close call

[Treecutr]

I've said it here before, I'm not afraid to admit my mistakes. ( although I may be an ass about it at first ) I almost screwed up BAD today. 60' up trimming a pine, on a nice hot 26 degree day. I was done trimming except for a few small branches about 25' up. I had reattached my climbing line ( I was secured to tree with flip line ) I threw the climbing line over 2 good sized branches, so if one failed, the one below it would be a backup. I ran line through biner on saddle, tied off blakes hitch, and started to lower myself about a foot. Something seemed wrong, didn't feel right. I had come down enough to sit on a good sized limb that wasn't being removed. I decided to look at line, thats when I discovered that I never tied my anchor hitch to the biner, I just ran line through it, and on to the blakes, basically if I had continued on, I would have free falled to the ground 55' or so feet below. I couldn't belive it, I swore I tied the anchor hitch, but obviously didn't. I can't think why I didn't double check, other than I was also telling ground guy what I wanted him to do with stuff on ground. I guess I was distracted. Anyways, I was fortunate to have a good gut that I always listen to. Moral. DOUBLE CHECK EVERYTHING. Hopefully won't get the occasional jerk who reads this and thinks it's funny, I just wanted to maybe give everyone a reminder that it can happen at any time.

 

[mndlawn]

Glad your OK

 

[EdenT]

Damn that's funny, NOT. So glad your OK. Go with your gut! It saved you this time. I never take off my flip line until I am 100% sure of my climb line, which means descending a few feet running out the flip line. Climbers I work with think it's silly, but even the most experienced can easily make a silly mistake when they are hot and distracted. Thanks for sharing. Reppin ya.

 

[Mikecutstrees]

Thanks for the excellent reminder. Glad all turned out ok..... Mike

 

[Saw Bones]

Good Lesson Learned. You have saved some one from a serious injury or a fatalaty. Thanks for sharing.

 

[canopyboy]

Damn that's funny, NOT. So glad your OK. Go with your gut! It saved you this time. I never take off my flip line until I am 100% sure of my climb line, which means descending a few feet running out the flip line. Climbers I work with think it's silly, but even the most experienced can easily make a silly mistake when they are hot and distracted. Thanks for sharing. Reppin ya.

Always scared I'm going to do something like that. I also make it a point to transfer all my weight to the new tie-in and start to descend a foot or so before releasing the original.

In a way, it's probably good you scared yourself a little with nothing bad resulting from it. You'll be pretty careful going forward I bet. Similar thing happened when I cut part way through my climb line that was on the backside of the tree. Now I triple check.

 

[ozzy42]

Distractions can be lethal for sure.

I posted about a guy getting killed a few months ago in my hometown here.
I didn;t know him personally,but from what I heard he was verya proffessional and well experienced climber.

He was killed when a 10ftx 20in log section he was dropping from 30 ft up yanked him to the ground by his climb line.


Stay safe .

We would rather hear FROM you than hear ABOUT you.

 

[rarefish383]

Glad all is well. I always put weight on my climbing line before I release my flip line. You also said you had your line over a limb, with another sturdy limb below, in case the first limb failed. I never put my rope "over" a limb. I always go around the tree too. That way the shear strength is multiplied, and if the limb did fail you would still be around the trunk, and have a much slower decent, Joe.

 

[Treecutr]

Ok. I was wrong on this. I started thinking more. I too always transfer my weight to the climbing line before undoing my flipline ( s ) . So I sat down with my rope and a biner to re create what I remember seeing 55' up. here are the pics. One is what I wanted, and one is what I had. I essentially was secure, but it was wrong with how I did it. I had a loop that had me secured to climbing line, and It would have worked I surrose, but not the correct set up. You'll see.


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So I guess all I did was help give everyone a reminder, and I did still mess up, just not as bad as I thought. Thanks for you time.

 

[Blakesmaster]

Ok. I was wrong on this. I started thinking more. I too always transfer my weight to the climbing line before undoing my flipline ( s ) . So I sat down with my rope and a biner to re create what I remember seeing 55' up. here are the pics. One is what I wanted, and one is what I had. I essentially was secure, but it was wrong with how I did it. I had a loop that had me secured to climbing line, and It would have worked I surrose, but not the correct set up. You'll see.


View attachment 123264

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So I guess all I did was help give everyone a reminder, and I did still mess up, just not as bad as I thought. Thanks for you time.

I was confused when you said in your original post that you would free fall but now it makes sense. I did that once too, rec climbing a few years back, started to descend and realized right away #### was wrong much like you did. Check, check, and recheck. Stay safe.

 

[Bermie]

... I also make it a point to transfer all my weight to the new tie-in and start to descend a foot or so before releasing the original.

Yes, me too...load the new one before releasing the old one...

A guy I knew fell 40' broke his ankles, ribs and various other bits and pieces only two weeks after finishing a course...he never clipped into his new tie in, released the other and...all the way to the bottom...

So gald you are Ok dude, much better to read of a close call, a reminder for us all, THANK YOU

 

[oldirty]

as long as the biner went to the saddle you wouldve been fine. and now its time for you to move onto a split tail system so you wont have to ever untie your knot.

 

[tree md]

as long as the biner went to the saddle you wouldve been fine. and now its time for you to move onto a split tail system so you wont have to ever untie your knot.

:agree2:

 

[Treecutr]

yeah biner went to saddle, just an incorrect rig. I intend on split tail. Been messing with it low here and there. Need a better pulley I think.

 

[JeffL]

Once you go split tail, you never go back

I can tie my climbing hitch once in the morning and not have to retie it all day with my hitchclimber and prussik hitch setup. Very nice for recrotching.

 

[tree md]

Once you go split tail, you never go back

I can tie my climbing hitch once in the morning and not have to retie it all day with my hitchclimber and prussik hitch setup. Very nice for recrotching.

Lol, I leave mine tied onto my climbing rope in my rope bag. I don't even have to retie it in the morning, it's pretty much always tied on.

 

[oldirty]

Lol, I leave mine tied onto my climbing rope in my rope bag. I don't even have to retie it in the morning, it's pretty much always tied on.

yup!

 

[JeffL]

Lol, I leave mine tied onto my climbing rope in my rope bag. I don't even have to retie it in the morning, it's pretty much always tied on.

I also do that sometimes, but if I end up at the end of my 150 foot rope, its usually faster to retie than it is to pull all the rope through the hitch.

 

[oldirty]

I also do that sometimes, but if I end up at the end of my 150 foot rope, its usually faster to retie than it is to pull all the rope through the hitch.

20 bucks says i can put 200ft of line back to the top and into my rope bag faster without untying my knot than you can retying and and loading your rope bag.......

 

[JeffL]

I'm lazy, pulling rope is tiring.