Petzl hemet save me from serious injury

Waratah

Waratah

Location
NSW, Australia
It was June 2007 i was climbing 7 days a week cleaning up storm damage, after felling 5 trees in the morning i was called out to remove hanging limbs from one pine.
Arrived at the job and set up the site, i set a single line in the tree (10mm spectra). as i was only going 4 meters to my first ty in i used a kong double asscender to footlock up the single line(no back up i should no better)
at about 4m i pushed the asscender through the thick foilage and before i knew it i hit the ground.
The kong asscender released from the rope (i hade a biner through the hole to stop the gate opening)and when i hit the concrete i dislocated my wrist and was out of the trees for 4 months.
when i hit the concrete i was wearing a petzl helmet with the chin strapes, the helmet save my head and my life.
i picked up the habbit of wearing proper helmets with straps from local ISA tree climbing comps.

all my worker wear helmets with chin straps(not clip on elastic straps) i will wear the cost.

I drove by another company working the other day and the climber was wearing a baseball cap so i decided to post my story to plead with all tree worker working aloft to wear proper helmets.
 
Thanks for posting the testimonial. That takes courage.

Dave Spencer once said that a helmet without a chin strap is only 40% effective. Seeing more and more climbers and treeworkers using helmets and less hardhats is an encouraging trend.
 
I just started wearing a Petzal a coupla months ago. The chin strap is a bit of a pain but at least I know the hat will be in place if I need it.

I'd been thinkiing of getting one for a long time but never quite getting around to it. What finally got me to go ahead and get one was an incident that happened to the brother of one of my guys. The brother was 50' up in a bucket without a harness on, something went wrong with a tree they were trying to push with the bucket, he was ejected out of the bucket and came down and hit the cabguard headfirst, and then hit the ground. He was wearing a Petzal with chinstrap. He was pretty severely beaten up but he is alive, and the accident happened 3 or 4 months ago.
 
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The kong asscender released from the rope (i hade a biner through the hole to stop the gate opening)and when i hit the concrete i dislocated my wrist and was out of the trees for 4 months.

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Hi Steve, thanks for sharing that, the helmet is a very important piece of gear to have on.

How did the kong release the rope if you had a biner through the hole? Was it the small diameter line?

Kongs scare me if they're not backed up.


SZ
 
Thanks for posting those stories. I don't like anyone without a helmet near my work area, anyone working HAS to wear a helmet full time, I wear mine practically from when I get out of the car, it stays on the front seat with me.

I was in a sugar maple that fell. I can't be sure what happened but judging by my injuries, the tree hit the ground and I hit the tree face first. I had a serious concussion. It's hard to say how much the helmet (Vertex) did because it only took a partial hit but I know for sure that had I not been wearing it the concussion would have been quite a bite worse. The cuts and contusions started at my eyebrows and went vertically to my chin, my forehead was clean.

I love my helmet.
 
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How did the kong release the rope if you had a biner through the hole? Was it the small diameter line?


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When footlocking you pull your feet up, take a lock, and then push the ascender up the line and stand up at the same time. As you push and stand you lean into (towards) the rope and your hands do this...
 

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...with the result that the rope does this.


In the attachment there is no keychain 'biner in the hole behind the cam, but the cam is still locked. The movement would be the same even with a keychain 'biner. The movement is simply the play in the cam.

My wife took these photos for me. While she was getting the camera ready I played with pushing the ascenders up and out/away from me while keeping the line taught with one foot. Only took about three or four tries for the rope to pop completely out of the ascender.

The rope is Tachyon, 11.5mm.


Sorry, don't mean to derail the thread.
 

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I was in a sugar maple that fell.

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Wow, that sounds like it would make a nice topic...feel like posting?
 
I use the Kong Double ascender exclusively. I watch every thrust. If I single line, I will back it up. If I am going through crowded branching, I move slower, check the cam, cut stuff out of the way, etc...

It sounds like there was some an added level of anticipation and complacency set in. In my opinion, complacency will be the factor to many injuries and deaths.--And I am certainly not saying I will never get complacent, either. I am just stating my observation.

Thank you for sharing your experience. Reading stuff like this is a constant reminder to focus on the task at hand to stay safe.
 
hi easyphloem

to be honest i dont Know how it happend i have played around with it and can not got the kong asscender to seperate of the rope.
My theory is that the 10mm spectra can flatted out more than normal climbing rope like poison ivy and when i pushed it through the heavy foiliage it was enough to work the angle,s against me.

i still use asscenders on single ropes but i will now back up two clip on asscenders with a ropeman as it can not be manipulated of the rope you have to unscrew it. it might be over kill but mentally it helps and doesnt take much longer to set up.

thanks to every ones kind words.
 
Waratah,

The Ropeman has been tested in fall arrest situations and got poor results. The R either slipped too far or damaged the rope.

You should look very seriously at setting up a Frog Walker SRT system. Using a chest ascender and a handled ascender attached with a tether to your harness makes for a really smooth and safe ascent.
 
Hi Tom at first i felt i could never trust ascenders again, but i realised that the srt was an important tool, as back up to my chest ascender and hand ascender i place a rope man above the hand ascender. i know it is not the greatest and i am always on the look out for a better device. this setup gives me greater cofidence as i know the ropman cant physicaly detach from the rope like the ascenders.
i do wish that we could develop better ascender that are purpose built for working in trees, foilage is not an ascender best friend.
 
KMIII has been my favorite rope for years.

With a chest ascender you really don't need to backup the handled ascender.

Rather than using tools or systems that need to be backed up I would rather have a system that has multiple attachments that operate in parallel not series. The Frog Walker does this very well.
 
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to be honest i dont Know how it happend i have played around with it and can not got the kong asscender to seperate of the rope.
My theory is that the 10mm spectra can flatted out...

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Waratah:

See the attachments in my posts above.

Try this. Put as much of your weight on the line as you can with one foot (use a Pantin or a couple of wraps on your foot) and then push up and away with the Kongs. I bet you can make the Kongs pop off in just a few minutes with a 10mm line.
 
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With a chest ascender you really don't need to backup the handled ascender.

Rather than using tools or systems that need to be backed up I would rather have a system that has multiple attachments that operate in parallel not series. The Frog Walker does this very well.

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This is the only way that I will SRT now. Thanks to Tom D. and Paolo showing me the light a few months ago. You guys should try it, it really is a safe and efficient system.

On a few times while using the Kong Double Handled Ascender I have had it click and slip (not far) on me while climbing through the tree canapy using the SRT. It was backed up from above using a prussic hitch (no chest ascender at the time). It scared the hell out of me.
 
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