Hey all. You may recall my last post about an accident I had. Well, I guess it affected me more than I thought, as I sold most of my gear. I left the $ alone and after a lot of thinking, I want to give it another try. I'm not ready to buy anything, this is more of a research question. If I am going to three-four stick up to a platform or ring of steps, what things do I have to think about safety-wise , besides always staying connected to a rope? Thanks.
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Getting back in the saddle
- Thread starter caddis75
- Start date
Hunter260
Well-Known Member
Glad to hear you’re back man and doing good. Here’s my kind of rant and I know I’m a hypocrite about it all. I think if a guy wants to saddle hunt and worry more about practicality and safety he should just do the kinda stock standard climbing like we saw 3-4 years back. 4 sticks and 2 big heavy 12mm ropes for linesman and tether. No one stickin, no rappelling, no tiny dental floss tethers. Just go back to the basics and enjoy it brother. Practice effectively using a lineman and staying tight to the tree. Only use factory equipment and don’t do these mods that don’t do anything but make you feel cool. ORGANIZE your gear so every climb is the same. Be picky about trees so you don’t find yourself doing something weird. Stay safe brother.
Glad you are on the way back! Keep it slow and safe and slack free. In the back of my mind is always the fact that I can't fly no matter haw hard I flap my arms.
That makes sense. In hindsight, the setup (three sticks with wire aiders and squirrel steps) I had was fine, I just didn't think through a scenario where my stick would fall. I probably overreacted later, lol.
Glad to see you back at it. Yeah, I agree. KISS (Keep It Simple Saddlehunter). While I think 1 sticking is pretty safe. 3-4 sticks is the way to go for simplify and confident. And rappel down no matter how you get up. Use bigger diameter ropes, larger ropes just seem safer, you don't need Olpux because packability between a few feet of 8mm or 11mm ropes doesn't matter that much to saddle hunting.
Look up tree squeeze or other linesmen rope safety features. Remember climbing is only 5% of the hunt but 99% of the accident, in the end it does not matter if it take you 5 minutes or 20 minutes to climb as long as you make it safely.
Look up tree squeeze or other linesmen rope safety features. Remember climbing is only 5% of the hunt but 99% of the accident, in the end it does not matter if it take you 5 minutes or 20 minutes to climb as long as you make it safely.
Thanks. I still have my ROS, so I'll start looking for a 3 or 4 stick combo. I need to do a lot more research about rappelling and what I would need.