BIG thank you to Opie!! Penburthy zing its!

**MedicineMan** · 06-08-2010, 14:49

OK, before my long section hike I wanted to try the Penburthy knot on my tarp ridgeline. Ordered 6 Penburthy Zing Its from Opie (maybe they were Lash it)...each is about 3 inches long with a dead eye loop in each end.
Now after many uses I can say that FOR ME they are far better than using prussics on the ridgeline to attach and adjust the tarp.
The Penburthy truly is easier to dress and maintain than the prussic.
Thanks Opie and I'll be ordering more as I transition the other tarps to the better system.

**gargoyle** · 06-08-2010, 14:52

I've been meaning to try these fancy knots out. Glad to hear they worked for you.

**opie** · 06-08-2010, 18:33

Glad to hear they worked out. I had forgotten I sent them to you!!

**ikemouser** · 06-08-2010, 20:21

Yea i may be looking to switch to them as well, i just love the way prussics look though. How do they compare in holding power? I dont want my tarp being blown down the line by the wind.

**NCPatrick** · 06-08-2010, 20:49

I've switched to the Penburthy knots instead of prussiks, they hold quite well.

**Chingyul** · 06-12-2010, 01:18

So just line with two loops at the end, or does Opie do something special?

I'm using a set on my MacCat with 2 #2 s-biners.

**MedicineMan** · 06-12-2010, 05:30

no nothing special except that special Opie dust he puts on them HA!
If you have a continuous loop it can act just like the Penburthy...maybe that is what a Kleimheist is? i type this scratching my head.

**Mkrzyski** · 06-12-2010, 05:35

Would you post some pic's please

**mikewilkinson** · 06-12-2010, 14:14

I've never used anything else other than penberthy prusiks on my ridgeline, particularly since when I first stuck a tarp up I only had one size of cord and so the penberthy prusik made sense. I think the reason it is so good is that the force used to make it 'grip' is only distributed through one leg of cord and not two as in a normal prusik, using the normal prusik rule of using a cord that is half the diameter of the mainline only makes these grip better... Thankyou Larry Penberthy!!

**Shadowmoss** · 06-13-2010, 10:49

Finally had time to investigate this knot, and it's what I was taught back in the day as an 'ascender' knot. In vertical caving climbing a single standing rope, the cheapest, and most physically demanding, way to ascend was to use three lengths of (appropriate) rope attached to the main line, one to each foot and one to a seat sling. The climber grabbed each knot in turn and slipped it up, thereby ascending the standing rope. Not too bad for my 17yo tail to do a 100' pit, but a lot of work for anything higher (deeper?) than that. The knot used for beginners was the prussic because it didn't slip unless you first loosened it. After a person got used to the system they were taught the ascender knot, which would slide either direction as soon as you put a hand on it. Faster and less energy, but could be a problem if you had issues and grabbed your knots instead of the standing rope in a panic. The loop to join after the wraps is a cool improvement, as we wrapped the smaller rope around the standing rope and then joined with a bowline.

I may not be describing this well, but I flew home yesterday and I'm still on my first cup of coffee and I'm not sure what time zone I'm in or what day it is at the moment.