdirectly beneath you, pulling the kneestogether, and stand straight up into a fullstretch, pushing the ascenders up as high aspossible. Repeat the motion. Transfer yourweight to your arms as you let the line gowith your feet, then lift your legs, getanother bite, and stand up again. Keep the



6 & 7) Close up of the bite. Editor’s note: A “bight” is an open loop in a rope. A “bite,” as used in this article, refers to thegrip on the rope with the feet. In footlocking, you create a bight in the rope with every bite. For clarity, we`ve used bite.


line in constant contact with the outside ofyour left ankle as you lift your legs. Thisway it will always be in the right place foryou to hook it with your right foot. And asyou lift your legs bring your right foot backunder your left foot so the rope is againscissored between the tops of your feet.Your feet will be positioned perfectly totake another bite.

Proper form iscrucial. Focus onthree things whenyou are first learn-ing.

1. Keep your feetin proper positionaround the rope asyou lift your legs.

2. Get a good bite between your feet asyou step down on the line.

3. When you stand, keep your legsdirectly underneath you and keep your fullweight on your feet, making sure not to liftwith your arms.

Once you have those basics down, workon developing a smooth rhythm – the keyto speed and energy efficiency. When I firststarted, I would rock my whole torso backaway from the rope in order to reach uphigher with my feet, get a bite, then rockforward to get my legs underneath me andstand up. This rocking motion is good fornovices because it is easier to get a goodbite with the feet, but it also wastes timeand energy.

When done well, the torso is always keptnearly parallel to the rope throughout themotion. It has to be fast and smooth, lessthan one second to lift the legs and get abite and less than another second to stand



(8-13) Practice taking a bite from a chair on a loose single line. Clockwise, from top left: Rope falls inside of knee and outside of ankle.Lift legs up into crunch position with right foot under left and in position to hook rope.Bring right foot around left hooking rope.Right foot steps down on top of left clamping rope firmly.Pull up hard on rope to check the bite.Put your feet down on floor and stand up and then sit back down and repeat.


up. The arms and legs should be moving asone, so when you finish one cycle bystanding up into a stretch, you move rightinto the next cycle by lifting with yourarms. When you get the rhythm and timingjust right, the bounce of the rope helps youstand into the stretch. If you miss a bitewith your feet you’ll lose the rhythm.

Footlocking demands a good deal of ath-letic ability. The repeated leg liftingrequires abdominal and core strength. Thestanding motion requires core, hip and legstrength. If you are having trouble with thebasic motion, it might be a sign that youneed to get into better physical condition.And, those interested in becoming reallyfast will need arm strength as well to dochin-up type movements. The key is to liftthe body with the arms before you take abite with your feet.

Those are the fundamentals of footlock-ing. And, as with so many other aspects ofarboriculture, the fine points and details ofthis technique are critical to safe and effi-cient operations. Let’s start by looking atsome safety issues.

Ascending systems

All ascenders, carabineers, screw links,and shackles must be rated at a minimumof 5,000 pounds and meet other ANSIguidelines. All ropes, tethers, and Prusikcords must be rated at a minimum of 5,400pounds. You need to know and understandall guidelines for each piece in your sys-tem. Although it should go with out saying,inspect your equipment before use everyday and always follow manufacturer’s rec-ommendations for equipment use. Read,understand and keep the instructions. Ifyou have a question, call or write the man-ufacturer. They are usually happy toanswer questions. This is especially truefor ascenders. You need to know exactlyhow to – and how not to – use them.

Handled ascenders must be backed upfor safety. When using a single line, thatmeans two ascenders attached in line, or anascender with a Prusik cord above it.Should one unit fail the other is there tosave your life. Keep them free of leaves,

bark and twigs, since these could cause thegate to open accidentally or interfere withthe locking mechanism or friction on therope. Maneuvering through thick trees isproblematic. That is why you must alwaysback up your ascenders!

Backing up a doubled line is twice ascomplicated, because each of the linesmust be backed up. It could be backed up

using a single three-wrap Prusik over bothlines, or a second mechanical ascender oneach leg. Most advanced climbers prefer toback up mechanically because the knotstake more time to tie and untie.

