I hope I'm not covering something that's already been posted, but I don't recall seeing it anywhere and I tried this yesterday and it worked really well and I videoed it so here it is.

This is for an SRT ground anchor entry to a tree. The concept is simple, tie two shorter ropes together and locate the bend near the TIP. This method is particularly well suited for climbing with a shorter rope in the tree.

Climb up to the TIP or bend, and with the free end of the rope, set up another TIP, in the video, I use a DdRT setting. Slack the SRT line and untie the bend; the rope anchored at the ground can be dropped and you now have access to both ends of the other rope.

It's really pretty simple and worked well. Here's the video and in the video I set a DdRT setting and tie in with a lanyard too, but you wouldn't have to do both if you were comfortable and confident in your DdRT setting.

You do realize untying a life support line at height is potentially dangerous - right?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LYRJqbeqcPY

Ron, that is genius, so simple, so effective and much safer than any technique I've seen yet for releasing a ground anchor. For tall tree climbing it would be very effective in a situation where say you have a 110' first branch, pull a 200' rope over the branch, tie an 80' short rope on to the anchor leg. Say you had a 2 or 3 climber team, normally the first climber would go up then lead climb from there, climber on the ground releases the anchor, lead climber resets the long rope higher (cinched TIP). This process can take a significant amount of time depending on the difficulty of the lead climb. 2nd and third climbers don't get on rope for a while. With Ron's method, 2nd climber can start up the rope immediately after first climber reaches the first TIP. This means better options for team climbing, climbers are closer together in the tree and also allows for lead responsibilities to shift more smoothly back and forth as needed. This technique is going immediately into my bag of tricks. Best SRT rope management innovation I've heard in a long time.
-AJ

Wow moss thanks! I'm not sure I understood all that you said about the high team climb but I'm gonna re-read it and give it some thought.

Sorry if that was too obscure, stated more simply the technique has direct application for solo or team climbing in tall trees where it would be helpful to release the ground anchor and bring the long rope higher into the tree. All other techniques I've seen have potential fail points of one kind or another, or add too much extra work to the climb process. As I mentioned a climber on the ground can release the rope in a team climb but Ron's technique smooths the climbing process, and I think improves team climbing which in turns improves safety.
-AJ