Broke My TIP and Fell While Climbing SRT

chris_girard

chris_girard

Branched out member
Location
Gilmanton, N.H.
So I took a nasty fall last Saturday on a pruning job while I was climbing SRT. Basically what happened was my TIP broke out while I was approx. 30’ up on my ascent line.

It was totally my fault and completely preventable. Luckily, I did not suffer any bad injuries. Here’s what happened:

I set my TIP up on a large White Oak that we were pruning. I used my Bigshot to get as high a TIP as possible, so I would have a good scope in my line to do my work from. I got a good throw up into a big crotch that had a few small dia. branches growing in it and my throwline went through a few of these as well. Not a big deal (or so I thought) as I’ve climbed SRT this way many times before.

I gave the line a quick pull to test it, but didn’t have my groundworker and myself hang on it like I usually do. THAT was a BIG mistake on my part. After I set up my SRT system, I proceeded to ascend the line. By this time my groundworker who is also a Buzz member and is enrolled in the TCIA Tree Climber Program was there to watch the whole scenario unfold.

I was climbing well, when all of a sudden I started to fall. I knew right away that the branch had broken, but by the time I realized it, I had already fallen about 10’ and came to a sudden stop. My line caught the big crotch below the small branches and my Petzl Croll arrested my fall. Thankfully, there weren’t any branches or stubs below that, or me while I was falling, or that REALLY would have sucked.

My groundworker and I were pretty shook up, but I was fine and I proceeded to climb back up and prune out the tree as planned. Didn’t really think about it again for a little while, but I made sure on the second big Oak that we pruned that afternoon that we both hung on my line to make sure my TIP was sound!

My SRT system was never in question. MY static line is a 200’ KMIII with good energy absorbing capabilities and I use a Petzl AscenTree connected to my saddle with split tail setup so I can work Doubled Line off my SRT at any time while ascending. I also have the Croll connected to a central point on my TreeFlex saddle and a Pantin foot ascender while climbing.

I was sore Sunday and Monday, but I also learned some valuable lessons at the same time.
 
Dang. I'd be nervous to be in the saddle for a while.

Thanks for the reminder of this sort of risk Chris.

I think we're seeing a pattern that I'm honing onto:

If our line is not set into our target branch, then start over and hit that shot once again, for the more reliable T.I.P.

Or, sometimes we may have to settle for a less than perfect shot and advance the line when we're up there...
 
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Did the croll do any dammage to the rope?
I just bought 160 feet of KMIII yesterday and will use it with the croll as well.

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Jesse, the KMIII line is fine. No damage at all. I was very impressed with both the line and Croll. My Ascentree never even felt the impact, the Croll caught first.

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If our line is not set into our target branch, then start over and hit that shot once again, for the more reliable T.I.P.

Or, sometimes we may have to settle for a less than perfect shot and advance the line when we're up there...

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Jamin, without a doubt you are right about this, and you can bet I will pay a lot more attention to my TIP from now on.
 
Thanks Norm. Yeah it was a free fall and I thought the impact was going to be a lot worse.

When I reached my TIP after the fall, I found the branch that had broken out and it turned out to be a green Oak branch of about 1" in dia.!! I can't believe I had my line over that small a branch. I thought it was over a much larger one. Maybe I should have gotten the binos out of the truck for a better look?

The funny thing is, as I was falling (even though the whole thing was over in less than a second) I knew that I was going to be OK, because of that big crotch below me and the security of my SRT setup. Still, it was unnerving.
 
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...I was very impressed with both the line and Croll. My Ascentree never even felt the impact, the Croll caught first.

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That jives with my experience climbing on a Croll with a handled ascender above, the Croll always takes the load before the upper ascender. It's great to hear that the Croll and your overall system handled a 10 ft. drop without damaging you or the rope.

I was testing a high SRT pitch in a White Fir (west coast) and the TIP did a partial blowout, dropped me to the ground during the test, first time it happened over many SRT climbs. My standard test procedure for a high SRT pitch is to inspect the TIP with binos then jump on the rope (footlock, not tied in to the rope) and give it a few hard bounces. I only dropped 3-4 feet butt to the ground, after which I jumped up and moved quickly away from the tree so a falling dead branch wouldn't hit me (it didn't).

Not saying my test technique is smart or the best method but I really want to do dynamic loading on a high TIP (that I can't see very well) before I'll climb on it. I'm not even sure that 2 people loading a rope with their feet on the ground is doing a good enough test. I guess the question is how much test load do you need to generate to sufficiently exceed the dynamic loading that occurs during SRT ascent?
-moss
 
Glad to hear you're okay Chris.

jp
grin.gif
 
I had a similiar experience climbing SRT last week.A small branch broke and I dropped about 4 or 5 feet.My back hurt for a few days.Glad your alright Chris,it could have been alot worse.
 
