Yep! Rope twist!

[tockmal]

The other day during an Ash removal, someone forgot to make sure the rigging line and the climbing line were clear of each other - this was the end result - climbing line twisted round the rigging line in a upsided half-hitch formation.

 

[Steve Bullman]

did it cause you much of a problem?

[tockmal]

The serious issue with this particular twist was the way the half-hitch jammed under the rigging biner and started to pull the climber out the tree.

 

The piece of timber was being run down through the portawrap coming to a sudden stop when the climber was yanked out of his position.

 

We locked the portawrap off and started to think of way to get the half-hitch out.

 

Forgot to say, the tree was covered in Ivy

 

[Pete Mctree]

Not a great predicament for the climber to be in. How was it resolved?

[jpbeaver]

is the climber alright? i always check my own ropes when lowering, i wont trust anyone else.

[tockmal]

If you look closely in this pic you can see the climber's head(helmet visor) at the top right of the shot, at this point he was trying to lift the section of timber to undo his lifeline by unclipping the main attachment biner in the hope his line would come loose. Luckily it was not a big piece.

 

We were also thinking of cutting one of the ropes, but as it was not a huge piece we had time to think of a better way.

 

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[Pete Mctree]

I blame all for the rope tangle, the climber for not placing his lines away from the rigging rope. Everyone else for not checking it for him.

 

Do you not think that cleaning more of the ivy off would have helped see the situation a little better?

 

Plenty to learn from this for all of us

[Steve Bullman]

 

Do you not think that cleaning more of the ivy off would have helped see the situation a little better?

 

 

i rarely rope off unless i have to however in the past ive roped off large just to avoid having to strip ivy

[tockmal]

After he unclipped the main attachment biner for his lifeline the half-hitch just fell out loosely. Then we just flipped it round the the

section a couple of times and the ropes were clear of each other.

 

It was good reminder of why the groundsperson/s should always make sure the ropes are clear of each other.

 

I'd never seen this happen before. Treework has a habit of doing that, just when you think you've seen it all, something new bobs up to surprise you.

 

 

[tockmal]

I blame all for the rope tangle, the climber for not placing his lines away from the rigging rope. Everyone else for not checking it for him.

 

Do you not think that cleaning more of the ivy off would have helped see the situation a little better?

 

Plenty to learn from this for all of us

 

Pete,

 

The climber is blameless in this situation, me and the guy running the portawrap should have made sure the lines were well clear of each other. I take full responsibilty. Your right about the Ivy, but all we had to do was distmantle the crown then fell the spar at about 20ft, so we felt removing the Ivy was unnecessary.