Tree climber breaks arm whilst rigging

[Steve Bullman]

 

[Stubby]

Friggin ouch !

[Mick Dempsey]

Saw that elsewhere, big ouchy.

[SimpleSimon]

So, as a total novice to such things I have to ask: What went wrong? Did he do or fail to do something that caused that to happen or was it just misfortune?

[Steve Bullman]

Well its hard to tell where the rigging point is exactly, but pushing it the other way probably would have prevented that, as would the groundy letting the piece drop.  Combination of those things along with possibly a mismatched snap cut to break it off cleanly.  And of course, having his arm where it was didn't help things!

[Darrin Turnbull]

Learning the hard way.

[jones]

Ouch indeed.  Having his arm there was a massive error obviously.  Always be prepared to move when you're rigging 

[Mark Bolam]

Nothing I haven’t done myself and got away with.

Pegs on the timber didn’t help, nor did the groundie not letting it run a bit, but poor cutting was also a factor.

As Jones says, you need to be ready to shift.

I’m not being a smart arse, I’ve done worse and was very lucky to escape a few times.

[Haironyourchest]

He seems remarkably chill about it. Maybe he has slow-moving pain receptors?

[markieg31]

i suppose a directional felling cut would of sent it away from the climber and then hopefully by time it snaped off it would have been near enough clear of the climber. But as said previously a number of factors were at play here.