TO ALL:
Thanks for all your concern. Word today is that Mark is doing well but still has a number of surgeries to endure. His spirits are good and too early to tell if he will climb again. To answer your question northwind, Tom has pretty much described it. For some reason, Mark would lay his lanyard over the top of his cut, sort of where your left hand is on your avatar, and then sit on it. I assume the lanyard would catch on the hinge area of the cut. He would do this while the groundies took care of the just lowered piece. The tree he fell from had a lean of about 10 to 15 degrees and if he made the cut parallel to the ground, it is conciebable that the lanyard just slipped off because the angle of pull would be different when he put his weight on it. No one actually saw him do this, but he guy he was working for said he had a habit of doing this. If he had been double tied in as is required under ANSI Z-133, all this would have been avoided.
Grais, I appreciate your comments although I'm not sure this was a macho issue, just a stupid mistake that cost dearly. I am hoping the it shakes the locals up a bit and makes them think a bit. Best case is that it will lead to some local safety training. I noticed this as your second post, welcome to the Buzz.
Thanks for all your concern. Word today is that Mark is doing well but still has a number of surgeries to endure. His spirits are good and too early to tell if he will climb again. To answer your question northwind, Tom has pretty much described it. For some reason, Mark would lay his lanyard over the top of his cut, sort of where your left hand is on your avatar, and then sit on it. I assume the lanyard would catch on the hinge area of the cut. He would do this while the groundies took care of the just lowered piece. The tree he fell from had a lean of about 10 to 15 degrees and if he made the cut parallel to the ground, it is conciebable that the lanyard just slipped off because the angle of pull would be different when he put his weight on it. No one actually saw him do this, but he guy he was working for said he had a habit of doing this. If he had been double tied in as is required under ANSI Z-133, all this would have been avoided.
Grais, I appreciate your comments although I'm not sure this was a macho issue, just a stupid mistake that cost dearly. I am hoping the it shakes the locals up a bit and makes them think a bit. Best case is that it will lead to some local safety training. I noticed this as your second post, welcome to the Buzz.
