At the end of my rope!

Old school/new school. Rookie/old pro. Control/awareness mandatory.

I think you got to lose the girlfriend and focus on work more. I remember forgetting a tie-in in college when the fashion hotties came to check out our climbing class. The eagle-eyed instructor saved me that time. How did he know?
 
You don't need to and shouldn't put your life on hold for this job! Just pay more attention and learn from your mistakes. If you can't learn from your mistakes and build knowledge off of those, big or small you do not belong in this industry.

Your instructor probably knew because he's done the same thing trying to impress some girl.
 
Bob - we kind of picked you apart on this. I don't want you to think we were pointing fingers and scare you way from posting other awakenings. Being that you are a "self taught" climber (I never would have been comfortable with learning this way when I started) I would encourage you to continue to share with us...even if its with massive amounts of egg on your face. Learn to filter the good advice.
 
Make your first climbing habit a rope check, Bob. Check them before you go up. Check them before you set back into your saddle. Check them when you get into position. Check them before you touch your saw. Check them again before you move your position. They are the only things that keep arborists defying gravity.

I didn’t start until I almost butt-hitched myself out of a tree. From then on … for the rest of my life.
 
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Back in September I was taking down a small maple trunk was under 2' at the base. I was just about all the way up the tree had it stripped clean and now I started to descend on my rope to take a couple chunks off before dropping the trunk. Well, thank god I have this habit of staring at my rope/hitch when I am descending because I came to the end of my rope. I stared at it very puzzled for a minute not understanding why I only had 6' of rope in front of me when it was supposed to be 150' length. I must have hit the tail when pulling my 201T or handsaw up and didn't even notice. Very scary to think I cut through my rope that easily without noticing. Imagine if it had been the tensioned end above my hitch! I now pay close attention to were my saws are when moving them around.

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That's a good example of why its safer to work in teams.. 3 or more is better than 2 IMO... your groundie would have seen the problem before it became life threatening..
 
I've got to agree with Boreality if only in spirit. Use that great male ability of mental compartmentalization. Once you've got it in your head that you work safe to come home to your gf or wife or whatever, then get her out of your head along with all the rest of your potential distractions. The only thing you can do anything about is the job at hand so keep your mind focused on that alone.

Safe climbing!
 
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I've got to agree with Boreality if only in spirit. Use that great male ability of mental compartmentalization. Once you've got it in your head that you work safe to come home to your gf or wife or whatever, then get her out of your head along with all the rest of your potential distractions. The only thing you can do anything about is the job at hand so keep your mind focused on that alone.

Safe climbing!

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absolutely... develop enough self awareness to recognize when you are getting distracted by your thinking and reign it in, or work in a diminished capacity. That's if you have enough experience to still perform safely by slowing it down or picking only simple jobs etc.

Only problem is: distracted thinking will often make you unable to judge just how impaired you are. As a new climber or saw operator, you are putting your life at significant risk, just learning the work, even if you are able to focus.. Cameron taught us all that even a highly experience safety oriented worker can lose it all with even a moment of distraction. Just think how much more dangerous it can b for a newbie... If you can't work safe, find a new way to make a living. This biz is very unforgiving. you have to be half crazy to want to make a living doing tree work anyhow... Watch yourself!!!! if you keep making mistakes and having mishaps and close calls its only a matte of time before something bigger goes bad... That goes for any of us!

STAY SAFE! GO HOME! EAT DINNER! call it a good day..
 
Local climber did same thing..twice. Second time he did not catch it. He is in a wheelchair now. Both times he never knew he cut his rope. When he fell, the story was he was descending and a coil with some brush tangled up came to his hitch and he just fought it apart, the end was just below.
 
I can't even believe someone could cut their rope and not know it happened. That's a crazy amount of unawareness. Not saying it couldn't happen to me, I've cut a couple ropes but as soon as the fibers were flying I was swearing. It still could happen to me, I'll keep on triple checking.
 
We climb enough big trees in my area to warrant a standard 200' rope. It is the rare tree now where the end comes out of the bag.

Awareness of one's surroundings is imperative! How someone could access a tree without having figured out if there will be an issue with the rope in use is beyond me.
 
I am with boreality. I have unknowingly knicked my ropes. I have snagged them on every thing from my saw to a weather vane. I have had ground guys destroy the tail of my line with chainsaws.

But always I knew. I knew quick. Never have I had a rope totally severed save the rabid opossum, (another story) and I have done some stupid [pick a different word].

This is not to say that it could not happen, but if totally severed, would not someone see the severed end fall from the tree? Bob, do you ever look down? Does your ground crew ever look up? Do they clean up while you are working or just come in after you hit the ground?

I am not questioning the possibility. I am questioning the total lack of situational awareness and hence the validity of the post. If it is all real, then I strongly suggest you look for another line of work. Please.

Tony
 
Bob, you mentioned the handsaw. One thing to watch for is debris filling up your handsaw scabbard. It can cause your saw to not seat all the way down, and the teeth closest to the handle will be exposed. If climb line gets caught in that slot, just sitting back in the saddle can cut it. Always make sure no teeth show, top or bottom.
 
That was what I hated most about the Zubat...however the Tsurugi Curved is just the bomb, no chips stick in the scabbard...solved that problem plus it's just a better saw hands down...just right...a little smaller than a Sugoi 360 and bigger than a zubat....
 
When I pull up my rope soon as I feel any sort of resistance I look to see what it is. It's been snagged on the dawgs, chain, handsaw handle, twigs, rocks, all sorts of things. However, until I knew what I wouldn't haul hard on it to prevent any sort of damage.
 
oceans when I use my big saw anymore I usually put it atop spar engine off get in position for next cut then reach up and get the 395 or 372 with long lanyard as I don't care for the added weight pulling on my saddle. I'm usually not taking 36" stuff huge so 2 to 4 foot sections I can reach my saw and make cut! I feel blocking for me is faster taking smaller chunks out shoving them off instead of fooling with all the rigging in most cases and a few bags of topsoil is cheaper than extra time rigging imho.
 
Lots of options. Ever try double block bucking? Cutting to firewood lengths 16" on the way down. Cut one block all the way through. Leave it sitting there, cut the next block 1/2 way through, leave the running saw in the kerf and push the top block off. Move down the tree enough to allow for two block's space, finish the cut and do another 1/2 cut and so on. Pretty fast but those blocks go flying when they hit the ground. I learned that one on the internet.
 
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I can't even believe someone could cut their rope and not know it happened. That's a crazy amount of unawareness. Not saying it couldn't happen to me

[/ QUOTE ]I hear ya!
That said I know of one ice and one rock climber around here going off the end. They did not even cut it short, forgot to tie a knot in the end. The rock climber was a good friend of mine. He had been climbing for over 30years, a seasoned expert just slipped up once...
 
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Bob, you mentioned the handsaw. One thing to watch for is debris filling up your handsaw scabbard. It can cause your saw to not seat all the way down, and the teeth closest to the handle will be exposed.

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I cut my wrist on my right hand because of this. Scared the [pick a different word] out of me. I felt it and was afraid to look at my wrist because I wasn't sure how bad it was going to be. Turned out it barely knicked the skin. I cleaned the scabbard out shortly there after.
 
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