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A fall noted on facebook. A comment I saw.

So creeping around in Facebook, I found the original post. Says 8 mm oplux. Doesn’t Tethrd use 11 mm? His pictures do not show a tether. But you do see he is like most of us and has bags, Aiders etc from various venders. So the tether is probably not from the vendor of his saddle.
That said: check you equipment, test new stuff at ground level. Be aware that There is so much counterfeit equipment and material out there for sale. (Bolts, ropes, etc)
 
I wonder if there was any use of heatshrink on the tether. UHMPE melts around 130C.
 
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This forum has really helped me spot a bad climb and Exodus Trailcams - who’s content I generally like otherwise - just did a feature presentation full of bad technique.

forgive my ignorance, but I am new to the saddle game. What are the main "bad technique" aspects of the video so I can NOT do them? Thanks.
 
The biggest one is not keeping the lineman's belt high and loaded.

Yes, just visualize if the stick gives out or you slip, how far would the climber fall before the lineman helps stop the descent. A 30”+ drop is reported to be highly highly unpleasant.
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Yes, just visualize if the stick gives out or you slip, how far would the climber fall before the lineman helps stop the descent. A 30”+ drop is reported to be highly highly unpleasant.
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Makes a lot of sense! Thanks for taking the time to educate! Much appreciated.
 
Tethrd broke - this is really interesting, would be good to know exactly what happen. This being my second year saddle hunting I tend to "try" to be safe or do things to make me feel safe. I usually tie in my bridge and use my linesmen as a second bridge - attached to a pursik set above my original bridge. On some long boring sits I have often looked at that single tether wrapped around the tree supporting me and have often wonder what/if there's a fail rate on tethers ---- "assuming" FB post meant tether.
This is my first year in a saddle and I have been hunting at around 20-25 platform height...I hook my tether to my bridge obviously but I keep my linesman hooked up like a second bridge( not wrapped around the tree, just from loop to loop) and I biner my rappel rope and madrock safeguard to both...so I have two tethers and 2 bridges...is this just overkill or good redundancy?
 
This is my first year in a saddle and I have been hunting at around 20-25 platform height...I hook my tether to my bridge obviously but I keep my linesman hooked up like a second bridge( not wrapped around the tree, just from loop to loop) and I biner my rappel rope and madrock safeguard to both...so I have two tethers and 2 bridges...is this just overkill or good redundancy?
As a million saddle hunters....get a million answers. A few thoughts...all are my opinion only....

1. Redundancy is fine so long as it doesn't overcomplicate your process. I have seen some systems that have redundancies that I believe may actually increase the risk of error / fall. You judge if your systems is overly complex. I can't entirely picture what you are saying, but in any case, this would be my only concern with what you've described.
2. Once at height and fully weighted on your primary tether, I see very little need for a backup. I guess this guy somehow managed to fall under such a scenario, but you really have to mess up your knots in order for this to happen.
3. My opinion is redundancy is mainly useful during climb, descent, and the transition between climbing/descending and hanging at hunting height. You are mainly backing up the human in the system, not the equipment....

I wear a lightweight RC harness under my saddle, climb with lineman's belt connected to my saddle lineman's loops and back up tether connected to belay loop on harness (moving tether up above sticks / steps / bolts as I climb). When I get to height, I connect main tether to saddle bridge, loosen lineman's belt until fully weighted on main tether, then remove lineman's belt. I have the backup tether still hooked to my RC harness during the hunt. I feel better with this and I don't think it adds much complexity. But, that's just my opinion.....
 
As a million saddle hunters....get a million answers. A few thoughts...all are my opinion only....

1. Redundancy is fine so long as it doesn't overcomplicate your process. I have seen some systems that have redundancies that I believe may actually increase the risk of error / fall. You judge if your systems is overly complex. I can't entirely picture what you are saying, but in any case, this would be my only concern with what you've described.
2. Once at height and fully weighted on your primary tether, I see very little need for a backup. I guess this guy somehow managed to fall under such a scenario, but you really have to mess up your knots in order for this to happen.
3. My opinion is redundancy is mainly useful during climb, descent, and the transition between climbing/descending and hanging at hunting height. You are mainly backing up the human in the system, not the equipment....

