CEclimb is a fully certified climbing system built around Teufelberger Tachyon rope, the DMM Hitch Climberwith two Ultra O carabiners and a pre-set friction hitch using a 8mm Ocean Polyester e2e - CEclimb comes complete in a Teufelberger rope bag, with the knot tied at the factory, ready to climb.
The development of CEclimb has not been without its critics - see Arbtalk thread here - and some New Zealand climbers follow a similar line of thinking to the posts on Arbtalk. But rather than bag the concept completely its probably worth looking into what the Treemagineers (and Teufelberger) were trying to achieve.
Many climbers build their own systems - its part of the tree climbing culture to pirate ideas from various other climbing disciplinesand adapt them to tree work. One could argue, this experimentation is an integral part of the innovation process and helps push the boundaries to furtherdevelop climbing tools and techniques.However, while individual components within these custom built systems will (more-than-likely) be rated that does not mean the completed system wouldreach CE certification. Here's what Treemagineer Chris Cowell
has to say:
"Any system built with those components does not necessarily carry the CE certification. For example, the climber may use a different climbing line (withor without a certified splice), and configure the hitch cord in a manner which has not been certified. In this way, the system may or may not perform tothe range of criteria assessed by TUV. Yet superficially, "all the components are the same, so what can go wrong"? The inference is that any system builtwith the same components has the same performance. We all know this is not true, as small/subtle changes in configuration can make very significant changesto performance."
"In a way, I can see no way around this. Some climbers will want to use rope already in their kit bags, and others will prefer to use non-Teufelbergercordage. In general though, the comment is that we would prefer to see companies and climbers acknowledging that a CE marked work positioning system hassome merit e.g. the verified static and dynamic strengths of the system, plus some of the operating parameters.....etc!"
There is bound to be more debate on this topic.
Almost every climber visiting Treetools since the CEclimb kit arrived has carefully checked the friction hitch set at the factory and made a comparisonwith their own. In almost every case their friction hitch is tied differently to the factory setting but all acknowledge there are many variations andsome work better than others. See below for the one assessed by TUV for the CE certification of CEclimb.
*landed prices not yet available for CEclimb
