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Tether Redundancy

J

joel0711

Well-Known Member
Joined
Sep 9, 2017
Messages
315
Location
east tennessee
Been reading lots on bridge safety and backup but how about backup to the tether itself?? In a one in a million chance a tether broke does any one have a backup other than leaving linesmans attached loosely or maybe growing feathers and gliding down???
 
Nope. I think the chances of that are so low (my day job deals with risk) that I'm ok dealing with it. I do double up a prusic with a ropeman on my tether though.
 
A second tether plus a lightweight RC harness backs up everything: tether, bridge, prussik, connection points, etc. Adds about 1.2 lbs.RC Harness.jpgTether.Shackle.jpg

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You should be able to use your LB as a tether too. You’ve already got it, use it if you feel the need. If the tail end of your tether is long enough, tie it into the saddle somewhere with a figure 8.
 
gameflogger said:
I drive every day, I don't wear 2 seatbelts.
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I don't drive hanging out the window of my car by a seatbelt either . If I did, I would consider wearing a second one. :D The car itself is your primary support. The seatbelt is your backup tether. When I was a kid, we didn't have seatbelts. They were only invented in case of an unforseen accident.
 
I use a secondary tether since I sometimes use it to hang from when I move my rope further up the tree. Since I have it with me anyway, I put it to use. It does me no good in my pouch if I might have an unforseen accident. The same as not wearing your seatbelt while driving, when it is there anyway.
 
The "one in a million chance" that takes out my tether is probably unrelated to tether strength. It's a tree falling onto me. I'm dead no matter how strong the tether is.

What you're asking about gets to minimizing risk while hunting at elevation. To minimize that risk, I run a predator tether and predator bridge. It's bulky and I don't care. It's bombproof safe.

www.wesspur.com

Predator 11.4mm Climbing Rope

Camoflauged double-braid climbing line at 11.4mm from Samson. This is an excellent climbing line that will work with your favorite hitch cords and climbing hardware, but allows you to keep a low profile in the tree. Perfect for rec climbs, saddle hunting, canopy research, and any other climbing...
www.wesspur.com www.wesspur.com
 
I wonder if anyone ever thought of these questions when they used to hunt from a treestand and used whatever no name rope tether that came with the supplied body harness. Talk about ignorance is bliss...
 
Most of the times, I use my rappel rope as back up. I’m climbing with the LWHC and when at height, I set up the rappel rope with ATC and Auto Block. I hang primarily from the tether with whatever friction hitch or mechanical device I use, leaving a little slack in the rappel line. That’s my backup. Advantage is, I don’t have to set it up when it’s dark after an evening hunt and, more important, it’s ready to come down after I shoot the deer and I’m all excited.

What ever makes you feel safe up in the tree, follow your instinct and use common sense combined with good research. Ask 5 people and you’ll get 5 opinions. It’s your safety, your call!
 
I climb with LWHC using rappel rope and safeguard. Once at height, I pull up all gear with rappel ropeI and attach my LB as second tether.


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joel0711 said:
Been reading lots on bridge safety and backup but how about backup to the tether itself?? In a one in a million chance a tether broke does any one have a backup other than leaving linesmans attached loosely or maybe growing feathers and gliding down???
Click to expand...
It's funny. I was hanging in the tree yesterday thinking the same exact thing. The single point of failure is the tether/tether knot. I will probably just change out my tether every three years like I do my bow string.
 
Most of the reports of accidents seem to be slipping as in feet slipping on sticks or webbing bridge knots slipping. Maybe an accident database thread on SH would be a good idea to keep track of where the typical problems are in climbing.
 
slonstdy said:
I wonder if anyone ever thought of these questions when they used to hunt from a treestand and used whatever no name rope tether that came with the supplied body harness. Talk about ignorance is bliss...
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The HSS rope with Prusik knot that is sold as a fall restraint system has an overhand loop knot locked in with hot glue or some sort of epoxy. Super pliable rope. I have used it for years on different saddle sets. I know from talking to HSS that it is rated to 400# safe working load. The climbing grade ropes we are using are not going to break. Untied...... possibly. If you are worried about it coming untied you can always do a tight wrap with spectra or dacron before and after the knots.
 
When I climb up I use a 30’ rope. If it makes sense where it’s hanging then I use it as my tether. If it doesn’t and I pull out my short rope (used as either a tether or lineman) I will stay connected to both usually. Just depends on the setup and how I feel.


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bj139 said:
I use a secondary tether since I sometimes use it to hang from when I move my rope further up the tree. Since I have it with me anyway, I put it to use. It does me no good in my pouch if I might have an unforseen accident. The same as not wearing your seatbelt while driving, when it is there anyway.
Click to expand...

Do you hunt with all that in front of you ? Looks like a lot going on there
 
robstewart said:
When I climb up I use a 30’ rope. If it makes sense where it’s hanging then I use it as my tether. If it doesn’t and I pull out my short rope (used as either a tether or lineman) I will stay connected to both usually. Just depends on the setup and how I feel.


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I was wondering, how do you connect to your 30 ft rope?
Just getting into saddles, going to use my existing presets minus the hang ons.
I have the 30ft HSS lifelines that I connect to center loop of my RC harness with a short tether.
Saddles dont have the center loop to hook into so I am trying to come up with a good solution.
 
fishbones said:
I was wondering, how do you connect to your 30 ft rope?
Just getting into saddles, going to use my existing presets minus the hang ons.
I have the 30ft HSS lifelines that I connect to center loop of my RC harness with a short tether.
Saddles dont have the center loop to hook into so I am trying to come up with a good solution.
Click to expand...

Why would you not use your bridge?
 
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