Don't have to be tied in??

[cory]

A guy fell 4' out of an apple and got a lower leg compound fracture, a few years ago for one of the big outfits in my area.

I love threads like this where many seasoned vets advocate never free climbing, it helps fight the urge to free climb which never seems to fully go away. Better to spend an extra 5-10 minutes on an ascent than 5-10 months out of work from an unsecured fall.

 

[woodworkingboy]

I regularly climb conifers with a two lanyard system, one lanyard has a mechanical adjuster, and the other uses a prussic. I don't own a big shot. I get up there, but progress is often slow. Somehow I still manage to get paid. I'll completely unhook sometimes when it seems better to arrange things, but I don't do it unless feeling very secure.

 

[MasterBlaster]

In my old age, I'm more worried about having a heart attack and hitting the ground just cuz I wasn't tied in. That would SUCK!

 

[CurSedVoyce]

Can't afford to get hurt.. I have a family to care for. minimize the risk....

 

[Burnham]

So would any effort to retrieve you from said situation...but that's another discussion. I truly hope that remains a never to be answered question, Butch.

 

[cory]

In my old age, I'm more worried about having a heart attack and hitting the ground just cuz I wasn't tied in. That would SUCK!

Course if you had an attack, do you think you could still rappel to the ground? Then maybe you could languish in a hospital stead of being instantly dead. But I know what you mean, when you get old you can't count on much of anything that you took for granted back in the day.

 

[CurSedVoyce]

Chances are... if some one has to climb a tree to come get you, it will be more of a recovery than a rescue.

 

[MasterBlaster]

It's not just a heart attack, it could be many things. Body failure, a surprise wasp nest or squirrel across the face... anything. I'd hate to hit the ground over something as stupid as that.

 

[Tucker943]

My uncle was free climbing a white oak in his 20's. Just had to make it up to a croch to toss a lanyard over. The tree was fat and not one to get his arms around. He got a ways up and reached his hand ip to the coullous wood around a small cavity. His hand was instantly covered in bees crawling around his hand and up his forearm. Not one stung him. Never free climbed again.

 

[MasterBlaster]

Been there, done that, no tee shirt.

 

[Burnham]

There you are, Butch. You wouldn't freak and fall. You have presence of mind.

There is really no way to know how one will respond to a situation like that, until it faces you. It's gonna be like any extreme emergency, or maybe combat..some people have it, some don't.

You've been there, I've been there, Chris's uncle has been there...none of us lost our heads and fell. No brag, just fact, I know I won't lose it, 'cause I already didn't more than once...including when the bald-faced hornets DID sting, in spades.

 

[MasterBlaster]

Anyone can be startled.

Prepare for it.

 

[woodworkingboy]

Burnham, a combat formation of Giant Asian Wasps is on route your way to test your reserve.

Poor joke, I know. It would be very tough to endure the pain of multiple stings, and toxicity that melts human tissue.

 

[Burnham]

Yessir...it's not a matter of being immune to being startled, it's what your mental and physical response is to it.

When I climbed to verify potential red tree vole nests, the idea of trying to scare up a rodent from a big brushy nest you're dissecting in the tree at 100 feet plus was weird...but if you set yourself to expect to be surprised by a rat running up your sleeve, it ain't no big thing.

Edit: Jay, bet's off .

 

[MasterBlaster]

Cool wasps!!!

 

[gf beranek]

Lord! Do they sting as bad as they look?

 

[bstewert]

YUCH!

 

[Bermy]

...but if you set yourself to expect to be surprised by a rat running up your sleeve, it ain't no big thing.

Edit: Jay, bet's off .

Yup...I HATE cockroaches...I revert to small girl when they start flying in the summer...yuk yukky YUK! But up a tree, especially a palm, I expect them, had them crawl over my hands...reaction is reduced to a shiver of yukness but not the run away looking for the tin of Baygon/swatter combo with cold sweat.

I do free climb in the lower canopy if the situation is acceptable, but ALWAYS in the back of my mind is being repeated...'I am unsecured, I am unsecured', and the lanyard goes on asap...I did slip once, 6' up JUST after I had put a lanyard on, because it was a thin bark tree and growing well, sure enough, bark slipped under my foot and I thought, lanyard's on, just let it catch you...it did, otherwise I would have had a nasty landing I think.

 

[DMc]

...he's more than "safe enough"...Free climbing done right is no different, in my view.

I find it so sad that for most people " safe enough " is not enough. Fear will suck the life right out of you if you let it. I love to free climb, always have, that is what drew me to tree work. Though I do not make a habit of doing so at work, there are times.

Dave

 

[gf beranek]

I fell once free climbing. In a live oak. Ended up wedged in a crotch, and had a heck of a time getting out of it. Banged up, but nothing serious. Learned my lesson. Lucky me.

 

[pete mctree]

I free-climb though conifers & other congested crowns. Gone tough, are the days of free-climbing to the top, the tieing in - it was how I was taought when I entered the industry

 

[CurSedVoyce]

Think I should hire Kilo, the free climbing dog?

 

[pantheraba]

That's impressive....good picture.

 

[MasterBlaster]

Go Kilo! Go Kilo!!!

 

[CurSedVoyce]

Scurried up that tree like a squirrel.....