Done the same thing, only the caritool didn't break. Went to unclip and was pissed I made such a mistake. Glad you are OK. I try and listen for that metal on metal sound of my lanyard cliping on the d ring of my harness now.
Not too belabor a point, and not too single out TN as I am sure he is not alone here, but dont listen, LOOK.
Trust your eyes, not your ears.
The snap of the lanyard clip closing can fool you into thinking your clipped into a metal D, when your not.
I dont ever lean back on my lanyard till I see with my eyes that the D is clipped and secured.
Funny thing them Caritools, I have clipped into one as well, but I then looked and checked and saw that I was misclipped and corrected the situation.
Be careful up there, its all too easy to get a lil too comfortable up there, especiallly after we've been doing this for a few years, but then we can all fall prey to bad habits, like listening for the metal on metal sound of your snap hitting your D.
Metal on metal is the sound of a snap closing alone, so how do you tell that it is hitting the D ring and not just itself ?
You dont.
You look with your eyes, and do a physical check with your hand, and prevent yourself from falling backward out of a tree from 50' up.
It takes no time to check, excuses are just that, and they do not matter. If you have to move your shirt or your jacket I dont care becuase it is a non issue, you check the D connection, bottom line, I do a visual and a physical check with my hand, after I do my checks, then I lean back and trust my gear with confidence.
Good to share these type of situations as it brings up important safety issues such as this, clipping into your D's is one of the most basic life preservation skills you will learn, practice good habits from the start, and if you must break bad habits as soon as they are identified. Its not too late to teach yourself new habits just takes some persistence.
Good luck all and stay safe.