One way to avoid the need to back upeach leg on a doubled line is to use a truedouble line instead. When a rope goes overa branch union and back to the ground it is




one line that has been doubled. Should anascender fail on either leg, the whole sys-tem fails, which is why you need to backup both legs. To make a true double-linesystem, do the following:

Use a throw ball to pull your firstascending line up into the tree. Once theascending line makes it through the branchunion, pull several more feet of linethrough, just enough to tie it off to the baseof the tree. Then tie a second line midlineto line 1. As you continue to pull line 1, itwill take line 2 up with it. When you tie offthe standing end of line 1 to the base of the

tree, line 2 will be tied midline to line 1, upclose to the branch union. The workingends of these lines will not move, so thereis no need to back either one up. They areeffectively backing each other up, so justclip in one ascender on each line andyou’re ready to go.

It is important to inspect every tree foroverhead hazards and potential dangersbefore ascending. This is especially truewhen footlocking. The ascending systemsare designed for one way travel going up.Should you need to head down in a hurry,you can’t just hit your climbing knot. You

need to switch to a descending system,which can take up to a minute. That wouldbe dangerous during a hornet attack, whichcould cause panic. So remember to take acareful look at those trees before you go.

When you first learn how to footlock,you need to learn and become familiar withswitching to the descending system duringmid-line ascent, since you may not make itto your intended tie-in point or platformlimb. This is done as follows:

Hang from your ascenders or Prusik cordand set a figure-8 descender or an HMScarabineer with a Munter hitch in linebelow the ascenders. Take the slack outbetween the 8/Munter and your ascenders.Then take a bite with your feet, stand upand hold it. Keep yourself balanced withone hand holding the rope while you unclipthe ascenders or loosen the Prusik. Then sitback down into your saddle, making sureto keep a good grip on the rope below the8/Munter with your hands, and descend. Itis good to have a back-up belay man on theground once the 8/Munter is set.

The Munter or the figure 8 can be usedwith either single or double(d) lines. TheMunter is generally preferred because it




14) This shows Kong double-handled ascenders set on asingle line. All ascenders must be backed up, as here,with a micro-ascender.


gives excellent control during descent,while causing less hockling (kinking) inthe rope. And the Munter requires only theuse of an HMS carabineer, which has mul-tiple uses in climbing. The 8 requires acarabineer and the figure 8, so using theMunter makes for one less piece of equip-ment taking up room on your saddle.

There may be situations where you wantto make a few cuts with your handsaw onthe way up; that’s fine, but keep a fewthings in mind. Always avoid slack in theline, as a slip could end up shock loadingthe ascenders. The ascending hardware isnot designed to take shock loads. It doesn’ttake much of a drop to cause a toothedascender to shred a line. Also having achain saw flopping around on the side ofyour saddle is not conducive to good foot-locking technique. Leave it behind. Andthough you may be tempted to start work-ing from the ascenders, don’t do it. Thereare approved methods for working single-line technique, but they are beyond the

scope of this article. Learn to footlock forinitial ascents and become completelyfamiliar with the proper use of ascen-ders before even thinking aboutswitching to single-line technique.

Don’t learn aloft

When learning and incorporatingnew gear and tech-niques into yourclimbing, alwaysstart low and slow.Throw a line over a10-foot limb in thebackyard and take abite or two and thenwalk your hands backdown the rope. Or startpracticing by footlockingthe tail of your climbingline. In order to do thatyou’ll need to have aslack-tending micro pul-ley set below your friction hitch.

It is easy to learn to footlock on the tailof your climbing line because the sys-tem’s approximate 2:1 mechanicaladvantage puts about half the load on

the tail. You only need abouthalf the friction with yourfeet and half the strength tostand up. It is much slower,since you only advance halfthe distance with each

cycle, but it is still easier andfaster than body thrusting.

Another way to learn is to prac-tice in a chair. Throw a rope over

a limb or rafter and sit right underit. Try single line at first. Sit back in

the chair and get a bite with your feet.Then grab the rope and pull up hard to

make sure you have a good gripwith your feet. Keep the biteand put your feet down on thefloor and stand up into a fullstretch, reaching up high on the

rope with your hands. Then pull the ropedown as you sit back in the chair. Drop thebite with your feet, lift your legs up foranother bite and repeat. Focus on keepingyour feet in a good position relative to therope throughout the movement.

