Complete Guide To Safely Installing And Rigging Zipline Tension Line Over A River

A full guide on anchors, rope, knots and everything needed to safely rig and tension a Zipline.

The rope used for this line is 10mm static, Kernmantle that has a breaking strength of 6000 lbs when new.

Although this video provides a lot of the information to safely install a zipline / tension line it is by no means a full guide. Proper rigging requires years of practice and training to cover every detail. A couple hazards not covered in this video would include: Rope selection, gear inspections, and deviations.

Shot in 4K on the GoPro10 at 30 FPS

[mrrustygray]

I remember doing this at Ranger School in the early 80's with Prussik knots, making 3 line rope bridges and also single line crossings. Love the modern equipment. Still good to know the old ways.

[ayucadapa]

thanks so much. This is one of the most explicit zip line set up video i found on YT

[vdvogosca]

Great job
I like that you showed couple of methods using the mechanical advantage. With modern toys and the old school method.

[TheFunky]

Fellow Canadian I guess eh? those thermals are so good haha. Great content buddy!

[CharlesDeMar]

Great work, clear and concise. Very helpful, thanks.

[SoupCannot]

Great idea using the ATC guide for progress capture

[RopingAround]

Great vid mate! I've been looking for a cheap way to do a progress capture system for ages and this vid was the answer, looking forward to the next one 😀

[hansyoutube]

The Bowline has to be backed up with yosemite-finish + fishermans knot on the rope that prinicipally went into the knot. But THANKS for your overall contribution! :)

[Danrod]

I'm a SPRAT and IRATA member and I'm sure the eight you did is not called double figure 8, it's just an 8 on a bight. You could go even more primitive by using a super munturs hitch and tie off to secure the tension line. And you want to use dynamic rope to hang followed with another one connected to the tension line for backup

[bienweiser]

I don't think that what you're showing as a bowline can actually be considered a bowline, although it does look similar. If you trust it and feel safe then you do what you're comfortable with. The way that I tie a bowline after bringing the dead end down through the loop you go underneath around the back of the load end and back up through the inside of the loop. You're bringing the dead end down through the loop, crossing over the top of the load end, going around the underside of the load end, and then coming up through the outside of the loop. After seeing this I watched multiple videos on youtube to see if anyone else did this. One guy said not to do it but did not elaborate as to why. In every other video, they tied it the way that I do.

[lookitsross]

Awesome video. I'm trying to find a better way to tension a static line for a cable cam run (about 500' of kevlar reinforced static line), and so far have a come along, which is great to remove most of the slack towards the end of setup, but so far to remove the initial setup, this seems like a great idea: i.e. using a progress capture with a rope grab in a 3-to-1 pulley system. Do you have the product names you use? I think I found the progress capture to be the Petzl Rig, and the pulley to be a Petzl Mini Prusik, but I can't for the life of me find the rope grab. Any help would be awesome, and again, thanks for making this easy to follow!

[jessebrn]

Chocking is the preferred way, as it stops you from crossloading the carabiner

[francescomagistrali]

Could you use also a GriGri as a device to create tension on the rope? Tnx!! Great video!

[kaiponakamoto]

Would this work for a 300ft pulley system with a winch on a truck to pull up heavy items

[aaronlewis]

The bowline isn't rated as a safety anchor unless you use a Yosemite finish (or Yosemite backup)
Otherwise there's a potention for the knot to come untied.

[VlasovMichael]

The belay device is installed wrong - the free handing rope should be on the "tooth" part of the device, not the tensioned one.

[subrataroy]

Equipments list pls to install zipline

[toroddlnning]

I have never thought zipline was fun enough to justify the amount of work it takes to put it up.