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I just saw this yesterday on TB..
then wrote this :
OK I'll be the bad guy and say it since no one else has:
While he seems like a really good guy with a great personality for TV, he showed a lot of sloppy work and had a real casual attitude towards his and the crew's mistakes. The one where he cuts the rope was such a poor decision, I'd think it was staged if I saw it on reality TV.... And I only watched a few minutes of his videos...
Every young climber is going to make mistakes, and while its's amazing that he is so willing to show them to the world, his attitude about them sucked.. he was way too casual. Taking a "no big deal" attitude towards mistakes is asking for trouble. There is a mathematical formula that is fairly accurate in this business. You only get so many small mishaps and close calls before something much worse, such as a major injury or death, happens.... He's lucky the fall was only 25' , not 50!
Unless you have an safety conscious attitude the odds are heavily stacked against you in this business... That means taking every small mistake and near miss, and even any unexpected outcome (even if it did no harm) very seriously. Every nicked rope, every scratch with the hand saw, every rigging mistake needs to be thoroughly mentally reviewed , and then discussed with the crew where appropriate. How could things have been done differently? How can we make sure this doesn't happen again? Is there a policy that we could put in place to make this action safer? Do I need to work on my fundamentals.... like getting better body position relative to the cut? Do we need to fire this guy before he kills himself???
I've seen it in action before... Told a climber he shouldn't be in the the business... He was way to casual about safety and I knew something bad was going to happen... Within a year he had fallen and broken his back doing some stupid little mistake, belaying out of a pine spar...
On the the other hand I've seen a young climber that used to make a lot of mistakes turn into one of the best tree climbers that ever walked the earth. The difference was in his attitude. He wanted to get better, and learn from his mistakes and be the best and safest he could be... He was actually getting ready to climb this medium walnut early on, and I said I didn't like his tie in... we both pulled on the climbing line together and broke the limb right out...
So Corey if you're listening, I expect this post to sting a bit, but I hope you can look at it from the viewpoint that I AM trying to save your life, and help everyone here develop a better attitude towards safety. I hope this accident, which could have been sooo much worse, helps you change your attitude. If not, you should get out of the tree business...
Maybe you should think about moving to LA and taking acting lessons anyhow. With your personality and physique, you could make it in the movies.. Wish you well with it either way bro!
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