Just Starting Out - How am I most likely to hurt myself?

[lone wolf]

Like the JollyLogger said, get rid of that clove hitch, like yesterday.

I seen one roll out and never used them again.

 

[pdqdl]

And remove the clove hitch from your repertoire... anchor, buntline, figure 8 follow through, anything but a clove hitch, and always with a stopper knot

Yep.. You beat me to it. Anchor hitch is my preference, as it is small and effective.

Now that being said, you didn't explain to the newbie why the clove hitch wasn't a good choice. Here's the deal: a clove hitch is good to hitch a horse to a post with. They are also quite helpful while passing tools or a drink of water up a rope to a climber. What can happen, however, is that they can roll out and drop you if nothing else gets in the way.

Picture a scenario where you are rigged DRT, and you miss setting your friction hitch. Somehow. Now you are suspended only by the clove hitch and whatever friction the rope brings to your descent. Let's say that a groundman has snagged that line and you fall 10 feet to a sudden stop. Ooops! That clove hitch might just pull right out and drop you the rest of the way.

(Not only that, but they can roll in or out a bit on the carabiner, and your blake's hitch tail can become short without your permission)

 

[Stonewoodiron]

Wind,

Jepson put together a great book- glad you’re reading it. I’m in it frequently. You’re reading, watching, asking community, and purchased non Chinesium gear. You’re doing it right. Just pay attention to what your clipping and unclipping. Weight a new tie in before releasing the other. Make sure your biners lock and lock where you intended them to be.
You’re not doing any cutting currently, correct?
Funny, I spent probably 10-12 years climbing trees climbing many many trees- all without a rope!! Started at 4 years old!! Only injury was a scratched cornea from a pine needle.
Be careful on a smooth bark tree when it’s wet and slippery.
Keep in watching the videos and apply what you learn. Practice with new skills, techniques, and equipment as low as possible.
Enjoy!

 

[TheJollyLogger]

Yep.. You beat me to it. Anchor hitch is my preference, as it is small and effective.

Now that being said, you didn't explain to the newbie why the clove hitch wasn't a good choice. Here's the deal: a clove hitch is good to hitch a horse to a post with. They are also quite helpful while passing tools or a drink of water up a rope to a climber. What can happen, however, is that they can roll out and drop you if nothing else gets in the way.

Picture a scenario where you are rigged DRT, and you miss setting your friction hitch. Somehow. Now you are suspended only by the clove hitch and whatever friction the rope brings to your descent. Let's say that a groundman has snagged that line and you fall 10 feet to a sudden stop. Ooops! That clove hitch might just pull right out and drop you the rest of the way.

(Not only that, but they can roll in or out a bit on the carabiner, and your blake's hitch tail can become short without your permission)

And clove hitches bind and lock, etc... just a ****** knot...

 

[pdqdl]

Not so! The clove hitch is a fabulous knot. Just not for everywhere. It is one of the knots I teach most to my groundies, as I want them to be able to put something on the rope and send it up to me.

I have a copy of Ashley's book of knots. It's a really good book, and with each knot it outlines the uses of a knot as well as sometimes the history of a knot. Good reading, but only if you are "into" ropes.

 

[Dave1960_Gorge]

Don't get pissed when things get tangled up. You might do something rash -- like throw your climbing rope out of the tree to untangle it, and seeing the entire mess land on the ground 30 ft. below you. While climbing alone.

Sucked making like a bear cub and sliding down the trunk (no spurs), just a flip line, which jammed (made of a piece of rope with a Blake's hitch, which I couldn't reach on the other side of the tree), so slid the last 10 - 15 ft. like an actual bear cub.

 

[Cogito]

I would invest in a prussic. Buy about a metre of prussic line, more if you've got long arms. Tie the two tails together with a double fisherman's knot (there are heaps of instructions on the internet). That will give you a prussic loop completely independent of your climbing line. Each time you attach it to your climbing line (see internet for instructions) rotate the loop a bit so that your not tying on the same part. Over time, the line begins to melt and become 'glassy' or slippery and you'll lose friction. I've bought plenty of prussic line that claims to be heat resistant, but at 100kg if I descend quickly under load they all melt. Personally, I use a bowline with Yosemite hitch to tie onto my harness as it leaves the tail sitting above, rather than in the loop. Don't ever climb alone, have someone more experienced with you.
If your not a bit scared, stop climbing immediately. You should always have a healthy amount of fear, it's what keeps you alive. I've trained climbers who have no fear and it scared the **** out of me.

