Carabiner rolled open

[Burnham]

Since you say it possibly could have been caused by a jammed open snaphook, does that mean there was, or was not, evidence of a broken non-life-support-use component on the saddle, such as the gear loop in my tale?

 

[MooseHunter113]

I use a biner on my lanyard instead of a snap and have gotten a bit of my shirt in it quite a few times (especially when colder due to extra shirts) luckily though I have always noticed before loading it. With a carabiner I have to hold the gate open so I can feel my shirt get caught if it does. Always a good idea to double check!

 

[Bermy]

Apparently not, that was the first thought, that he'd clipped into a gear loop or gear biner, doesn't appear to be the case.
His spike marks were above the first fork, so he'd started to go up after passing the fork, perhaps holding the flipline against the tree, not leaning back, then when he did, perhaps the snap had fallen out of the D...and uhoh...jury is still out as to the exact cause.

 

[Burnham]

Thanks for the report. I assume the snaphook appeared to be functional afterwards, otherwise that would be a clearer likely cause.

I was part of a field review of an accident, a fatality actually, some 15 years back now. A contract climber working for BLM. Spur climbing, fell about 55 feet. What appeared to be the cause in this one was the best guess I could come up with, inconclusive but sounds similar to your friends situation. I posited that instead of emplying his second lanyard to limb over multiple times, as the tree dictated should have been done, he may have taken the shortcut of passing the hook and either climbing short distances between limbs without the snaphook fastened, just handheld on the snap side, and lost control of the flipline, or lost grip during a pass. I kind of lean toward the former, just looking at the tree structure and visualizing it all, but it could have been either...or it could have been a messed up snaphook, though there was no evidence of that afterwards. Sad stuff.

 

[squisher]

Unfortunately quite a few people in the woods I imagine still today as my time wasn't that long ago, pass limbs by unclipping and being un-tied. I was trained this way and it never did 'feel' right to me and I mostly avoided it at all costs. It's a stupid maneuver that doesn't save any time at all if you're climbing with the proper gear/training for the job at hand.

I'm paranoid I constantly re-check everything and am never in a hurry.

Scary story(s) in this thread, let's all keep alive and well!

 

[Bermy]

Apparently he did the baypass of the first fork in the proper manner, using his climbline, then I think went back to just the flipline once he was set to continue going up.
The first fork was about 18m...big $(*%ing tree!

 

[Frax]

Unfortunately quite a few people in the woods I imagine still today as my time wasn't that long ago, pass limbs by unclipping and being un-tied. I was trained this way and it never did 'feel' right to me and I mostly avoided it at all costs. It's a stupid maneuver that doesn't save any time at all if you're climbing with the proper gear/training for the job at hand.

I'm paranoid I constantly re-check everything and am never in a hurry.

Scary story(s) in this thread, let's all keep alive and well!

You are possibly still alive because of this. I make myself do an 'instant do-over' when I am tempted to do somethingI feel is unsafe.
That is, I pause and reflect on what I would feel like from my wheelchair if what I am about to do did not work out as planned, and I decide that I will take the 'do-over' now while I can. This actually works for me.

I have enough iffy moments through bad planning or execution alone and don't need to deliberately add to it.

 

[Bermy]

That's a good reflection to live by Frax!
Mine usually is, 'what will happen if this goes wrong?' where will I go, where will the saw go, where will the bit of tree go...

I've never forgotten a pre climbing workshop safety talk by an ex-climber in a wheelchair, his summary was
'Live the life you want to, not the life you have to.' Meaning, he has to live in a wheelchair because of a safety blooper, and is not able to live the life he'd wanted to. That is often enough to stop me taking a bit of a chance sometimes...I want to go home intact after EVERY job.

 

[Marc-Antoine]

I had the same story as you Fiona, thought not in a such high tree. Exactly the same situation, tie-in point above and a few meters in front of me, I went down behind a branch for a redirect. During this not so graceful movement, the branch drag on my thighs, my bridge, then my biners. It was just a continuous diagonal movement, not down and side way. I heard a "tac" coming from my bridge and saw the mighty mouse's gate open on the bark. All my weight was on the rope, so all stayed in place, but it was a little scary.

 

[Bermy]

That's it...just about the same!
Knowing it can happen allows you to perhaps have an ear for if and when it does happen, so we hear/see it quickly and go home in one piece!

 

[treeswan]

Last week my co worker yelled from his tree that his triple lock had opened on a branch. He was squeezing thru some pine limbs trying to get to some dead tips. Had his weight on the line. I wonder if it could happen without being weighted like that?

 

[treeswan]

I use rock exotica biners in my system, the gates have the pull down instead of push up action. I wonder if this incidence would be less likely with that set up. The motion is also much more intuitive for me.

 

[Bermy]

I would think that with no weight on the system, the liklihood of the carabiner rolling open is almost nil...almost...because as we all know, wierd stuff happens!
The pull down ones could open, given the right set of circumstances, I've certainly pulled myself up across a few branches, as well as sliding down past them...

By the way...welcome to the House!