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Lineman Belt Safety Benefits?

B

Bach55

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jul 24, 2019
Messages
231
Location
Indiana
Newbie question here….Sorry if this has already been clarified somewhere; I searched around and didn’t find anything.



I was hoping someone can clarify the full safety benefits of the lineman belt. I am coming over from a climbing tree stand, and I was always tethered to the tree via safety harness as soon as I got a few feet off the ground. Due to this, I never felt at risk of a fall. Even if my climber fell, I was still tethered to the tree. With the lineman belt, it seems like there is more that can go wrong. It seems like it would be easy for it to “drop” down the tree while climbing. I have also tried to visualize what would happen if a step failed or if both feet slipped off, and it seems like you’d have pretty hard fall down the tree? Or maybe that’s not accurate and your body would push into the tree and arrest the fall somewhat? Much like takeoff and landing are the most dangerous parts of a flight, I think climbing up and down the tree are the most dangerous parts of a hunt. And it just doesn’t seem like the lineman belt is nearly as secure as the actual tether.



Curious to get some of the more experienced saddle hunters thoughts on this. Keep in mind this question is coming from a guy who has only had a saddle for less than a week with only a few practice sits close to the ground….so be easy on me!
 
I'm assuming you're considering using just the tether attached to your bridge instead of the lineman's belt in my answer. The biggest issue I see is the tether/bridge is right in front of you. When I'm attaching steps, I lean back into the lineman's belt while I'm using both hands to set the step and the working area in front of me is clear of any ropes. I think this makes it easier to work.

If you were to fall while using a lineman's belt, it will catch on the bark and arrest your fall. You're going to smack into the tree, but you're not going to fall all the way especially if you keep tension on it.

I also find I use the lineman's belt as a fulcrum to lever myself up with my legs rather than pulling with my arms as much.
 
I think one important distinction to make is that a lineman's belt is not intended to be used as a fall arrest device but rather as a fall prevention device.

Yes, there is a high likelihood that if you fall with a LB on you'll stop at some point before you hit the ground. Possibly by snagging on a limb, slamming into the tree, or gouging yourself on a climbing stick. If you're lucky you'll walk away with only hurt pride but it's also possible that you may still need assistance/rescue. I had a friend fall from a gaff out with his climbing spurs, his LB eventually caught him but only after sliding down the tree a considerable distance. He walked away with wicked road (tree?) rash on his thighs and a need for fresh underwear.

I'm not telling you this to scare you or put any doubt in your mind, a LB is essential (for most climbing methods) to safely climb up the tree, but rather I'm telling you this so you have a healthy respect/understanding of your climbing system and it's proper uses.

You can mitigate the risk of fall by using additional safety measures (tying in your tether above you as you climb). We each take a risk when we climb and have to make that decision for ourselves (and to some extent our families) what is an acceptable amount of risk. For me personally can use just a LB all day long with climbing sticks and not think twice about it. I can do so because I've evaluated what the risk is, I have the proper experience to do so safely, and I understand what it's proper use/function is.
 
heretic said:
I think one important distinction to make is that a lineman's belt is not intended to be used as a fall arrest device but rather as a fall prevention device.

Yes, there is a high likelihood that if you fall with a LB on you'll stop at some point before you hit the ground. Possibly by snagging on a limb, slamming into the tree, or gouging yourself on a climbing stick. If you're lucky you'll walk away with only hurt pride but it's also possible that you may still need assistance/rescue. I had a friend fall from a gaff out with his climbing spurs, his LB eventually caught him but only after sliding down the tree a considerable distance. He walked away with wicked road (tree?) rash on his thighs and a need for fresh underwear.

I'm not telling you this to scare you or put any doubt in your mind, a LB is essential (for most climbing methods) to safely climb up the tree, but rather I'm telling you this so you have a healthy respect/understanding of your climbing system and it's proper uses.

You can mitigate the risk of fall by using additional safety measures (tying in your tether above you as you climb). We each take a risk when we climb and have to make that decision for ourselves (and to some extent our families) what is an acceptable amount of risk. For me personally can use just a LB all day long with climbing sticks and not think twice about it. I can do so because I've evaluated what the risk is, I have the proper experience to do so safely, and I understand what it's proper use/function is.
Click to expand...

Thanks @heretic ! This was my understanding...just wanted to confirm. I agree it’s not a fall arresting device. I haven’t gotten my steps in yet unfortunately, but once I do I think I will experiment with climbing with the tether tied above me. If it’s not too much in the way and only costs me a bit more time then I may go that route.

Appreciate the responses from everyone.
 
Bach55 said:
Thanks @heretic ! This was my understanding...just wanted to confirm. I agree it’s not a fall arresting device. I haven’t gotten my steps in yet unfortunately, but once I do I think I will experiment with climbing with the tether tied above me. If it’s not too much in the way and only costs me a bit more time then I may go that route.

Appreciate the responses from everyone.
Click to expand...
No problem! Thanks for asking the question! You mention steps, are you referring to WE steps? If so try looking up the modified Cain's method @boyne bowhunter has a great video on youtube on it (located here). The primary safety measure is the tether for that method.
 
