TIP Failure results in broken pelvis and broken L5

one was a 30 footer to ground.....L5/T1 fracture. Second was chainsaw across top of foot.....cut to bones. Did not ask how on either accident....have to maintain my role and not ask to many questions. Don't know outcomes to either.
 
Whoa, that must be a trip to be putting tree guys back together. I just met a woman at my son's karate practice who told me she is a nurse and then asked me what I do. When I told her, she told me about the arborist who was brought into the ER after a fall tht she had to help. Then she asked me if I had ever fallen, and when I said yes she just picked up her purse and left without even saying goodbye.
 
Yeah, she didn't seem to want to get to know me at all after that. She seemed pretty interested before I told her I was an arborist though. But afterward, she went to find another place to sit.
 
maybe she worked at your hospital and was trying to distance herself
 
Yeah, she didn't seem to fall for the usual tough tree guy banter at all. I think she saw right through it to the blood stains underneath.
 
We'll, we are a rather scruffy lot, so can't really blame her.

I used to train karate with an ER doctor.
She used to tell me all the gory chainsaw accident stories.

That is when I found out that most casual users have no idea of what kcauses a kick-back.

" It must have hit a nail, or something".
 
as a wannabee I had followed this man's youtube videos ("Human") with a particular keen interest off and on.
it is therefore especially shocking and unnerving to see this.
he is a remarkably unique sort of individual to publish with such raw transparency and enthusiasm his beginnings (about a year ago) and progress into tree climbing "warts and all"... with this video as the capstone so far.
wishing him a full recovery.
 
He has a bunch of interesting videos on the YouTube. Too damn bad.

They did seem to have an off beat, different, interesting vibe to them but since they seemed based on extreme lack of skill (the ones I watched) the allure disappeared.
 
The tree was large enough that I tied on a 50' shorty onto my 150' main climb line just to have enough to tie my basal anchor. Thought my TIP was positioned well, bounced on it for a bit before attempting to climb it, limb snapped while I was making my initial ascent, hadn't done anything yet, was just passing the first lower limb. Unsure of cause, might have be more dead than realized, might have had some cancor/rot that I wasn't able to spot from the ground without binocs, which I will be including in the kit from now on. Hindsight's 20/20, didn't really do anything out of the ordinary or uncommon, just should have taken more precautions as I wasn't able to verify my TIP was 100% safe.

The whole block used upside down, was only that one cut, just got flipped on me. I'll be the first to admit I didn't have the skill or experience at that point to be working crane jobs at that point in my climbing career, only had a couple months in the saddle, and it shows. I'd like to think I've gotten much better over the last year, obviously not I guess though, as I'm sitting here in a wheelchair =(

The doctors do expect a full recovery though, hopefully I'll be back up and going in 2 1/2 months or so.
 
Hope you have a full recovery.

A healthy diet and hydration will help you heal. Hard when wheelchair bound.

Be wise enough not to do too much, too fast, and follow the Doctor's and PT's advice. They can do amazing work, with cooperation.

Good luck. Hope you get back to it, soon.
 
RL....very glad to read your report here...you are in a tough spot, I know, with lots of time to rethink it all. You sharing all this will help lots of folks be safer. I have some work to do this weekend...your TIP situation will help remind me to be sure I have a good TIP when I set my line.

I found this a few years ago when I went up a big oak to inspect some damage...from the ground, eyes only, no binoculars, it looked like I was TIP'd on the big limb....not.

The friction saver slipping off the nub would have not been a big deal but surely would kicked me up into the aerobic zone in a hurry. And if I was running a saw at the time it could have been dicey.
 

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haha...and I did, and it held fine. I have used similar since, coming down a spar, since I had that one hold. I just keep my lanyard on, JIC.
 
The tree was large enough that I tied on a 50' shorty onto my 150' main climb line just to have enough to tie my basal anchor. Thought my TIP was positioned well, bounced on it for a bit before attempting to climb it, limb snapped while I was making my initial ascent, hadn't done anything yet, was just passing the first lower limb. Unsure of cause, might have be more dead than realized, might have had some cancor/rot that I wasn't able to spot from the ground without binocs, which I will be including in the kit from now on. Hindsight's 20/20, didn't really do anything out of the ordinary or uncommon, just should have taken more precautions as I wasn't able to verify my TIP was 100% safe.

The whole block used upside down, was only that one cut, just got flipped on me. I'll be the first to admit I didn't have the skill or experience at that point to be working crane jobs at that point in my climbing career, only had a couple months in the saddle, and it shows. I'd like to think I've gotten much better over the last year, obviously not I guess though, as I'm sitting here in a wheelchair =(

The doctors do expect a full recovery though, hopefully I'll be back up and going in 2 1/2 months or so.

Best wishes for a full and speedy recovery. The one thing I wanted to say about this is the huge advantage climbing SRT provides, with regard to support points. With DdRT, you have to isolate a branch, (which can be a lot of work to do) and it better be a good one. With SRT, you can lace your climbing rope through 20 crotches if you want to, and they'll all help to support your weight. If the primary support point breaks out, the hope is that the backup support points will withstand the shock load and prevent a fall. At least, this is how I like to think of it.

It takes a bit more time to set up this way, but it makes me feel more at ease. The other big thing you can do, and which I do most of the times I climb, is to use two separate ropes, two separate climbing systems, and different support points, as Kevin Bingham advocates. This provides redundancy and also gives you the advantage of being able to pull yourself from two different directions. Again, more work to set up, but enormously helpful over and over again, I find, for work positioning.

Thanks for putting up with this long-winded post.

Tim
 
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