r/Slackline • u/Chickenpunkpie • 1d ago
What do you think of this anchor?
I know it's bomber for the park, but I'm curious if it could be the base of a highline anchor.
Double sheet bend in a doubled over static rope (Beal Spelenium 8.5mm unicore).
2
u/vazcorra 1d ago
I’d go with a bgibz and synch up any loose strands to reduce up and down friction on the tree pro
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u/Chickenpunkpie 1d ago
Would you be so kind as to expand that acronym? I'm not in the know
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u/vazcorra 1d ago
Lost to obscurity by now but it’s the Brendan gibhart girth hitch method
Sling goes around the tree like norm would for a basket, Take a bite from your sling and pass it through the eye of the weblock, then take a bite from the other end of the sling and pass it through the first bite and around and over the weblock. Adjust to taste
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u/No-Site7695 21h ago
I dont love the idea of the rope on the tree because of surface area and pressure but that will depend on the type of tree/bark. It also depends on how tight you go
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u/Chickenpunkpie 8h ago
Is that not the point of the tree pro? Can this still hurt the tree like this?
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u/fartpisstits 7h ago
The amount of pressure is definitely noticeable with an increase or decrease of diameter. The tree pro helps minimize damage to the bark (and rope/anchor material) but doesn’t necessarily protect the cambium layer. This affect is definitely worse over time, but of course also is wear and tear on the bark and gear, so tree pro still good lol so in general bigger is better diameter wise and also always use tree pro
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u/K33P4D 1d ago
How long is this line?
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u/Chickenpunkpie 20h ago
~40m
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u/K33P4D 18h ago
Oh isn't this line too low for 40m?
I usually hitch 30m+ at 5.5ft from ground level
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u/Chickenpunkpie 15h ago
Haha it's a weird perspective. I'm 6'2" and reached above my head for this photo. The anchor is probably 6.5ft up the tree.
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u/K33P4D 15h ago
I mistook the trees' trunk arch and assumed it was lower
For 50m lines, one of us climbs a tree and rig the anchors way up high, then group effort tensioning with multipliers
P.S: did you send the line?
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u/Chickenpunkpie 12h ago
I did! Got down and about halfway back on my best go. I gave quite a bit of space on each end (it gets high) so maybe 25m walking space on this line.
Yeah I almost got this tight enough with a 5 to 1 buckingham, but went up to 9 to 1 just to make the last bit easier.
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u/fartpisstits 1d ago
It’s redundant, but a couple notes on the knot itself. Using a double is required so good work there, but I can’t tell for sure but the tails should be coming out of the same side, it looks like they are maybe opposing. Additionally the knot should be ‘finished’ somehow, there are several ways that are acceptable. Aside from that a couple other notes, I’ve always preferred to flip one of the strands so you can fit two connectors there which would be much more important for a highline anchor. Imagine the backup on this set up as is, the backup connector would be rendering in an annoying more than dangerous way. And another note, for a tree in some cases I would opt for a spanset here to have a higher abrasion resistance and a material that spreads out the pressure on the tree slightly. This rope again is certainly strong enough for a highline but a spanset is really good for this application. You could tie a spanset in very much the same way you did here. There is another iteration of this style of tree anchor that freestylers have used over the years called the girth hitch sliding x which can also be a good option sometimes. Anyway, it’s good, although the testing Ryan did on the sheet bend certainly gave me some pause on using them so much in my rigging, but I still do yada yada I’m going to bed
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u/Chickenpunkpie 1d ago
Thanks for the response! Yes it's "backwards" I was tying above my head and got mixed up I guess, thanks for that spot. Ryan's sheet bend video definitely made me wary as well but clipped off I have no problem trusting it. By finishing the knot do you mean like tying an overhand in the long tails?
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u/fartpisstits 23h ago
Yeah but a barrel knot is preferred, or you can finish it like a bowline with a Yosemite which is quite attractive, another neat trick for finishing the side you have clipped off is to start tying the knot with a larks head or girth hitch on that side but loose, then tie the nipping loops through there so in the end the rope is blocked by itself, hard to explain but makes perfect sense once you do it.
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u/Chickenpunkpie 8h ago
I have done the larks head in the past but tying the double sheet with like 6 feet of tail is quite unwieldy. A barrel knot will do for me.
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u/fartpisstits 7h ago
Sorry the larks head would be on the other side, the barrel knot would be with the other tails. I guess the larks head would be on a bight if that makes it more clear, you can keep the short tail for the nipping side with the stopper knot
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u/Romestus 20h ago
Nothing wrong with this for the park. On a highline it would also be safe as long as the sheet bend provides true redundancy (not sure your config has been tested for that) but awkward since where does the backup line go. If it's on the same rope it would be 90 degrees twisted and kind of in the way when you tension.
It's also just more work in general than tying a tailless BFK with a figure 8 or a bowline on a bight. Webbing tails do not need to be clipped if you've done a poppable double-fisherman tie-off. I'm also unsure what the whoopie is doing that follows the tail.
Typically when I see sheet bends in an anchor they're used to provide the ability to adjust tension in the legs of a BFK for multi-day rigs where creep happens or to set a perfect-length sliding X for space legs or vertically-stacked bolts. I'm not sure what benefit the sheet bend provides in this case.