That happened to me last year. I half expected it too. I was out in midair when the small limb gave and I dropped about 10'. Sure got the adrenaline pumping. Now I will take the time to isolate it from any small limbs.

Good to hear you're still in one piece!
 
Glad you made it unscathed, Chris!

You really should retire that rope and think about (contact Petzl) retiring the Croll. Check your carabiners and harness as well.
 
Whew...I'm glad that you can report back to us in the first person!

Did you read the interview with Ed Viesturs, Into Thin Error, that I posted?

If I understand your post you were ascending on the KMIII as the SRT access line with a DdRT system attached to the AscenTree. A piggy-back or floating false crotch system...is that right? If not, please correct me.

Then, I think that you had a chest ascender attached to the KMIII...right?

It is always my preference to use a chest ascender attached low on my harness, not the bridge as a second attachment. As you found, doing this will keep you from having slack in the system leading to more whipping if a fall or swing occurs.
 
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Whew...I'm glad that you can report back to us in the first person!

Did you read the interview with Ed Viesturs, Into Thin Error, that I posted?

If I understand your post you were ascending on the KMIII as the SRT access line with a DdRT system attached to the AscenTree. A piggy-back or floating false crotch system...is that right? If not, please correct me.

Then, I think that you had a chest ascender attached to the KMIII...right?

It is always my preference to use a chest ascender attached low on my harness, not the bridge as a second attachment. As you found, doing this will keep you from having slack in the system leading to more whipping if a fall or swing occurs.

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Thanks everyone. Yeah I'm fine, but it does make you really think hard after something like that happens.

Tom, I haven't had a chance to read the interview with Ed Viesturs, but I plan on it today.

You are also right about the way that I have my SRT and DdRT system set up. As you know, with the TreeFlex saddle, the Croll attaches low to the central attachment point sawn onto the saddle which makes it ideal for SRT climbing, just the way that Paolo designed it. My DdRT system is basically a piggy-back or floating false crotch just as you thought too. I will try to get some pictures of my system when I get a chance.
 
Here's another piece of analysis...

Let's say that you had doubled your rope over the assumed TIP and been ascending on the doubled rope in a traditional setup.

Do you think that the small branch would have been loaded so that it might fail?
If so, what would the fall have been like?

More ???s

You said that you did a free fall. Did your rope slide/roll down the 'backside' before it caught on the lower branch? It's hard to ask this question via the keyboard.
 
Tom, I still think that if I had been climbing DdRT on that small branch, it would’ve broken out. There was just too much dynamic motion going on as I ascended and the angle that the branch was growing was not quite as upwards as some of the others, which leads me to believe that maybe my line crept outwards on the branch as I was ascending?

Also from what I remember, as I fell downward the line did not drag on the tree at all. It was just a straight drop down. Don’t know if it would have been any different had I been on DdRT. Hard to say.
 
Chris,
I'm glad that you are alright. I think about this scenario often, and myself and another ground worker often (almost always) do the 2-guys-jumping-on-the-rope thing before I start my ascent.

The Wraptor makes these ascents much smoother and I think safer. We recently tried one and it takes all the start-and-stop of regular footlocking, or pantin/croll/etc. you name your system, it bounces more than the steady climbing drill technique the Wraptor provides.

Would it have prevented your fall? Maybe. Does it make the third 100' ascent of the day way better? Hell yeah!

Glad you are okay, don't cut corners when it comes to safety. Check your line with a buddy!
 
Chris,

It was scary to see you take a 10' fall, but very reasuring to see the SRT system withstand a load. I'm glad you were ok.
From now on we will make sure our TIP is on a safe branch, and give a test pull before asending. We will try not to make that mistake agian.
 
Would the fall have been harsher with two strands of rope attached than one? I think so. If you extend that idea out to sharing the load out to four strands, each stand would only be taking a small load. Each strand would stretch less, arresting the fall more abruptly. Perhaps it was safer to take it on a single strand with SRT then two stands with DRT.

Thoughts?
 
That is exactly true, Sean. When combining strands the strength adds and the stretch divides. Meaning, a rope with two units of stretch and three of strength becomes a system with one unit of stretch and six units of strength when it's paired.

It's unlikely that a rope is going to fail, unless it gets damaged, so...I'd rather take a whipper on my Tachyon tied with a ground anchor than the same setup using a doubled rope.

My climbing ropes are the brightest colors to provide contrast. Seeing the rope make a deviation where we expect a straight line should give a warning that the rope is going around a bark flake, stub or small branch/twig.
 
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