 

[pdqdl]

I really prefer Beeline 8MM for prussics, and I really, really like a spliced version of that. All those knots & carabiners at my waist gets kinda crowded. Knots are just a bit bulky.

There is a lot to be said, however, for making your own. I trust the knotted versions more than the splices, so I've done both. Yes! You can make your own spliced prussics.

You said that all prussic line melts? Not 8mm Bee-line. You can cook it to ashes with a propane torch but it will not melt (Yes, I have tried to melt the rope. It doesn't melt.)
The "decomposition" temperature of Technora is something like 500° C, and I think you'll make it to ground or let go long before you cook that prussic. [note: the cover does contain 25% polyester, which might be damaged earlier than the other elements. While Yale doesn't tell us it's melting temperature, I'm guessing 160–280 °C (320°-536°F)]
The vectran core has a melting temp of 330°C (626°F)
Now your climbing line... That might get melted by a hot prussic.

https://www.treestuff.com/bee-line-8mm-spliced-eye-eye/ A true spliced eye with locking brummel
https://www.treestuff.com/bee-line-8mm-sewn-eye-eye/ Well... The eye will wear less and last longer.

 

[Stihl User]

The line in the Chipper I witnessed first hand. Stupid new guy that thinks he knows what he was doing!

Last year I was working with a landscaper. Before we started the job I established the outdoor office meeting explaining the workzone dangers and the rules of operation. I heavily stressed the rope vs chipper element.
Half way up the tree I watch my rope being dragged on the branch I just cut over to the chipper without anyone looking back.
I had to zip out of the tree and reaffirm their deliquent brain dead nature that MUST be removed and had them move the chipper farther away, as well as now have one man specifically assigned to watching/thinking while working.

 

[tankman]

Never use your climbing line for anything other than climbing, no pulling trees with it, no lowering limbs with it, nothing but climbing with it.
When topping a tree try to make sure you are tied off/ wrapped under a limb nub that will keep your climbing rope from flipping over the top of the trunk if the tree shakes as the top breaks loose from the trunk.
I witnessed a guy on a ladder topping a tree and his climbing line was tied above the ladder, instead of under the top rung. The trunk shook as the top fell causing slack in his line going around the tree and it flipped up over where he cut the tree and he fell to the ground busting up his back pretty bad. Luckily he didn’t fall on the saw that he dropped.

 

[V.I. Firewood Company .]

If you’re talking about topping/removing trees, climbing is a separate aspect from how to cut a tree . You need to learn how to properly fell a tree on the ground before you attempt it safely at 75 feet off the ground . You can’t run away from a bad cut when you’re tied to the tree . In my opinion, professional climbers always have two points tied to the tree . One is the Flip-line ( lanyard) and the other is the repelling/safety line . Your climbing rope should always be ready to go . Try getting your escape organized when you are being attacked by 100’s bees stinging you in the face and hands . Also,if you get knocked out another climber can extract you faster if your already tied in properly .
The best thing that happened to me in my 20 years of self-taught climbing was eventually working with a extremely experienced climber who taught me the proper and safe way to do things I was doing wrong .

 

[Stihl User]

Never climb a tree with a chainsaw unless you have at least a year of cutting on the ground, felling trees and cutting in awkward positions.
You fully understand chainsaw kickback.
Pressure points and weight distribution of branches.

 

[Howsitgoineh]

I second the "cutting too large of a chunk" along with an inexperienced groundie. The spar can rattle and whip around, if you're not prepared it is pretty scary.
Always be aware of your tie in points - safety lanyard in always before moving your main line.


For your setup, may I suggest a second carabiner on a split tail - with your hitch tied in this you won't have to retie your climbing hitch every time you want to pass a limb.
I liked the traditional setup like you use at first, but that small addition made a huge difference for me when climbing ddrt. Simply unclip, move past the limb and snap back in.

hope this helps some!

