Climber Down

[Mick Dempsey]

Nearly everything is operator error.

[Tommy_B]

I make a rule of not anchoring on anything thinner than my wrist. I reckon my old boy is thicker than that.

 

Loads of times I've looked at branches on the ground and thought "that looks a bit touch and go" but when you get up there, they're fine. That must have looked tiny from the ground

[devon TWiG]

Really sorry to be reading about this accident and the guy involved , and those that saw it happen and helped ..but ..I really can not believe how any one used such an anchor point , and does this not just add more justification to using 2 ropes / anchor points ?  is any one doing this now  ? 

[Darrin Turnbull]

I know the climber personally and he’s competent, and always a pleasure to work with.

This wouldn’t have been intentionally of course 

He was probably distracted for some reason.

Even the best of us can be idiots.

 

 

[Mark Bolam]

39 minutes ago, devon TWiG said:

Really sorry to be reading about this accident and the guy involved , and those that saw it happen and helped ..but ..I really can not believe how any one used such an anchor point , and does this not just add more justification to using 2 ropes / anchor points ?  is any one doing this now  ? 

It doesn’t add any justification at all, not in the real world.

It’s like saying you should always wear two pairs of pants in case you crap yourself.

 

Sorry about your mate Darrin, maybe I was a bit harsh.

I’m sure no one knows more than him that he cocked up.

 

Glad he’s going to be ok.

[carlos]

a two person weight test before asecending may well of avoided this,  hope his back heals up ok.

[Paddy1000111]

Wow, like others have said that's an ambitious anchor. I usually use a cambium saver for srt (with an alpine butterfly and carabiner stopper) and I would be reluctant to tie to anything smaller than my fore-arm and I'm only 76kg. 

 

Personally, If I'm not sure 100% of my anchor (dying tree or questionable condition etc) I install the cambium saver so I'm not double loading the branch and then run the unloaded tail end of the rope down over other limbs and tie off as a basal anchor. It may be a bit anal and probably too belt and braces but I would rather spend 2-3 minutes firing my unloaded rope tail over some branches and tying off at base than spending hours/days in hospital and possibly a lifetime in a wheelchair. Plus climbing a tree is easier when my arse isn't going 5p, 50p the entire ascent. 

 

I also think that sometimes people forget that when using a basal anchor for srt and no cambium saver/top tie anchor, the limb loading is double your weight and needs to be quite beefy if you fell.

 

Looking at that branch something went wrong in the human factor sense. Either neglect (not paying attention to his anchor), laziness (there wasn't a bigger limb that high and took the short cut instead of using re-directs) or something else. No-one in their right mind would climb on that SRT or DDRT. Personally I wouldn't even use that as a re-direct. I guess climbing SRT got him the 8m though with lack of friction and smoother ascent (dependant on technique).

 

I think SRT is safer mind. Less friction and rope wear, smoother ascent (dependant on technique) and more ability to add redundancy i.e throwing the unloaded end of a top anchor system over some branches and base tying. The only downside to SRT is you are climbing on the single rope rating not double that but with most ropes being rated to <2000kg with an impact force of something crazy like 5200kg I'm not that concerned.

 

In reply to Devon TWiG, I don't think it adds justification for two anchor points. If the rope snapped or the climbers system failed due to a manufacturing fault etc then I would say yes. Although if your climbing system failed or the rope snapped in DDRT then you would be no better off. This is just a case of operator error. It's this sort of stuff that causes people to be sucked into shredders, car accidents etc.... I don't mean this aimed at the climber in this post but the old saying "you can't fix stupid" comes to mind. If there's people involved there will always be a human factor. He could have had 2 anchors but then you could say cars need two drivers, guns need two triggers, countries need two governments (the last one might not be a bad idea...). accidents happen, it's life.

[Darrin Turnbull]

Good post , Paddy

Like you said that extra 2-3 minutes work invested is usually all that’s needed to be safe.

 

[Mick Dempsey]

How come if you install a cambium saver in the top anchor you’re not doubling the weight?

[Tommy_B]

1 hour ago, Mick Dempsey said:

How come if you install a cambium saver in the top anchor you’re not doubling the weight?

Because the other end is not anchored off statically. It is moving you