Level of risk...what's your threshold?

scott_baker

scott_baker

Location
Seattle, WA
Level of risk...what\'s your threshold?

Hey all,

I threatened to post these pics and have now worked up the courage and time to do so.

This crossbow set was at ~120' in a huge pine in Oregon.
I could see that I was over a stub with my binocs. I bounced hard with two people...and there were three big branches not far below.

As I got up where I could see better I elected to begin tossing my 70' rope (tie in set up on each end) to back myself up. But I felt fine.

When I got into the tree and tied off I got another view of the VTA on this stub....that gave me a littel shiver. First pic from below while climbing. Second from above.

What do you think? How do you manage the risks you take?

My Dad says I was always a risk taker...that I walked on the edge as a toddler. I think of myself as pretty safe but I do take some risks.

Lets get some stories going! I was up a tree at work the other day and my rope was over a dead branch and a live branch that turned out to be two dead ones when I got up close....how about you...
 

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Re: Level of risk...what\'s your threshold?

As a secondary, I'll just about tie into anything. That said, as a primary I dunno 'bout THAT TIP.
 
Re: Level of risk...what\'s your threshold?

I accessed a tree once thinking I was around a branch with a blower crotch below to back me up. I got up there and realized my rope was around a little 2" branch (not the one it appeared to be around!! And this was a poplar!!!!!!!!) and if it had blown out there would have been nothing to back me up. Scary as hell.
 
Re: Level of risk...what\'s your threshold?

You had other branches lower in the loop of your climbing line ... although a failure may have dynamically loaded those branches and your system I doubt 3 would fail and your rope break.

Man, that was a bad stub and if that second shot was where your line truly was ... YIKES! /forum/images/graemlins/shocked.gif

Pretty fussy customer to send you up 120' to get that stub, must have eyes like a hawk. /forum/images/graemlins/grin.gif
 
Re: Level of risk...what\'s your threshold?

[ QUOTE ]
Pretty fussy customer to send you up 120' to get that stub, must have eyes like a hawk.

[/ QUOTE ]

I don't think he planned on going all the way up. He was just to to bust it off with his climbing rope. /forum/images/graemlins/grin.gif
 
Re: Level of risk...what\'s your threshold?

I had a fun SRT experience at work this week. I tossed a line about 80 feet up a douglas fir that I was supposed to clean the dead out of. I knew that I was about a foot out on the limb I was over but since I had dozens of limbs below that I wasn't worried. I got about 30' up when the limb popped. Ten feet lower I stopped and just kept ascending. Absorbing impacts is one thing that fly rope is good for. Even if it isn't meant for it.

As far as level of risk that varies greatly. A bad TIP is just that and it is a gamble. I'm more accepting of calculated risks than just hoping for dumb luck. Rock climbing I have rappelled off of ancient rusty 1/4" bolts in questionable rock. Since I was single with no kids I always got to go first to test the anchor. Sounds like a good theory huh?
 
Re: Level of risk...what\'s your threshold?

Throwing high into Silver Maples can sometimes be risky too, especially in mid-summer when visibility is at a minimum. I once got to the top of my ascending line only to find it secured over a 3/8" twig which DID hold my weight AND the bounce test but easily broke when slight pressure was applied about 2" out from the trunk, gotta love a good branch union. I now carry binoculars and I refuse to climb a rope if I can't see where it's crotched at.

Scott as for your stub there, NO WAY! Consider yourself lucky to be alive, oh wait I guess we all are.
 
Re: Level of risk...what\'s your threshold?

[ QUOTE ]
I refuse to climb a rope if I can't see where it's crotched at.

[/ QUOTE ]

That seems like a really good ground rule (no pun intended).
 
Re: Level of risk...what\'s your threshold?

I have enjoyed the posts everbody...thanks.

That was really the scariest thing I've climbed on outside of some alpine rock climbs. I have rappelled many times off bollards cut into compacted snow and even crossed a huge crevasse and a roaring Yukon river (the Desdeash)using snow bollard anchors. I guess that each person develops their own level of risk tolerance as you spend more time in this kind of activity.

I will tell you now that when I came down from the top of the tree I stood on the tip of that stub and jumped on it and it was solid.

The thing is with SRT I think you are always chancing a failure of the branch you are over. I guess I just put it out of my mind but only after binoculars etc. to try and be sure it will hold me until I get into the tree.

I've had that experinece of finding my rope hooked on a twig a foot ot two above the limb that looked like it was holding my rope. I think that the fly rope I have does not have enough bounce in it to make a big differrence to my 52 year old back!

When I think back to the risks that I took in my younger days climbing trees out here in the west...yikes!
Mark James and I owned a tree service in OLympia in the 70's and we climbed big firs (>48") and cedar all the time...just eye balled them, grabbed on...climbed to the top (yes spurs of course!)...we often skipped using a lanyard (we called them scare straps) as we found it was easier to make the first moves into the branches without the darn thing in the way...you had to let go with one hand to unclip! We would dump our spurs at the top and double rope down to do the work. One job we did for the State Parks we climbed many trees over 72" DBH. We loved it!

Keep in mind we were all active rock/alpine climbers and our mindset reflected the risks we were taking putting up new routes on the sharp end of the rope (and way before cams were invented!)

Any way...blab blab...lets hear some more of you lurkers comment on how they assess personal risk.

Scott
 
Re: Level of risk...what\'s your threshold?

Don't mess around. Get good European glass: Leica, Zeiss, Swarovski, ...
 
Re: Level of risk...what\'s your threshold?

Bout 10 yrs ago i climbed into a catalpa tree, rope around a 4" limb. It was a pre-footlock-know how time so I was doing the ole butt hump mid-air thing (you know how much bounce that creates!) Got up in the tree to discover the limb I was tied into had been rubbed almost in half below my tip by a now-missing crossed/rubbing limb. And of course the missing section was on the bottom side of the limb. My thought was a HOLY SHT kind of thought.

I too have ascended into trees around suckers thinking i was around something more stabil. If in doubt, I make sure im around the parent limb.
 
Re: Level of risk...what\'s your threshold?

level of personal risk?

depends on what i'm doing....

1: treeclimbing, i like to keep it around 50 - 60 feet (for now)

2: high angle SRT rappelling (from overhanging cliffs or big walls, bridges) have'nt gone over the length of my 175 foot caving/rescue/rappel static line. For some reason, when i'm on the rappel rack a long way up,i'm more at ease than when i'm up a tree at 50 feet....

3: embankment/slope rappelling: i love looooong angled slopes and canyons. cant get enough of those

As for the the stub in the pic....NO WAY. i like my anchors bombproof.
 
Re: Level of risk...what\'s your threshold?

I'd be changing my pants real soon if I saw that when I reached the top!

jp
grin.gif
 
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