 

[BeatCJ]

Having read through the thread, I would say you are most likely to hurt yourself trying to learn this from YouTube, the internet and online. This is one of the things that has to be learned in person, with someone experienced looking over your shoulder. It's so easy to not see something that will flat out kill you.

You can gain a lot of knowledge from the World Wide Web, but do not try to apply it without EXPERIENCED and qualified guidance

EDIT: Dang it, did it myself. Old Thread, brought back to life.

 

[Howsitgoineh]

Having read through the thread, I would say you are most likely to hurt yourself trying to learn this from YouTube, the internet and online. This is one of the things that has to be learned in person, with someone experienced looking over your shoulder. It's so easy to not see something that will flat out kill you.

You can gain a lot of knowledge from the World Wide Web, but do not try to apply it without EXPERIENCED and qualified guidance

EDIT: Dang it, did it myself. Old Thread, brought back to life.

I am partially at fault here too. Not a lot of content in the rec climbing section, this was one of the most recent posts. I read through without looking at the dates and added my thoughts. Woops!

 

[pdqdl]

...For your setup, may I suggest a second carabiner on a split tail - with your hitch tied in this you won't have to retie your climbing hitch every time you want to pass a limb.
I liked the traditional setup like you use at first, but that small addition made a huge difference for me when climbing ddrt. Simply unclip, move past the limb and snap back in.

hope this helps some!

It's amazing how some "old school" climbers cannot figure out that re-clipping is so much safer and easier than re-tying. Once you beat 'em on the head hard enough to try split tail, they seldom go back.

 

[pdqdl]

The line in the Chipper I witnessed first hand. Stupid new guy that thinks he knows what he was doing!

How did that turn out?

I can see that running anywhere from nothing more than a scary moment to being about the most traumatic death possible.

 

[Howsitgoineh]

How did that turn out?

I can see that running anywhere from nothing more than a scary moment to being about the most traumatic death possible.

Enough to make one quit the trade I would think.

I've seen some bad injuries when I used to work in litho printing.
Heard of an operator who used to work there who had been pulled into the press. Safety shut off on the older machine was not quick enough to stop him. The other operator on the crew quit and said he never wanted to see a printing press again

 

[ZinTrees]

I could swear I replied to this already, guess not


about 2 years ago I'm up in the bucket knocking out this pretty large red maple, alternating ends of my rigging line as we went, limb after limb, before the job we had a meeting and I explained everything to the new crew, including to keep the ******* rope away from the god damned chipper (another tree company, their 2 guys and my one guy plus myself)

well, the other company had a new kid dragging brush, think it was his second time ever feeding a chipper, and first time with workers in the air, so whole new ballgame

I had one end of the rigging line tied to the bucket as I was moving the block to take another chunk down, and felt a tug on the boom, look down and see this kid put a limb in the chipper with the rope still attached, thank **** my ground guy noticed and stopped the chipper, my guy was already yelling at the new kid by the time I came down to "have a chat" with him, after cussing him out infront of everybody, clearly more than a little upset as he almost killed me, I did everything short of firing the other companies guy, he sat to the side the rest of the day till it was time to hand load these 24-36" maple rounds into the dump trailer, then we put him to work big time


his excuse for it all? "I assumed the other guy untied the rope since he walked that way"


so yeah, if a chipper is involved, it say its the most dangerous part of 99% of all tree work


ok, well an angry climber is also very bad for the ground crew! I swear, if I ever have another groundie that won't look up and/or move when I yell headache, I might just quit yelling it and hope they get the idea that my saw running means GTFO lol, had 2 guys once stand under me for about 10 minutes chatting, I kept yelling to move and revving the piss out of my modded 200t, they never looked, cut about a 1/2" stub off and bounced it off one guys helmet, guess what? never once has he stood under me again, been like a year and a half now with no issues, and let me tell you, if I yell "HEADACHE" or start my saw, they scatter like roaches when you turn the lights on!

 

[Ibrahim]

A lack of paying attention to what you are doing.

Yeah it really is about focus. At the end of the day though I would recommend having a professional do it.