Back up your ascenders

[Pete Mctree]

The link was put on the srt thread by Bundle2, but I thought it was worth a thread in it's own right. Very sobering

 

http://www.isa-arboriculture.org/content/cm000181.htm

[Patchwork]

thats pretty raw

[Amelanchier]

If he'd been wearing a weaver he would have bounced off those spikes Hopefully Simons about and he can add to this thread...

[John Shutler]

blimey

[Mr Ed]

Good advert for the integrity of the TreeMotion. Also a good reminder like you say, Back up your ascenders...

[Mike Hill]

Every good of you to post the thread Pete.Thanks.

 

Does it you to you all like he was using a very wide branch for his tip.Good choice under almost all circumstances,but in this case it might have spread the ropes apart too much and the lateral tension popped them out of the cams?

[DrewB]

ouch. and ouch again. is the climber ok?

[Bundle 2]

If U download the PDF and read on...you will learn perhaps from this painful accident....

[Mr Ed]

 

If you were going to fall from a tree, what would be

high on the list of things you would rather not land on?

Most people will have iron railings well up on that list,

but for one climber last year that was precisely what

he plummeted 52 feet on to, picking up two puncture

wounds in his back, one inch away from his spine. He

was more than a little lucky, discounting the falling in

the first place, as his harness absorbed the worst of

his fall and stopped the spikes from ripping deeper.

Remarkably, he is back at work and climbing again.

Now that I am sure I have your attention, you probably

have a few questions to ask: “How did he fall?” “What, if

anything, did he do wrong?” “What broke?” Before I tell

you, remember the sick feeling in your stomach looking

at the photo of the harness on the fence and learn from

someone else’s lucky escape.

He was foot locking into the tree using the double

rope technique (DRT) with mechanical ascenders. When

he reached the top, about three feet under his anchor

point, with the ropes pulled together with an alpine

butterfly, he reached out to his side about an arm’s length

to take hold of a branch to pull himself in to stem and

lanyard in. One of the ropes in his ascenders popped out

and he fell. Turning, trying in vain to grab the ropes in

front of him, he saw the ground and railings come towards

him. He could not quite believe what was happening; he

thought for sure he was going die, then bang! A sudden

stop. He hit the railings, feeling them punch in to his body,

he was winded, conscious but alive.

How could this happen? Good question. Well it

happened and the companies that make such devices

are aware of the potential for it to happen because

clearly marked on all devices is the maximum and (more

importantly) the minimum diameter of the rope that they

can be used with. Also stated in the instructions are the

directions and limitation of use, they are for one directional

use, to be loaded only from below the device, they are

not designed for lateral movement. It has been known

for a while that this could happen and climbers have had

moments where it nearly did.

The findings of the HSE investigation held no one

at fault. All actions had been following the current best

practice, so what should we do to stop this until someone

builds us a new device for tree access alone?

What now? A better question. First, the “Guide to

Good Climbing Practice” is currently under review prior

to a second edition and DRT is one of the areas being

worked on. In the meantime, if you are using such

devices, what you must do is put in a fail to safety, a back

up or safeguard of some sort that will hold you if one of

the cams should fail or, as in the case above, the rope

should work free of the device altogether.

There are many and various ways of backing up

the DRT system utilising ascenders, but what needs

to be made clear is that just adding a prussic loop on

both lines (as you would if you were foot locking with

a prussic) will not be backed up. This is because if

one side of the ascenders fails, the ropes will move in

opposite directions and the prussic will not grip. What

you must do is treat double ascenders as two separate

ascenders that just happen to be joined together. Each

side must be backed up.

To that end, a friction hitch, prussic lets say for

simplicity, is installed one above each cam, one on each

line and then connected to the karabiner attaching the

ascenders to your strop (Fig I) or linked into the system

on your harness. You will need to take care when

choosing your karabiner, so as not to overcrowd or load

it incorrectly. Another method would be to use a second

cam on each line; doing this will isolate each line. Walk a

second set of ascenders up the ropes to the top (Fig II),

set the correct distance away from your anchored limb

to allow for the spread ratio, or up to a butterfly knot and

bring the ropes together under the anchor point.

There are many other ways to back up DRT utilising

ascenders but I have insufficient space to mention them

all here. If you want to find more ways to back up your

system, check out arbtalk.co.uk or treebuzz.com, come

and have a chat at one of the many events this year at the

tree climbers’ forum or just chat to some of the climbers

competing or judging at a TCC event. Above all climb safe

and keep your system simple, so you and your groundy

can fully understand what is going on. If you are not sure,

go back to a simple prussic loop for foot locking. Think

about reaching out a little and get online, or book some

update training.

Alexander Laver

Tree Logic

ISA UK&I TCC Chairman

[Paul Smith]

Would that have happened on a single line?