Once you are confident that you are get-ting a good grip with your feet, switch to adoubled line. And this time when you get abite, come out of the chair so your fullweight is now hanging on the rope and thenstand up. Now you’re footlocking. Nextpractice with your saddle and ascenders andpractice switching to a Munter anddescending. Once you have mastered tak-ing that first bite and switching to a Munter,you’re ready to take it into the tree.

Other gear

Proper footwear is crucial to getting agood grip on the rope. If your form looksgood, but you still find the rope slippingthrough your feet, you probably need tochange your boots. Good boots are expen-sive and well worth the investment to anyserious tree climber. Quality lightweighthiking or mountaineering boots are ideal.The key friction in footlocking is at thearch of the right boot, as it presses the ropedown on top of the left foot. The tall heel in



15) When footlocking on aPrusik cord, don’t sit on theknot between bites. Hold yourweight up with your hands.


logger’s boots will reduce that fric-tion at the arch, making it nearlyimpossible to footlock. So don’t eventry to footlock with logger’s boots.

Once you have your basicmovement andascending hardwareperfected and areusing a good boot, youcan tweak the system to get max-imum performance by switching to aquality rope. The properties thatmake a good rope for foot-locking are low stretch, lightweight, and the appropriategripping ability of the cover.The amount of stretch in arope will make a big difference in foot-locking, especially on long ascents. Everytime you stand up onto the rope, you putadditional force on it which will cause it tostretch. The more elasticity in the rope(dynamic), the more of your energy goesinto the stretch before you get any lift. Soa low stretch or semi-static rope is best forfootlocking.

A dynamic rope with a lot of stretchreduces the effective forces in shock load-ing, which is why it is generally preferableto use a dynamic rope in rigging. Climbinglines are designed to be slightly dynamic aswell to reduce the force on the climbershould he fall with slack in his line. Unlikerock climbers and other high angle disci-plines, tree climbers rarely climb withmuch slack in their lines, so we really don’tneed to climb on dynamic ropes. Semi-static lines have enough stretch to protectthe climber in case of a fall, yet have farless stretch than many older climbing lines.

New England Ropes makes the Fly,which is a low stretch (semi-static) climb-ing line with great resistance to abrasionand wear. Samson’s Velocity is anotherpreferred climbing line that is slightlylighter. And Yale makes a great handlingline called Blaze. For particularly longascents you might consider going with atrue static line, such as New England’sKMIII. You would use the static line forascent only and then set a lanyard andswitch to a semi-static climbing line whenyou reached your tie-in point.

When foot-locking near thetrunk is unavoid-

able, keep your backtoward the obstacle so you can

raise your feet unobstructed, andproceed careful-ly. Tom Dunlap,safety trainer andarborist guru,recommends thatthe ascendersNEVER touchanything exceptrope. Leaves,twigs andbranches shouldbe pushed aside,

the ascenders should NOT be pushedthrough plant material. To do this you needto keep a hand free to push the branchesaside as the other hand advances the ascen-ders. When the line is touching a large limbyou can rock on the rope to pendulum

away from the limb as you advance theascender past it.

When you have reached the top of yourascent, simply tie in with your lanyardbefore unclipping your ascenders. Then setyour regular friction hitch, lower yourascenders to get them out of your way, andget to work.

Footlocking requires the right set ofskill, equipment and physical ability. Goodform takes time, effort and determinationto perfect, and is richly rewarded in bothproductivity and a sense of personalachievement.

Daniel Murphy is a working arborist,tree care company owner and founder ofTree University, which provides education-al training materials, seminars andconsulting services for professionalarborists. For more information, visitwww.treeu.com.

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16) I have sewn a stiff rubber patch on the outsideof my left boot and use a piece of hard foam rub-ber inside of the boot to prevent rope pressurefrom bruising the outside of my foot.


Documents

TCI Mag 6 06 Front v3.qxp 06/06/2006 2:06 PM Page A...TCI Mag 6_06_Front_v3.qxp 06/06/2006 2:07 PM Page 8 is isolated, you can pull up an ascent line and clip in double ascenders,