-
The SH Membership has gone live. Only SH Members have access to post in the classifieds. All members can view the classifieds. Starting in 2020 only SH Members will be admitted to the annual hunting contest. Current members will need to follow these steps to upgrade: 1. Click on your username 2. Click on Account upgrades 3. Choose SH Member and purchase.
-
We've been working hard the past few weeks to come up with some big changes to our vendor policies to meet the changing needs of our community. Please see the new vendor rules here: Vendor Access Area Rules
Kestrel saftey back up
- Thread starter Pxt
- Start date
If there isn't already one on your tether, tie a figure 8 on a bight on the tag end. Bring that up and clip it into your biner on your bridge.
An
Anything on saddle itself in case of bridge break?. Low percentage I know, but certainly will call me.
I mean you could tie a secondary bridge in to tie that into. I don't think it is necessary though. The kestel is designed to be used as it comes. When all of the proper climbing grade equipment is used and correct knots tied and everything is checked at ground level it is very safe to be used as is.
This has been visited a couple of times. There are different ways to accomplish a backup here (my suggestion for NT was to do a waist buckle with a load rated d ring).
The thing you have to remember here, is that you still have single point of failure at your tether to tree connection. You can back up your bridge and bridge connections, but it still goes back to that single point of failure - your true odds of something going south really don't change much.
The thing you have to remember here, is that you still have single point of failure at your tether to tree connection. You can back up your bridge and bridge connections, but it still goes back to that single point of failure - your true odds of something going south really don't change much.
I played around a little last year and once or twice this year with using my linesman belt as a back up. I tied off about belt high and left enough rope out to move freely. Surprisingly it want in the way, and I made sure my tire off was pretty much in line with my sticks. Theory being if something did happen the rope will follow the knot and I would be able to at least get on my sticks. Pretty positive it would hurt pretty bad but it would hopefully keep you from hitting the ground.
I went back to an adjustable predator bridge. I'm all about redundancy on the weakest link, and the bridge and tether then have the same probability of failure with this approach.
Happy Hunting
Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk
Happy Hunting
Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk
If I really thought the kestrel needed a backup I would have stuck with the sit drag. The ropeman and prussik are the weak links in about every system. The kestrel itself is very safe. The included bridge is very safe. I really don't like some of the pictures that I've seen on here of the way the blakes are tied on the bridge but I'm just not familiar with it. I like a prussik. I think it's been decided that the ropeman will pinch a rope into before it breaks. About the only way to back that up is with a second tether.
I just run a small prussic on my tether below where I hook up my rope man (on short tether) or my Rappel device (on a long tether to rappel down) and run my lineman (that is attached to one loop on my Kestrel semi permanently with a petzl ring and rope man) through the prussic and clip to other lineman loop,now I can tighten up lineman belt and adjust the prussic to act as a second life support point (linemans loops/belt are life support rated).It also allows me to rappel down with no change in hookup while it acts as an auto block for the rappel device.
With my custom Anderson sling I have been using my treehopper 3 in 1 climbing belt as my back up. I slide the left ring around to the front of my waist, then run the rope (fully extended) around the tree (some times 2 or more times, depending on diameter of tree) and attach back into the rope. I have always felt safe with this, and it does not limit my shot angles with my recurve. Now, I would not want to hang from it around my waste for a very long time, but if it prevents me from hitting the ground....real fast, and since I am facing the tree I believe I could get back to a step or platform in an emergency.
Not sure yet how I will back up the Kestrel, maybe see what you guys come up with............ you guys are pretty good at that.
Not sure yet how I will back up the Kestrel, maybe see what you guys come up with............ you guys are pretty good at that.
I'm a firm believer in backing up under the right circumstances. I'm a rope and tower rescue specialist for Lansing fire department in Lansing Michigan. We back everything up to have a margin of safety in case of failure. That being said, I am also a rock climber. The sport of rock climbing really has very little margin for error. We routinely tie into a single rope at a single belay point and shock load dynamic rope hundreds of times without a second thought. I honestly can't tell you if I have ever heard of a climbing related incident related to equipment failure. Failure nearly always comes at the fault of the user. The more complicated a system is, the more possibility of clipping in to the wrong rope etc. and making a mistake. The kestrel is a well thought out and designed harness. The harness itself will not fail under its intended use, nor will the rigging if properly tied etc. My motto is keep it simple, use quality rated equipment, check your knots twice and trust your equipment.