I wear a lightweight RC harness under my saddle, climb with lineman's belt connected to my saddle lineman's loops and back up tether connected to belay loop on harness (moving tether up above sticks / steps / bolts as I climb). When I get to height, I connect main tether to saddle bridge, loosen lineman's belt until fully weighted on main tether, then remove lineman's belt. I have the backup tether still hooked to my RC harness during the hunt. I feel better with this and I don't think it adds much complexity. But, that's just my opinion.....
I use spurs to climb and I use a linesman belt while doing so...befor i step onto my predator i hook up my tether to my phantom's bridge then get on the platform...then totally make sure all of my weight is supported correctly and tether is hooked up correctly and biner locked...then I unhook my linesman belt from around the tree and hook it back into the loop...I use a kong and biner on the right loop and the left side is always attached directly ...now i put my linesman belt(basically a second adjustable bridge) into my tether biner also...then I hook up my rappel rope to the tree with screw link ...attach madrock and biner to rope then hook that up to both bridges...now i have 2 bridges and two tethers...4 things would have to break for failure and fall ...believe me everything is checked multie times before I am satisfied with all connections and biners locked...
 
As a million saddle hunters....get a million answers. A few thoughts...all are my opinion only....

1. Redundancy is fine so long as it doesn't overcomplicate your process. I have seen some systems that have redundancies that I believe may actually increase the risk of error / fall. You judge if your systems is overly complex. I can't entirely picture what you are saying, but in any case, this would be my only concern with what you've described.
2. Once at height and fully weighted on your primary tether, I see very little need for a backup. I guess this guy somehow managed to fall under such a scenario, but you really have to mess up your knots in order for this to happen.
3. My opinion is redundancy is mainly useful during climb, descent, and the transition between climbing/descending and hanging at hunting height. You are mainly backing up the human in the system, not the equipment....

I wear a lightweight RC harness under my saddle, climb with lineman's belt connected to my saddle lineman's loops and back up tether connected to belay loop on harness (moving tether up above sticks / steps / bolts as I climb). When I get to height, I connect main tether to saddle bridge, loosen lineman's belt until fully weighted on main tether, then remove lineman's belt. I have the backup tether still hooked to my RC harness during the hunt. I feel better with this and I don't think it adds much complexity. But, that's just my opinion.....
The guy's equipment didnt break?...he hooked something up wrong?...or didnt do a good of inspection?...hmmm?
 
The guy's equipment didnt break?...he hooked something up wrong?...or didnt do a good of inspection?...hmmm?

He says his tether broke. But, I'm going to say until I see pics of it or some investigation, its BS. There is just no way a climbing rated rope broke from the weight of one guy (not even falling). It would be major news across the climbing industry. Your talking a rope rated over 5,000 lbs failing for 200-300 lbs? I'm going to assume he tied his loop end incorrectly and didn't leave enough tag end and it worked itself out.
 
He says his tether broke. But, I'm going to say until I see pics of it or some investigation, its BS. There is just no way a climbing rated rope broke from the weight of one guy (not even falling). It would be major news across the climbing industry. Your talking a rope rated over 5,000 lbs failing for 200-300 lbs? I'm going to assume he tied his loop end incorrectly and didn't leave enough tag end and it worked itself out.
I use oplux ...I sure hope mine never breaks
 
I think we should sticky a thread of just facts about actual falls or at least the closest thing to the truth we can find. I.E. the victims statements, photos, investigative reports and remove the banter. I mean we'd banter about what ifs in another thread but it would be interesting to have a collection of data like that.
 
I think we should sticky a thread of just facts about actual falls or at least the closest thing to the truth we can find. I.E. the victims statements, photos, investigative reports and remove the banter. I mean we'd banter about what ifs in another thread but it would be interesting to have a collection of data like that.

Just call it misclips, shoddy knots, and stupid aider tricks.

Oh and straps/buckles/platforms/sticks breaking which absolutely does happen.
 
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