In this post, we discuss how Dan organises his climbing gear effectively using the Reecoil Rope Bags.
The 45-litre rope bag - climbing gear
The 45-litre rope bag is obviously the bigger of the two bags and holds all his climbing gear. The first thing you'll notice is the top of this one where you can put your JSA / risk assessments for every job site and also store your extra pair of safety specs.
Once unzipped and opened, you'll see on the inside:
- His Petzl Vertex Vent helmet which fits nicely in here with ear muffs on it as well.
- Dan also has two Falteimer throw cubes and these have both got I think 55 and 60 meters of throw line in each.
- And he has a relatively loaded up Petzl Sequoia harness which has a spare prusik multi-sling attachment on the back, his work positioning lanyard, a rope wrench set up and tether that slides in really nicely, a hitch climber set up with extra carabiners, a neck tether, a foot ascender, and a knee ascender - quite a few of these pieces will come off with a harness before he starts climbing.
- There's also 60 meters of Donahue's Cougar Blue 11.7 mm climbing line. cubes.
- His Silky Zubat hand saw fits snugly in the external pocket. It's a good idea to keep hand saws and other cutting equipment separate from the ropes, harnesses and other material gear.
There are also internal and external carabiner loops, a clear risk assessment pocket on top, and has the capacity to fit 200m of 11mm rope or you can fit 60m of 11.7mm climbing line plus harness, helmet, and more.
The 28-litre rope bag - access line
The 28-litre rope bag is for his access line set up. This is primarily for climbing uses for SRT access line for when you need to run a separate access line from your climbing lines. So if you want to leave a single access line in the tree for people to get up and then re-anchor then this is what he uses this bag for.
So what's inside the bag?
- Same as the 45-litre, it has the JSA risk assessment pocket on the top as well as the normal zip-top lip and drawstring closure. You can easily put rope in and take out the rope efficiently when the skirt is flipped over the outside of the bag.
- So in this bag, Dan has a 100m of Donohue Spectra Speed 10 mm access line
- As well as a base anchor sling and a TAZ LOV3 for the base anchor setup as well.
On the outside of the bag
- Dan has additional carabiners for clipping safety stopper knots for the base anchor setup, and make for a convenient place to store them.
The smaller bag also has an external handsaw pocket, internal and external carabiner loops, and also can fit 100m of 11mm rope or 60m of 11.7mm climbing line.
Removing the straps
Depending on your work situation, whether you need to just have these bags to bring from the truck onto the job site and then back again so you don't necessarily need to have the rucksack straps on the back or if you do need to carry the bags a further distance, having the rucksack straps are useful. You have the option to remove these on both the 28 and on the 45 and both bags have these top carry handles, as well as a hang loop on the back. The 45 also has a duffel carry handle.
To remove these rucksack straps on either bag, start with the top:
- Thread the webbing through the buckle, then double back on the buckle.
- Then remove the strap from the D-ring at the base of the bag by pulling the girth hitch loop of webbing off.
Now you've turned both these bags into the more streamlined versions. So if you're throwing it in and out of the truck, you're not going to get the rucksack straps caught up.
