Rookie mistake

Told the new guy to grab a rake and start cleaning up, look over a few minutes later and he using a pitch fork as a rake. Same guy tried to shove some brush in the chipper using his feet... needless to say he is no longer employed by us ha!


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I'm guilty of the old ankle gaff. Walking through 6'' of snow and tripped on something buried. Caught my balance with my other foot after I stabbed myself first. Was told before that self gaffing is the number 1 most common injury in the trade.
 
I took the worst fall in my career last week, and it was really lucky I did not die or end up paralyzed. I shot a line over a bomb-proof anchor about 160' up in a big doug-fir. I then pulled the line back to isolate it over the anchor and then dropped it to the ground and then used a haul cord to pull up the climbing rope. This is something I have done many, many times, and I had no inkling that something was about to go horribly wrong. As I headed up the rope I thought it was odd how much I was bouncing on the HTP, which has very little stretch. When I got up about 40' I heard a loud crack, and instantly dropped about 20' straight down. The jolt when I hit bottom was relatively gentle, but then I heard a whooshing sound and had just enough time to look up and see a 3" diameter limb about 15' long coming down at me. It missed me by about 5' and smacked into the ground below me. It all happened so quick I never had time to piss my pants.

So, here is what caused it all. When I shot the line over the visible anchor point, it also passed through a crotch about 15' out on a big limb on the backside of the tree. When I pulled the line back to isolate it over the anchor point I did not see that it was also cantilevered out on the limb on the backside of the tree. When I started up the rope the limb held initially, but after about 40' of me bouncing on the rope the limb finally snapped and dropped me until the rope came up tight over the main anchor.

Several things in this scenario were incredibly lucky for me. One, when the limb broke I had about 300' of HTP between me and the basal anchor, so the impact force when I hit the end of the rope was relatively gentle. It could have been much worse. Second, I was about 40' above ground when the limb broke. If the limb broke when I was closer to the ground I would have smacked the ground. Third, the tree was a big leaner, so the falling limb missed me. Forth, the main anchor held.

Stupid, stupid, stupid. I got in a hurry and did not spend enough time checking the initial rigging, and did not listen to the alarm bells going off when the rope kept bouncing on my way up. I am lucky I am not paralyzed or worse.
 
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ARLO said:
I took the worst fall in my career last week, and it was really lucky I did not die or end up paralyzed. I shot a line over a bomb-proof anchor about 160' up in a big doug-fir. I then pulled the line back to isolate it over the anchor and then dropped it to the ground and then used a haul cord to pull up the climbing rope. This is something I have done many, many times, and I had no inkling that something was about to go horribly wrong. As I headed up the rope I thought it was odd how much I was bouncing on the HTP, which has very little stretch. When I got up about 40' I heard a loud crack, and instantly dropped about 20' straight down. The jolt when I hit bottom was relatively gentle, but then I heard a whooshing sound and had just enough time to look up and see a 3" diameter limb about 15' long coming down at me. It missed me by about 5' and smacked into the ground below me. It all happened so quick I never had time to piss my pants.

So, here is what caused it all. When I shot the line over the visible anchor point, it also passed through a crotch about 15' out on a big limb on the backside of the tree. When I pulled the line back to isolate it over the anchor point I did not see that it was also cantilevered out on the limb on the backside of the tree. When I started up the rope the limb held initially, but after about 40' of me bouncing on the rope the limb finally snapped and dropped me until the rope came up tight over the main anchor.

Several things in this scenario were incredibly lucky for me. One, when the limb broke I had about 300' of HTP between me and the basal anchor, so the impact force when I hit the end of the rope was relatively gentle. It could have been much worse. Second, I was about 40' above ground when the limb broke. If the limb broke when I was closer to the ground I would have smacked the ground. Third, the tree was a big leaner, so the falling limb missed me. Forth, the main anchor held.

Stupid, stupid, stupid. I got in a hurry and did not spend enough time checking the initial rigging, and did not listen to the alarm bells going off when the rope kept bouncing on my way up. I am lucky I am not paralyzed or worse.
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Arlo, very glad to hear your okay. I shit my undies just reading this. Rushing in a dangerous trade is just to risky. Good of you to recognize all the negative leading factors. Be safe brother.
 
I switched from auto-locking carabiners to quickies about 3 months ago.

I also got in a hurry one day and didn't double check to make sure I pushed the slick pin all the way in past both notches - I quickly ran my alpine and quickie configuration up to my isolated TIP.

I ascended all the way up - about 40' - went to wrap my lanyard and check the TIP - then my heart sank.

I realized what I had done and counted my blessings that the quickie was open a notch with its unclosed gap facing me. It had luckily been facing the right way and my small diameter velocity hadn't come out during the ascent.

I now basal anchor 80% of the time then isolate or I triple check the slick pin.


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I was goofing off during a week off of work. I live on a fairly steep hill, and I set up zip line over my driveway, tree to tree. It was a fairly short run, a little under 100'. I was low on gear, still acquiring.
I would climb tree one, laynard in, and tie into the zip line. The only extra pulley I had was a 5/8 CMI block, so I rigged that onto the zip. I tied into the block with a double rope system. It worked great, super fast but I left enough slack in the zip to where I wouldn't slam too hard into the trunk of tree 2. I zipped 3 or 4 times, in invited some friends to try it, but they were landlubbers. Figured I'd give it one last go before tearing it down. I had about 5' from my DdRT system to the block so I just decided that was enough. After making it to the other tree getting bush whacked, breaking a limb and spearing my forearm with it, I get my wits about me. I look up to the block and the side plate was hanging open. I was literally hanging 20' off the ground on a open sheeve. I wasn't close enough to the trunk of tree 2 to laynard in without thrashing. I would have had to ascend to reach the block to close it in a free hang, so I chose the remaining option of rapping very slowly and gently to the ground
 
NorCalBrock said:
I switched from auto-locking carabiners to quickies about 3 months ago.

I also got in a hurry one day and didn't double check to make sure I pushed the slick pin all the way in past both notches - I quickly ran my alpine and quickie configuration up to my isolated TIP.

I ascended all the way up - about 40' - went to wrap my lanyard and check the TIP - then my heart sank.

I realized what I had done and counted my blessings that the quickie was open a notch with its unclosed gap facing me. It had luckily been facing the right way and my small diameter velocity hadn't come out during the ascent.

I now basal anchor 80% of the time then isolate or I triple check the slick pin.


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Throw another alpine underneath with a carabiner, and pulley (pintos the best) they both can be advanced very easily, and the pulley is just for redundancy. In case something like this happens. I used to just do a regular alpine with pulley underneath for easy retrieval and then i saw a friend using on under his quickie while i just used the quickie. I asked him why and he responded why not and it made sense to me. Haha

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Yimboob said:
Throw another alpine underneath with a carabiner, and pulley (pintos the best) they both can be advanced very easily, and the pulley is just for redundancy. In case something like this happens. I used to just do a regular alpine with pulley underneath for easy retrieval and then i saw a friend using on under his quickie while i just used the quickie. I asked him why and he responded why not and it made sense to me. Haha

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Click to expand...

That's a great idea and will start backing up the quickie asap - because of the auto locking carabiner, It messed with my safety check process when I switched.

I love the quickie as it works so well on isolated limbs and it always comes down smoothly.

I've had issues with carabiners binding on isolated limbs, getting hung up, and don't like side loading.

Both together will be a winning system.




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