Climbing system failure

[Deep South Slayer]

Man that’s scary. I’m guilty of not always wearing a lineman’s belt while ascending/descending but I will from now on. I’m glad your buddy is ok.

 

[redsquirrel]

The stopper on the step gave out causing it to rotate straight down. He was not tethered in at all

Valid points. I can't stand seeing people get hurt over things that could've been avoided. So if it'll help here it is. It was a hawk helium. Bottom right step. I'll get ahold of him about getting a pic. I guess it shook him up a little because he was telling me he's wearing a lineman's belt from now on and he's done with folding steps. I'm not blasting hawk. I own some heliums myself and enjoy their products. This thread was started as a friendly reminder to check and recheck your equipment. Saddle hunting by nature is dangerous. It doesn't need any help in that department. But yes anything no matter the brand can and will fail eventually. I'm still wondering how it happened though. He's only had them a year or so and he's not a big guy at all at 5'8" and about 185 lbs. At least he got a little wake up call instead of a hard lesson learned. Could've been a lot worse

Thanks for posting that. I have heliums but, wouldn't have guessed it was them. I would love to see the pic. I would have your buddy send the pic to Hawk, it wont hurt for them to know also.

I'd like to see a pic too because I'm having a hard time imagining how this happened. I could see it failing if the bolt holding the step broke, or the step broke, but I don't understand how the stopper failed. The stopper is the actual meat of the stick.

 

[ImThere]

I need pictures. Make me a believer.

Care to share approximate size of your buddy? Or did I miss it?

I guess I’m going to be that guy.


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[Slingpredator06]

I need pictures. Make me a believer.

Care to share approximate size of your buddy? Or did I miss it?

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Look above. It's in the post. He has no reason to lie and I've been to iraq and Afghanistan with this guy he's a no BS kind of guy. I'm working on it

 

[Deep South Slayer]

I think a good take away point is that all of our equipment has the potential to fail. It doesn’t really matter how well you think it is made. A certain percentage will fail, hopefully that’s a small percentage.

 

[skell]

Glad your buddy is ok. This a good reminder to check ALL your equipment. I know I can be guilty of glossing over the metal stuff and assuming it is fine... Thanks for sharing.

 

[denots]

Thanks for posting that. I have heliums but, wouldn't have guessed it was them. I would love to see the pic. I would have your buddy send the pic to Hawk, it wont hurt for them to know also.

I agree that he should also contact Hawk about this. If for no other reason they may want to take a look at the stick to make sure they don't need to do a recall. I'm sure Hawk would not want to get the reputation for people getting hurt on their equipment.

 

[fbwguy]

Glad he's ok. Valid point that Anything Mechanical Can Fail. Hopefully you can get pics, all of us will then know what to look for. Safety First and Second.

 

[harold wright]

A buddy of mine took a fall this morning. As he was climbing up to his hang on stand a folding step on a very popular climbing stick failed causing it to rotate straight down. (Item is not under recall) This caused him to lose his balance falling to the right while hanging on to the top steps which then caused lower kick out on the climbing stick, subsequently throwing him off. Luckily he said it was only about a 10ft fall and he is ok minus some bumps and bruises. Thankfully he wasn't higher. Regardless, I wanted to share this for situational awareness on the importance of constantly checking your equipment and to ALWAYS use some form of tether system no matter your climbing style or what you hunt from. Your life depends on it.

I had a treestand accident in 2009. I ve had my hipp and both knees replaced. I ve got xop, muddy and lone wolf sticks. I know what there rated. I am 265. dont use my sticks much because i am wondering if the steps will hold my weight. i went to wildedge stepps last year. i am a little slower with them but when i cam them over there not going to break. with my kestrel and stepps i feel secure.

 

[DanielB89]

A buddy of mine took a fall this morning. As he was climbing up to his hang on stand a folding step on a very popular climbing stick failed causing it to rotate straight down. (Item is not under recall) This caused him to lose his balance falling to the right while hanging on to the top steps which then caused lower kick out on the climbing stick, subsequently throwing him off. Luckily he said it was only about a 10ft fall and he is ok minus some bumps and bruises. Thankfully he wasn't higher. Regardless, I wanted to share this for situational awareness on the importance of constantly checking your equipment and to ALWAYS use some form of tether system no matter your climbing style or what you hunt from. Your life depends on it.

Just curious but were these XOP sticks?

 

[DanielB89]

NVM, I see they were hawk heliums. Some times in life it takes a scare to be sure you're protecting yourself from their on out. Glad he is okay.

 

[Slingpredator06]

Heading over there. I'll have pics up shortly

 

[Slingpredator06]

I agree that he should also contact Hawk about this. If for no other reason they may want to take a look at the stick to make sure they don't need to do a recall. I'm sure Hawk would not want to get the reputation for people getting hurt on their equipment.

Another reason I didn't want to post the brand. No product is perfect or 100 percent reliable. I know a lot of guys on here have heliums to include myself. Stuff happens sometimes

 

[huntmore]

Another reason I didn't want to post the brand. No product is perfect or 100 percent reliable. I know a lot of guys on here have heliums to include myself. Stuff happens sometimes

I sympathize with you on this, stuff always happens
by the way thanks for your service to this country and anyone else who has served

 

[denots]

Another reason I didn't want to post the brand. No product is perfect or 100 percent reliable. I know a lot of guys on here have heliums to include myself. Stuff happens sometimes

I just climbed up on mine. I was looking at them pretty good and for the life of me I can't imagine how the step rotated straight down without a complete failure of the step or Bolt. Anyway thanks again, I better get to looking for deer.

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[Slingpredator06]

Here they are. Screw was bent as well.

 

[enkriss]

Hmmm....I would like to see what failed on the stick. The step pushed against the inside of the stick. I thought that was a pretty solid way to do it. I stopped using them after bending the bottom of a few. I have also seen some pics of the bottom 4” breaking off.

 

[enkriss]

Here they are. Screw was bent as well.

Odd break....

 

[Slingpredator06]

Odd break....

Yeah seriously......I put another one of his sticks on a tree in his backyard and put his ruck on and bounced up and down for a min. His ruck was loaded with 45lbs and I weigh 210. Steps didn't budge.

 

[redsquirrel]

Here they are. Screw was bent as well.

Wild.
At first I was thinking soft metal but if the hole was drilled a little too close to the side of the stick I suppose that could happen.