Very sad accident today...

Mark Chisholm said:
The method of using a second attachment while being transported by the crane actual became an ANSI recommendation from the work of the crane chair at the time- owner of Mayer Tree, Dan Mayer. When he and I discussed it (I was on the committee) it wasn't to provide a backup for an accident like this. It was to make people slow down and focus when transitioning. That's where falling accidents seemed to happen during crane work.
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I was curious to know also...i heard about the new method a few years back...but i'm not sold that it makes "transitioning" safer...oftentimes, the climber rigs, unhooks saftey off hook, walks down, then transitions. I know i'm preaching to the choir...lifting a climber into the tree to tie in, transition then rig/cut? Sure. I have always admired your work mr. chisholm, and the business you and your family have become. Hope to meet someday.
 
craneguy1 said:
I was curious to know also...i heard about the new method a few years back...but i'm not sold that it makes "transitioning" safer...oftentimes, the climber rigs, unhooks saftey off hook, walks down, then transitions. I know i'm preaching to the choir...lifting a climber into the tree to tie in, transition then rig/cut? Sure. I have always admired your work mr. chisholm, and the business you and your family have become. Hope to meet someday.
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I consider it a waste of time to be honest with you. We never taught it at the crane workshops until it was mandated. The reason why it is required now is to satisfy OSHA.
 
Yes me as well..
In the beginning of the thread i thought i heard something about a bridge failure..?.

However, i saw the report first hand on the news & the jobsite looked real weird.. Weird as in, the ball was cabled all the way up, the news clip i saw showed the grapple from the chipper looking like it was way up in the tree line, David's gear was all on the ground, not a peice of debris was on the ground either & cops & fire were on scene. It looked like none of the machinery had moved for to allow access for EMT, not that it wouldnt be un-normal for nothing to move, but i would expect everything to stop in it's tracks & not move until OSHA or whoever got there. That's why I'm saying it was weird to see the ball cabled all the way up. If David had just gotten put in the tree why would they ball be cabled up.. Ok, fine you could say he was swinging back from landing a piece, yet there was 0 debris on the ground, not even leafs or twigs... & Why did it look like the grapple was up in the canopy.. Something looked off to me.. i actually reached out to a local reporter to see if they had any additional info to give me.. but I've yet to hear back.. I'm just saying, something didn't look right & i hope I'm not out of line for saying so here.. i just want to know what happened as he was a local.

Unfortunately, this wasn't the first time David took a crash either.. a few years back he took a fall in Methuen & had to get airlifted. Guy was a trooper though & got back in the horse.. not sure i could do the same.

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I feel that the double tie in is a good factor. It forces the climber to think past the cost of the crane. I have not rode the ball in about 10yrs. I miss it sometimes but from what I remember I was always thinking of what the crane was costing per hour. Then again I was never an employee so time always seemed to be a factor. The double tie in slows the mind down just a bit ...... call it situation awareness.
 
Steve Connally said:
I have read some conversation about this incident. I am certainly not the one to give specific details but the consensus and information leads to a failed rope bridge on his harness and not being tied in twice on the ball. Can't say what the fiber was or the saddle but the issue was the bridge. Indications point to material potentially past its service life. Again I can't say for absolute certain but that's where its pointing. Just remember you cant just throw any rope on your bridge and expect performance.
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Hey, Steve! Thanks for this post. You may not wish to answer the question I'm about to pose, and it's ok if you don't. Just thought I'd try. Here goes.

In the final line of this post of yours, you say "you can't just throw any rope on your bridge and expect performance." So my question is, is there a rope or a selection of ropes that you absolutely trust for the purpose of making a replacement rope bridge? I'd love to have a choice of a few really solid, safe ropes to do this with. The reason for my question is that I have a TreeMotion saddle, but the replacement bridges they offer for sale for the TreeMotion are of a fixed length, with no option to buy in bulk and make a bridge of a non-standard size. What I'd really like to do is create a longer adjustable bridge. I feel like TreeMotion is shooting itself in the foot by not making it possible for climbers to buy the rope bridge material in bulk.

I'd love to hear from you or anyone else that has found a rope bridge material that they are unquestionably willing to trust with their life, just as long as it gets inspected and replaced at a reasonable interval. Thanks all for your time and attention.

Tim
 
TimBr said:
Hey, Steve! Thanks for this post. You may not wish to answer the question I'm about to pose, and it's ok if you don't. Just thought I'd try. Here goes.

In the final line of this post of yours, you say "you can't just throw any rope on your bridge and expect performance." So my question is, is there a rope or a selection of ropes that you absolutely trust for the purpose of making a replacement rope bridge? I'd love to have a choice of a few really solid, safe ropes to do this with. The reason for my question is that I have a TreeMotion saddle, but the replacement bridges they offer for sale for the TreeMotion are of a fixed length, with no option to buy in bulk and make a bridge of a non-standard size. What I'd really like to do is create a longer adjustable bridge. I feel like TreeMotion is shooting itself in the foot by not making it possible for climbers to buy the rope bridge material in bulk.