Bach55 said:
Thanks @heretic ! This was my understanding...just wanted to confirm. I agree it’s not a fall arresting device. I haven’t gotten my steps in yet unfortunately, but once I do I think I will experiment with climbing with the tether tied above me. If it’s not too much in the way and only costs me a bit more time then I may go that route.

Appreciate the responses from everyone.
Click to expand...

I use sticks. I climb with LB and tether attached above. It will slow you down. But I do it anyway.
 
I had a slip the other day climbing down and luckily my lineman’s belt was on. It slammed me into the tree. I was able to bear hug the tree with one arm and my linesman’s belt and pull out my tether with my free hand to give me another hand point to correct myself. Have a few nasty bruises from it. Now as soon as I get above 10-15ft my tether comes out and stays attached until I belay down and call it a day.
 
NikoTheBowHunter said:
I had a slip the other day climbing down and luckily my lineman’s belt was on. It slammed me into the tree. I was able to bear hug the tree with one arm and my linesman’s belt and pull out my tether with my free hand to give me another hand point to correct myself. Have a few nasty bruises from it. Now as soon as I get above 10-15ft my tether comes out and stays attached until I belay down and call it a day.
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Yikes! Glad you made it down safely. Thanks for sharing!
 
I've been thinking about this a bit. I had a situation once when I was hanging a camera and as I stepped onto my second stick it gave way and I went right to the bottom. I was wearing a lineman's belt. I know alot of guys have had experiences similar to Niko. Here is my guess:

If you are fully leaning into the lineman's belt when you lose your footing, most likely it will slam you into the tree and save you from going all the way down like what happened to Niko.

However, if lose your footing as you're shifting the lineman's belt (it's unweighted), you go right to the bottom.

Also, I'll add, in some cases if you're leaning from one side or the other, your legs could both move to one side of the tree...in that case it appears to me the lineman's belt will not stop you (see video below). Skip to 2:20 or so. You'll see how his legs went to one side:

 
That’s the kind of stuff that scares me. I know we all have to assess our own risk, etc. And I agree that if you keep the belt loaded it would likely pendulum you into the tree. But things happen. Especially in the wet, if you’re cold, if you have on clunky boots...you get the idea. Legs moving to the side like that shouldn’t happen in a normal hunting scenario when the climber is taking his/her time, but damn that is still scary to watch.

I like the idea of being tethered to the tree the whole climb. I just don’t know that there is an easy way to do that with sticks in the way....I’m going to have to experiment.

Thanks for sharing.
 
Bach55 said:
That’s the kind of stuff that scares me. I know we all have to assess our own risk, etc. And I agree that if you keep the belt loaded it would likely pendulum you into the tree. But things happen. Especially in the wet, if you’re cold, if you have on clunky boots...you get the idea. Legs moving to the side like that shouldn’t happen in a normal hunting scenario when the climber is taking his/her time, but damn that is still scary to watch.

I like the idea of being tethered to the tree the whole climb. I just don’t know that there is an easy way to do that with sticks in the way....I’m going to have to experiment.

Thanks for sharing.
Click to expand...

Yeah. You can use a tether (in addition to LB) and move it up as you go. That's what I do. It gets in the way and is annoying....it slows me down....but whatever. I wait until I get on my 2nd stick to attach it.

I don't use aiders after my first stick. If you do, it might be hard to use a tether too because you may not be able to reach above the next stick to set the tether....I guess it depends on how high you are putting each one.

I also add a ripstop in my tether which provides for some shock absorption if you should fall with some slack in your tether. See Kyle's thread on his tether (maybe search for ripstop)
 
I have always been concerned about this with linemen belt's. I saw a video a while ago where a guy addressed this issue. He criss crossed his linemen belt when he attached it to his saddle. With the lines criss crossed if he slipped and fell the line tightens up immediately. It makes a lot of sense, I haven't heard anyone else mention this technique.

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Brad_Colvin said:
I have always been concerned about this with linemen belt's. I saw a video a while ago where a guy addressed this issue. He criss crossed his linemen belt when he attached it to his saddle. With the lines criss crossed if he slipped and fell the line tightens up immediately. It makes a lot of sense, I haven't heard anyone else mention this technique.

Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Yes. You can also use a tree squeeze. Both are better for sure. But I dont see how either would work with sticks. Bolts, steps, spurs would probably work with that.
 
A linesmen is only designed to give you hands free climbing. Using a tether and a linesman belt is a waste of time and effort IMHO. If you use a tether leave the linesman at home.
When you fall with one you will either hit the dirt if there isn’t any thing below you.
Tree limb, climbing stick, steps something climbing method will stop you and slam you in to the tree bloody nose, bruise your legs at best. Hopefully it’s not worse.
Using a hand climber with a tether is probably the safest climbing method, sticks are pretty safe. WE steps are pretty safe until you attach any thing to them Cain method, knaider, Swaider, aider all add variables that the stepps were not designed for.


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With my climber I used (except once, and it didn't end well) a safety tether. I've thot to use a 30' safety line as the tether, with a pair of prussics, both having rope steps attached. This way I could descend with 1/2 (or less) of a failed climber.
 
Bach55 said:
I like the idea of being tethered to the tree the whole climb. I just don’t know that there is an easy way to do that with sticks in the way....I’m going to have to experiment.

Thanks for sharing.
Click to expand...

Try 1 stick climbing, tethered in from start to finish!
 
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