Climbing without aerial rescue?

[Mark J]

A few years back when I had a stint with an LA contractor, they'd practice AR every six weeks or so. It was a box ticking exercise. Most accidents happen at the branch tips, If you can't get out there sharp, you/they are in trouble.

[Mark Bolam]

I’m pretty safe then.

[RDB logs]

The biggest single thing we always do is install a rescue line- it is just a spare rope draped over a crotch and hitched out the way- I am so bad with a throw line that it would save at least an hour on any rescue! 

[buffalo606]

On 09/08/2018 at 20:31, Con said:

Aerial rescue is definitely one of those situations where 'prevention is better than cure'.

For me the really is the key in all of this, and try to remind myself to climb each tree with this thought in mind.  I just don't see it panning out well no matter how fast my second climber is.  I'd rather put my faith into reducing the chances of serious injury occurring than worrying that each of us is highly proficient in rescue.  Every so often I catch myself getting lax - a bit like driving when tired - and give myself a wake up slap.

[carlos]

i reckon keeping your rope tidy and free running is a very important aspect in self rescue, i keep a rope bag at the bottom of the tree to help with this.

always thought that if it was a rigging job then using the rigging system to bring the casualty down would be very quick, prob not best practice though.

[Mark J]

55 minutes ago, carlos said:

i reckon keeping your rope tidy and free running is a very important aspect in self rescue, i keep a rope bag at the bottom of the tree to help with this.

always thought that if it was a rigging job then using the rigging system to bring the casualty down would be very quick, prob not best practice though.

There's so many variables.  I agree, making sure you can always descend in a hurry is a good idea.  It might be that you've got to get down from the tree sharpish to help with an incident on the ground.

 

Ive never had to carry out a rescue in real life. I reckon that without an access line, you've little chance of getting up there in a hurry.

 

Edited August 11, 2018 by Mark J

[Andymacp]

Does anyone have first hand experience or knowledge of a real life rescue ?
Just never heard of one

[Gary Prentice]

1 hour ago, Andymacp said:

Does anyone have first hand experience or knowledge of a real life rescue ?
Just never heard of one

Only one and the details are a little sketchy. Incident with a lad ring a pole down. Long while ago, no rescue climber. Fire brigade couldn't get to him for some reason and a climber from a local firm went up - I presume the victims injuries prevented him descending but no-one was too concerned that he was going to die to the time delays.

 

From memory, the rescuer said the main issue was that without stubs it was difficult to set something up to bring them both down on a single line. It was a long time ago, so quite likely everyone was on prussics (knots or loops), no whoopee sling, block, etc.

 

 

EDIT: Does going up to newly qualified climbers imitating a frozen Koala to calm them down and help them get back to ground count as a rescue?  Done that a few times. 

Edited August 12, 2018 by Gary Prentice

[Spruce Pirate]

2 hours ago, Andymacp said:

Does anyone have first hand experience or knowledge of a real life rescue ?
Just never heard of one

Not spectacular, but a couple of months ago on a job, climbers rope got wrapped around a peg that he'd left on the way up, tied in a perfect half hitch, climbing on a prussic system.  He was probably 50' - 60' in the canopy of a Scots pine unable to move down.  The peg was too high to reach with the ladder and the rope wouldn't flick off from the ground.  I climbed to the peg, un-wrapped his rope, descended and we carried on, easy peasy.  No threat to life, no time constraints but technically I climbed the tree and "rescued" him.  It could have been very embarrassing if I hadn't been able to climb.

 

 

 

As far as the legalities of having a certified climber on the ground goes I'm pretty sure anyone looking at it from a legal stand point would say that certified doesn't cut it, they would have to be certified and competent.  If it all goes horribly wrong and it comes down to and HSE investigation there's no way they'll look at a certificate for a rescue climber and say, "oh well, that's alright then".  All sorts of awkward questions will start being asked, like the level of competence of the rescue climber and how is this documented, how is their competence maintained, when was the last time a rescue was practice?  If you're sitting round the kitchen table with the men/women in shiny shoes with clipboards and a big frown on their intimidating faces you want to have a slightly better answer than, "uh, we put him through his climbing ticket 18 months ago, but he hasn't actually climbed a tree since then".

 

All the legal stuff is quite secondary to the poor guy up the tree needing rescued though!  I think most of us who have climbed for a while have probably done solo climbs or climbed knowing that the rescue climber isn't up to the job, myself included.  Its on the ground risk management.  If you're happy doing it then go ahead, but you need to remember if it all goes wrong you could be seven different shades of screwed, both legally and practically.

[openspaceman]

31 minutes ago, Spruce Pirate said:

If you're sitting round the kitchen table with the men/women in shiny shoes with clipboards and a big frown on their intimidating faces you want to have a slightly better answer than, "uh, we put him through his climbing ticket 18 months ago, but he hasn't actually climbed a tree since then".

Love it. BTDTGTT but in a non climbing context and they pick on trivial stuff completly  unrelated to the incident. In my case involving a tractor accident they took exception to my helmet being out of date.