I'd love to hear from you or anyone else that has found a rope bridge material that they are unquestionably willing to trust with their life, just as long as it gets inspected and replaced at a reasonable interval. Thanks all for your time and attention.

Tim
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Hi Tim,
Not to butt in Steve but I'm throwing in my .02 just because I'm here now. Feel free to add anything you'd like, or even give me a beatin if I'm out of hand on advice.

I did the same to my bridge on my MCRS. The replacement bridge just didn't have the length for adjustments. I looked at my new stock of climbing rope remnants. I had enough to grab 5' of NE safety blue. I wanted to use climbing line but I did want something with better abrasive resistance. The Sampson Arbor Masters are real tuff and resistant to hard use. The MB uses the BWR out of the gate. I ordered 6' of the BWR but, for now, I'm just watching the wear on the safety blue. As it is I'm not currently climbing full time. My 2nd occupation is consuming a lot of my time.

Be well.
 
TimBr said:
I'd love to hear from you or anyone else that has found a rope bridge material that they are unquestionably willing to trust with their life, just as long as it gets inspected and replaced at a reasonable interval. Thanks all for your time and attention.

Tim
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Tim, I would argue the young man from Mayer was “unquestionably willing to trust (his bridge) with his life”. I believe that trust is required, to be able to hook yourself up and go aloft, if you don’t trust it the bells should be going off. The difference is having the knowledge to be making the right decision and understand why, which you are trying to obtain.

On my buckingham empire, I replaced the stock bridge with sterling HTP 1/2”. When I did it I put two pieces in. The upper one is the primary that carries the load (unless something is twisted which almost never happens). The lower is ever so slightly longer so that it allows my swivel to glide without any binding. The HTP is more than strong enough for a climbing application, it’s not constructed of abrasive fibers and it is readily available. The other reason I chose it was it’s bright orange catching my eye, reminding me every time I put on my black and blue saddle there is something bright that must be looked at a little closer.
Be safe out there
 
Something else to consider, as we are talking about bridge safety, when adding a long extendable bridge as has been mentioned by some. Doing so will expose your bridge to a cutting mishap much more than if it were to stay short and in, close to your body.
 
DSMc said:
Something else to consider, as we are talking about bridge safety, when adding a long extendable bridge as has been mentioned by some. Doing so will expose your bridge to a cutting mishap much more than if it were to stay short and in, close to your body.
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That's why I don't use an adjustable bridge, and a few other reasons like your multicender or hitch gets out of reach when you're limbwaking etc. I am perplexed by the desire for a longer than stock bridge, I make my bridges shorter than stock ;-) I understand people like to be able to pull rope under the device with both hands and therefore like the long bridge, that's a climbing technique issue, with a foot ascender you never should need to pull rope with both hands under the hitch or multicender. And there are very sound ways to pull rope above the hitch safely when returning from limb walks for example. Major digression, probably another thread.

Deep regrets for the loss of a climber, RIP
-AJ
 
moss said:
That's why I don't use an adjustable bridge, and a few other reasons like your multicender or hitch gets out of reach when you're limbwaking etc. I am perplexed by the desire for a longer than stock bridge, I make my bridges shorter than stock ;-) I understand people like to be able to pull rope under the device with both hands and therefore like the long bridge, that's a climbing technique issue, with a foot ascender you never should need to pull rope with both hands under the hitch or multicender. And there are very sound ways to pull rope above the hitch safely when returning from limb walks for example. Major digression, probably another thread.

Deep regrets for the loss of a climber, RIP
-AJ
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Hey, AJ, thanks for the comments. In my case, the reason I'd like to have an adjustable bridge is that I've recently incorporated one of those Rock Exotica chest rollers into my gear arrangement, and it is necessary to have the climbing system above the roller, so that the roller does not push down on the ascent device, whichever one that might be.

Right now I just use webbing straps to create a short extension between my bridge and my climbing device, which gets it above the rollers. But it's a clunky workaround, and an adjustable bridge would be a smoother way to do things. It is primarily for ascent. Once aloft, I remove the rope from the chest roller, and remove the extra webbing strap extension, after first securing myself with a lanyard, of course.

Thanks again for your insights.

Tim
 
TimBr said:
Hey, AJ, thanks for the comments. In my case, the reason I'd like to have an adjustable bridge is that I've recently incorporated one of those Rock Exotica chest rollers into my gear arrangement, and it is necessary to have the climbing system above the roller, so that the roller does not push down on the ascent device, whichever one that might be.

Right now I just use webbing straps to create a short extension between my bridge and my climbing device, which gets it above the rollers. But it's a clunky workaround, and an adjustable bridge would be a smoother way to do things. It is primarily for ascent. Once aloft, I remove the rope from the chest roller, and remove the extra webbing strap extension, after first securing myself with a lanyard, of course.

Thanks again for your insights.

Tim
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That’s cool! Yes, difficult to use a chest roller when everything is lower to your harness. I used a chest roller a while back when my shoulder was injured, had a hitch attached tight and low on my harness and a microcender on a short tether above the roller, pre rope wrench days. I started another thread to discuss this stuff, meet you over there to continue ;-)
-AJ
 
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