How to anchor to single point for fall protection?

This has likely been asked here before but I haven't been able to find it. I'm interested in using rock climbing gear as part of a safety system for hunting in a tree. So far I have the rope I need for around the tree, and a Black Diamond Vario harness (but am open to others that may be better). It's been recommended to me to also use a dynamic lanyard like a Beal Dynaclip to connect between my harness and the rope around the tree to soften any fall that may occur. 

What I am wondering is, what would the climbing pros recommend rather than using a Dynaclip? What else is common/available for this purpose? The sling/rope/lanyard wouldn't need to be more than a couple of feet in length, as my back would be right up against the tree. I thought about perhaps using a Personal Anchor System like the one from Metolius but then read that they are not meant for falls.

Anyone willing to help out a noobie? Much obliged!

Seems like overkill to me. If you only need a couple foot long tether, and you're not putting yourself in situations where you could take a big dynamic fall onto the tether, I would just use a short length of dynamic rope. Tie in on your harness, and put a clove hitch on a locker (for easy adjustment) attached to your master point.

Abram Herman wrote:

Seems like overkill to me. If you only need a couple foot long tether, and you're not putting yourself in situations where you could take a big dynamic fall onto the tether, I would just use a short length of dynamic rope. Tie in on your harness, and put a clove hitch on a locker (for easy adjustment) attached to your master point.

Thanks for the reply! That was my initial thought as well but it has been recommended to me by a few folks. I'd be tethered to a rop that had a prusik knot on it so I imagine that would also make a fall a bit more graceful than a harsh stop.

If I were to want a more dynamic tether/lanyard, what would the standard climbing recommendation be?

Just get a sterling chain reactor. Unlike a PAS they are rated to hold a factor 2 fall. You really should not be climbing above where the leash is hooked into so it should not matter what you use. You could get a long pre-looped webbing sling and use that. You could also find a small piece of climbing rope (I always carry a 10ft section of rope that is looped together for making anchors on climbs) and make a loop using fisherman and than use that as your leash.

I am assuming you will not be hanging from it, likely you have a platform you will be sitting on and moving around a little. This means a glove hitch is probably a bad idea because when unweighted they could possibly untie.

A friend of mine uses a Metolius Safe-tech harness with two short pieces of rope, one on either side attached to the rated gear loops as attachment points to keep from falling off his stand should he doze off.  Not as strong as an industrial positioning harness, but likely more than adequate. 

Is the rope just tied around the tree, sort of above you? If so, I think this is just really being overthought. You probably don't really even need a prusik, but if you do use one it's not going to soften the fall any (it shouldn't slide on the rope; if it does, that's a problem anyway as a friction hitch shouldn't be loaded dynamically like that, it can damage the rope sheath when/if it catches). What's the reason for the prusik?

Honestly, if your anchor is above you, just use a rope to tie in. This whole idea of using a shock-absorbing tether is for way higher load scenarios, e.g. via ferrata where you might fall 10 feet down a ladder before the tether catches you. If you're just gonna fall a couple feet at most, just use a dynamic climbing rope. Between the stretch of the rope you've got tied around the tree (assuming it's a dynamic rope) and the stretch of the rope you're using as a tether, the catch will be soft enough. I mean, you're not going to be repeatedly falling on this thing, it's just a backup in case you misstep, right? If it were me I'd just use a dynamic rope and call it good. Looking at the Beal Dynaclip (which I've never seen before) it looks like that's all it is, is a dynamic climbing rope sewn to be used as a tether. There's no additional shock-absorbing quality to it, as far as I can tell. In rock climbing we basically just always use the rope itself to tether, because you don't need anything more than that.

ViperScale wrote:

This means a glove hitch is probably a bad idea because when unweighted they could possibly untie.

That's not how a clove hitch works. If it's on a locking biner it can't escape the biner to "untie", and even if it gets loosened, once you fall on/weight it again it will just tighten back up.

Abram Herman wrote:

Is the rope just tied around the tree, sort of above you? If so, I think this is just really being overthought. You probably don't really even need a prusik, but if you do use one it's not going to soften the fall any (it shouldn't slide on the rope; if it does, that's a problem anyway as a friction hitch shouldn't be loaded dynamically like that, it can damage the rope sheath when/if it catches). What's the reason for the prusik?

Honestly, if your anchor is above you, just use a rope to tie in. This whole idea of using a shock-absorbing tether is for way higher load scenarios, e.g. via ferrata where you might fall 10 feet down a ladder before the tether catches you. If you're just gonna fall a couple feet at most, just use a dynamic climbing rope. Between the stretch of the rope you've got tied around the tree (assuming it's a dynamic rope) and the stretch of the rope you're using as a tether, the catch will be soft enough. I mean, you're not going to be repeatedly falling on this thing, it's just a backup in case you misstep, right? If it were me I'd just use a dynamic rope and call it good. Looking at the Beal Dynaclip (which I've never seen before) it looks like that's all it is, is a dynamic climbing rope sewn to be used as a tether. There's no additional shock-absorbing quality to it, as far as I can tell. In rock climbing we basically just always use the rope itself to tether, because you don't need anything more than that.

That is correct, it would simply be for missteps or in case the standing platform falls out from underneath.

Ideally the tree rope and anchor point would be about waist level, meaning only a 1-2 foot drop hopefully.

Would something like this Black Diamond Tether work or something like the Sterling Reactor or Sewn Webbing work? I thought I had read that they are not meant for falls.

Ideally I'd find something to use that's prefabricated to minimize size/knots that would result from creating something from rope myself. Space is already a premium when hiking in so the smaller the form of a tether the better.

Thanks to you and everyone else for your input. Knots and climbing lingo is quite foreign to me, so I'm hoping to learn as much as possible even just for the sake of learning.

Username checks out.

Jon Snow wrote:Ideally I'd find something to use that's prefabricated to minimize size/knots that would result from creating something from rope myself. Space is already a premium when hiking in so the smaller the form of a tether the better.

Well, I'd say the best way to save space on the hike in is by using the rope you're already carrying with you as a tether, instead of bringing a separate, unnecessary piece of additional equipment.

And a figure eight knot on your harness is hardly more intrusive than the PAS you would girth hitch through those same tie in points, with the added advantage that a clove hitched rope is infinitely adjustable to be as long or as short as you want it, whereas a PAS only has set clip-in points to use.

This is all you need: https://vimeo.com/126266748