fastest way down in an emergency

[darkstar]

supposed u cut an artery ......what is the fastest method yall know of decending ..... i cut my lower leg once ,,,i tied a quick running bowline around a limb and grabed the rope and freaking slid down burning my palms .....it was really fast though ....

 

[clearance]

Jump-no, I have a rope grab tied about 2 feet from the end of my rope. When I want to come down I clip onto my floating d-ring, tie a tautline and down I come. Not always tied in with my climbing line cause I wear spurs.

 

[Lumberjack]

Uncontrolled gravity is the fastest.

Since I work from DdRT with a VT normally, just grab it and pull down letting basically free fall. With the time to swap to anything else I would already been on the ground. In a strict emergency, 80' is only a few seconds from the ground (never timed it), but its mighty hard on the equipment.

Sliding down the rope on your hands doesnt seem too smart

 

[tophopper]

if you made habit of tying in first, you could simply tautline down if you were injured, i think I said this before.

 

[jason j ladue]

and freaking slid down burning my palms

WHAT? listen, i'm just gonna go ahead and impose my advice here...unless you are blocking out a sparpole- in which case i dont know HOW youd cut yer leg like that (use the hand brake at all times)- make sure you are (always) tied in w/ your lifeline. there is a very good reason it is referred to as such. i personally use a blakes hitch off a split tail line for positioning and rapelling. it's kind of boiled-down setup, some here would call it primitive, but very dependable. practically bullet proof. if you need to stay right where you are or get the hell outta there in a hurry- that is a good way to do it.

 

[rahtreelimbs]

In a strict emergency, 80' is only a few seconds from the ground (never timed it), but its mighty hard on the equipment.

In that case what happens to the equipment is the furthest thing on my mind!


You can't put a price on your life!!!

 

[jason j ladue]

In that case what happens to the equipment is the furthest thing on my mind!

no kiddin!

 

[hobby climber]

darkstar, Listen to Jason, the man knows what he's talking about!(Life Line!) But if for some reason your not tied in to your safety/life line...two wraps of the rope into a carabiner thats attached to your belt and rappel down. Not as nice as using an 8, just quicker I think. Gloves would be a good idea or something to reduce the friction on your hand. The idea is to reduce the risk of accidents so have an escape plan. Safety first! My 02. HC

 

[xander9727]

If you don't have an escape plan.......that will work......you're asking for trouble. Cutting yourself is bad no matter what. Hornets become really bad if you can't get down quick. Small furry animals with claws can also cause a problem if you don't have an out..........unless your saw is running.

Always have a contingency plan. I know some parts of the job make this impractical but if there is a way, use it.

 

[tinman44]

WHAT? listen, i'm just gonna go ahead and impose my advice here...unless you are blocking out a sparpole- in which case i dont know HOW youd cut yer leg like that (use the hand brake at all times)- make sure you are (always) tied in w/ your lifeline. there is a very good reason it is referred to as such. i personally use a blakes hitch off a split tail line for positioning and rapelling. it's kind of boiled-down setup, some here would call it primitive, but very dependable. practically bullet proof. if you need to stay right where you are or get the hell outta there in a hurry- that is a good way to do it.

well i'm new to this and thats my method and it works for me, when i say new i mean like this year new.

 

[Ax-man]

Being tied in at all times has a two fold purpose. Gives you a route to get out of the tree on your own or if you can't get down by yourself it gives the rescuer who has to come up to you a way to lower you down using your lifeline.

Larry

 

[jason j ladue]

Hornets become really bad if you can't get down quick.
Always have a contingency plan. QUOTE]

word is born!

 

[vharrison2]

great question for a safety meeting...i love this site

 

[tnttreeman]

I use the same blakes set-up as Jason and it works great for me. Had to bail out when I hit a hornets nest a couple years ago and I was on the ground in about 2 seconds or less.(Unfortunately, I had about six or seven stings by then too!!!)

 

[newb]

Not having a lifeline tied in would be like driving without a seatbelt. Most times you won't need it, but when you do... . Talking about setting up a emergency desent in a emergency would be like putting your seatbelt on when your having an accident. I could'n imagine trying to think about that while i'm leaking alot of blood. Get used to setting up properly and when an emergency happens it could mean the difference between life and death.

 

[darkstar]

yeah well i though this a good subject ... i was hitched to the tree really well with my laynerd and i wasent sliding uo my usual runnung bowline below tied to a gri gri or a blake hitch cause the tree was big in dia. and it was hard to slide anything up it ... when i got cut alot of blood so i did maybe the stupid thing and went for the faset way donw at the moment ... my boss was screaming at me to basically set something up ...but i wanted down fast grabed my rope from my side threw it over a himb tied and overhand clipped it to my harness and down we go .... the limb did provide some friction ... i forgot to mention that i wasent actually statically tied to a fixed line ... i went about 40 feet in one second and then barely slowed down on impact ..... but hey i was in the er. in less than 10 mins from the cut time ....lesson for me dont cut yerself ever

 

[MasterBlaster]

Not panicking is the first most important step towards survival.

 

[Tom D. Wilson]

i'v heard that health and safety are saying that you should have a second climbing line up in a tree so you can get down if you cut your rope or some one can get up quick and rescue you - it sounds like a good idea but in practice i reckon having the extra rope would just make things that bit more confusing up in a canopy.

 

[jason j ladue]

master blaster and treeco each raise a very important point. dont panic.your cool is the last thing you lose. after that, control is completely beyond you. and- make sure your climb line is always disencumbered . if you need to bail and your lifeline is bunched up you could be pretty well buggered. this is an item to stress w/ your groundie. keep the lines are straightened out from each other and any debris at all times as much as possible

 

[clearance]

When I climb big conifers beside the line to top or sidelimb them, if I was always tied in all the time I would have to untie and retie dozens of times on every tree. Don't go off about spurless, pushing my climbing line up with a polepruner, cause thats not going to happen. You could'nt safely tie to spurless on some trees anyways, like red cedars. Like M.B. said, if you have to come down r.f.n. don't panic. I would tie a tautline and come down. Heres a good one-keep a pressure bandage in your hard hat, because when we are talking about emergencies I think we mean cuts.