The Wild Country Ropeman was frowned upon in tree climbing circles following a report on rope clamps conducted by the HSE in the UK.
The original Ropeman worked effectively (and safely) on a very narrow rope diameter range: 10-11mm only. The Ropeman II was developed by Wild Country to broaden the rope specification window to 8.5-11mm. Wild Country achieved this by changing the cam composition to stainless steel and applying a more complicated (aggressive looking) tooth pattern to the cam.In tree climber applications, the 10-11mm diameter range of the Ropeman I is acceptable since many climbing lines and friction cords fit this size, but the Ropeman I should still only be used on single ropes.
Innovative tree climbers have begun to re-visit the Ropeman as a useful device on retrievable re-directs and the like. In these applications the Ropeman is used as a back-up, never as the primary anchor point.
If you intend adapting the Ropeman to your purposes or configuration, make sure you are aware of its strengths and weaknesses in each application before you climb on it installed!
