Thx for the support and comments, it's appreciated. I hope it comes through in my tone, both in writing and and speaking in my videos, but I'm not busting anybody stones. I just don't want to see any more accidents. I'm literally losing sleep over the recent fatal accident in the saddle community and wondering how it could have been prevented. I consider you all my brothers and sisters, and even if I don't know you, I want y'all safe.
In my mind, here is the number one situation for having leg straps: you have some slack in your tether/rappel line for whatever reason. Maybe you just stood in the middle of a hunt to take some pressure off your hips and have a few inches. Or maybe you are an aggressive one sticker and you're standing at the top of your stick getting to ready to move your tether up... a very dangerous place to be with potentially multiple feet of slack ( because you didn't understand the importance of keeping it minimal). That moment, our stick or platform falls off the tree completely, like a trap door. That's going to cause a fall and an incredible jolt and a very reasonable chance that our butt will fall right out of the bottom of our saddle. This is the only time we are gonna appreciate those straps... and they are gonna hurt, but they can save us. I'm not recommending that anybody actually tries this test. But picture yourself doing it and doing it a thousand times. We have to be safe every time.
A good argument could be made that a no slack rope climber doesn't need em. But I am that guy and I still won't take them off. Because as much as I have thought about all this stuff, I'm still not confident I have thought of everything. And I don't want to realize that during an emergency.
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