# Climber falls onto iron fence when his ascender fails



## tree md (Jun 2, 2009)

I found this while researching ascenders and SRT systems. Chilled me to the bone.

http://www.isa-arboriculture.org/content/cm000181.htm


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## Ekka (Jun 2, 2009)

> The findings of the HSE investigation held no one
> at fault. All actions had been following the current best
> practice, so what should we do to stop this until someone
> builds us a new device for tree access alone?



Note the backup on this one.


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## treemandan (Jun 2, 2009)

Ekka said:


> Note the backup on this one.



I don't see it.


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## treemandan (Jun 2, 2009)

*I am working on my spanish*

useo pieceo ropeo that goes aroundo the whole thingo.

The green rope is a back up, anything less might just have you on the fence... ouch that was bad.


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## tomtrees58 (Jun 2, 2009)

man working over that i have don it 1000 of times tom trees


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## treemandan (Jun 2, 2009)

*try it in English*

If you don't bypass the whole ascender like depicted in my pic you are looking for real trouble. I have seen guys time and again who don't do this. Their who gig relies on just the cam and to me that is NUTS.


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## treemandan (Jun 2, 2009)

Don't mean to sound so sarcastic but I have been through this argument a dozen times. If you put the bypass rope in you won't fall, you can't fall. No matter what happens to the ascender.


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## treemandan (Jun 2, 2009)

Yes, that was a very gruesome accident. When I first got my acsender they salesmans did a demo but didn't show me how to back it up with the bypass rope. In fact I don't think it is even in the the instructions and everytime I see a guy using one without the back up rope I have to wonder. There are a lot of them out there. I just can't trust a flimsy peice of die-cast and aluminum and am impressed by those who do. If you use an acsender and do not bypass it your days are numbered... even more so than they are now.


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## kamcbrayer (Jun 3, 2009)

You hear of climbers falling but that picture brings it into perspective. I will properly back my ascenders up always. I never go balls to the walls.


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## Ekka (Jun 4, 2009)

Who backs up their lanyard adjuster?


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## treemandan (Jun 4, 2009)

Ekka said:


> Who backs up their lanyard adjuster?



Yeah, that is just a beener to keep the rope from falling out. I have the standing end of my lanyard locked with a beener to my D ring you bet. Most guys don't either but that is a little different. The micro adjuster there is tougher and it captures the rope.


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## treemandan (Jun 4, 2009)

I see the beener in your set up differs than mine. Your goes behind the cam lever which would prevent it from opening. So you have to take the beener off to thumb it open? That may be a pain and although safer than my Petzl which doesn't seem to have a hole to put a beener there it still don't negate the fact that other problems still can occur and they can be fixed with the bypass.

In the June edition of National Geo there a thing on caving. A good pic of a guy ascending from a 350 foot deep rock hole in the ground, you look at the magnitude and see he is holding on with ... just two Petzl hand helds. And that was it, no back up no nothing. 

I don't suppose anyone has a broken acsender? I guess its pretty rare, I have not heard of it personally. Mostly its just been the undesired opening of the cam. 

Now there is no way I am going to climb a tree with out them though. A great tool no doubt.


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## treemandan (Jun 4, 2009)

tomtrees58 said:


> man working over that i have don it 1000 of times tom trees



I asked my dad why they put fences up with those sharp spikes around the city parks and bldgs and he told me it was to keep people out. I thought it was a pretty sick thing to do, to put up those spear heads and call it a fence. Somebody was bound to get really hurt.


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## BarkBuster20 (Jun 4, 2009)

well this is a thread im much happier knowing i spent some time reading than not. good advice thanks.


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## outofmytree (Jun 4, 2009)

I have seen ascenders in action Dan but never used them. I read the article several times trying to get my head around the notion that the climber was ascending drt and footlocking and that, according to the author, 2 english prussics, as shown in his photograph, were still insufficient back up. Perhaps the author meant that the climber had 1 ascender per side but was footlocking both tails? Effectively srt on both ends of a rope which was passed over a branch? Be gentle with me Dan, its late here and I am an ascender newbie....


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## treemandan (Jun 4, 2009)

outofmytree said:


> I have seen ascenders in action Dan but never used them. I read the article several times trying to get my head around the notion that the climber was ascending drt and footlocking and that, according to the author, 2 english prussics, as shown in his photograph, were still insufficient back up. Perhaps the author meant that the climber had 1 ascender per side but was footlocking both tails? Effectively srt on both ends of a rope which was passed over a branch? Be gentle with me Dan, its late here and I am an ascender newbie....



I read this part " one of his ropes poppped out and he fell. What you see in the pic, besides blood and a steel spear poking through the saddle, I think is the lanyard.


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## outofmytree (Jun 4, 2009)

I meant the pictures in the article itself which you must open to see. 

This is the part of the article which has me a little, well, you know.

There are many and various ways of backing up
the DRT system utilising ascenders, but what needs
to be made clear is that just adding a prussic loop on
both lines (as you would if you were foot locking with
a prussic) will not be backed up. This is because if
one side of the ascenders fails, the ropes will move in
opposite directions and the prussic will not grip. What
you must do is treat double ascenders as two separate
ascenders that just happen to be joined together. Each
side must be backed up.

So how do you think these ascenders were attached? He makes it sound as though they were both attached to one rope which passed over a branch. So in climbing the effect is like standard footlocking only with ascenders to assist. Which, like I said, seems more like srt on two sides of the same rope rather than drt to gain that doubling of effort we love so much.

The other part of the article which suggests the manner of use is here

One of the ropes in his ascenders popped out
and he fell. Turning, trying in vain to grab the ropes in
front of him,

I figure seeing as how he fell over 50 feet and is alive with full use of his legs that he didnt free fall but rather was able to gain a little friction as the rope passed over the branch.... Or maybe not?

Boy do I need to rest my poor brain now...


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## moss (Jun 4, 2009)

treemandan said:


> In the June edition of National Geo there a thing on caving. A good pic of a guy ascending from a 350 foot deep rock hole in the ground, you look at the magnitude and see he is holding on with ... just two Petzl hand helds. And that was it, no back up no nothing.



That's totally normal, the second ascender is the backup. It's SRT not secured footlock (what happened in the fence accident), for single rope a second rated ascender is standard backup. Definitely for secured footlock on doubled rope, got to have the cam on each leg of the rope backed up.
-moss


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