Pendulum swings

[TIMON]

Experienced my first big pendulum swing the other day while on a reccy climb branch walking in a very big oak. I lost my footing and took a swing really quickly I must have swung about 20ft and twisted round about 6 times. I always thought I would have time to grab a branch but not this time

I just wondered what others experiences of this happening were. ??

[mike1987]

Happened on my cs38 walking out on a limb about 20foot from the stem slipped when another guy in the tree jumped off his branch my secondary anchor snapped out and I took a massive swing ended up about 4ft from the ground.

Lesson learned was if I wouldn't hang off it then its no good as a secondary.

Ended up upside down a few times last week on a wet walnut tree the customer thought it was hilarious

[Joe Newton]

Experienced my first big pendulum swing the other day while on a reccy climb branch walking in a very big oak. I lost my footing and took a swing really quickly I must have swung about 20ft and twisted round about 6 times. I always thought I would have time to grab a branch but not this time

I just wondered what others experiences of this happening were. ??

 

 

Last one was kind of deliberate. Couldn't be bothered to walk back in from an ash limb. Swans in and past the trunk, then backwards into the stem. Sorted out a really annoying crick I'd had in my spine, could do with happening again really.

[Stubby]

Watched my buddy do one when the branch he was on snapped . He to swung a big arch and spun several times . He was laughing as it unfolded .

[stihlmadasever]

Experienced my first big pendulum swing the other day while on a reccy climb branch walking in a very big oak. I lost my footing and took a swing really quickly I must have swung about 20ft and twisted round about 6 times. I always thought I would have time to grab a branch but not this time

I just wondered what others experiences of this happening were. ??

Had several over the years,the best was end of last year,wasnt that high up maybe 40 feet-ish on a ash we had reduced,on way back to stem just slipped and fell ass first about 6 foot.lesson learned-always tend slack

[skc101fc]

Took my bad one last year limb walking and cutting side branches as I went out. Limb suddenly snapped out from underneath me, saw reaching out front pulled me upside down , unbelievably disorientated , hoped to grab a branch or kick off trunk but just not enough time . A 30 foot tended rope was a great swing straight into the trunk - smashed ribs on one side and thigh muscle, you cant believe how debilitating being badly winded is in a harness !!. Luckily could just still reach the prussik to get down as my heavy groundy would probably have busted even more branches getting up to me. God it happens fast and you really don't know which way is up. The confusion is something I don't think you can prepare for.

Shaun

Edited September 11, 2015 by David Humphries
Language

[Mick Dempsey]

Took my bad one last year limb walking and cutting side branches as I went out. Limb suddenly snapped out from underneath me, saw reaching out front pulled me upside down , unbelievably disorientated , hoped to grab a branch or kick off trunk but just not enough time . A 30 foot tended rope was a great swing straight into the trunk - smashed ribs on one side and thigh muscle, you cant believe how debilitating being badly winded is in a harness !!. Luckily could just still reach the prussik to get down as my heavy groundy would probably have busted even more branches getting up to me. God it happens fast and you really don't know which way is up. The confusion is something I don't think you can prepare for.

Shaun

 

Thanks for sharing. Yeah, it can be a nasty thing, and the spinning thing will render you defenceless.

[ClimberGuy]

Experienced my first big pendulum swing the other day while on a reccy climb branch walking in a very big oak. I lost my footing and took a swing really quickly I must have swung about 20ft and twisted round about 6 times. I always thought I would have time to grab a branch but not this time

I just wondered what others experiences of this happening were. ??

 

Great thread, thanks for starting it.

 

I'm not a pro arb, just learning for the last 2 or 3 years how to climb by reading and watching everything I can on the internet. Because I only climb for friends and family, mostly pruning deadwood or hazardous branches, I don't usually feel as though I'm being pushed for speed. My prime concern is to come back in one piece, no injuries. As a result, I don't really do limbwalks in which it is possible to take a huge swing. Call me cowardly. I use two ropes, double SRT. I'll have my main line with a really high primary suspension point, and a second one that I can use to pull myself out to the end of the limb that I want to walk out onto.

 

I guess I just always figured that it would be really easy to have my foot slip off of the branch I'm trying to walk out onto, and that if I only had one rope, I could take a hard thirty foot swing at high speed right into the main trunk of the tree, seriously banging myself up. So instead, with two ropes, what happens when my foot slips is that I do take a swing, but it's just back and forth over or right next to the spot on the limb I just slipped off of.

 

So it's like a kid's swing, only with much longer ropes. I hope I'm being clear here. The path of my swing is perpendicular to the branch I'm trying to walk out on. By way of overkill, sometimes I even use a third, shorter rope with a separate climbing system on it, too.

 

My idea is that with attachments in three different directions, if I tend slack all of the time, it's just a matter of moving in the desired direction of travel, with almost no possibility ever of taking an uncontrolled swing.

 

I have read some arborist's writings about the strategic use of big, deliberate swings, for speed of covering distance in the crown. Being good at that would be really efficient and powerful, but it probably takes a lot of practice to get good at, and you have to be willing to risk injury, I'd imagine.

 

In the right circumstance, it might be possible to practice swings fairly safely. An uncontrolled, accidental swing could have life changing consequences, which is why I act like such a chicken.

[Mick Dempsey]

It's not cowardly or chicken, it's common sense, good post.

[TIMON]

Thanks guys, some great replies so far. Please keep them coming.