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Near Miss Caught on Video

I know we try to share on here so everyone can learn and see things that can and do go wrong, and go right. This climber probably has 1000s of hours in gear and something like this happens once in 1000s+ of hrs. or more. Combined, all the recreational climbers on this site probably don't log anywhere close to the hours of a pro climber, so it's imperative we continue to share our close calls to help others to see in comparison of what may work, and what may work safely. As this fella stated, it may have been something he could have caught in a gear inspection. Gear inspection is something we should all do thoroughly before we climb every time. I know I got a little weak in the knees when I saw his clip hanging.

I was taking out a giant White pine in a friends side yard years ago. I was limbing it to the top so I could pop the top off and chunk it down. I got moving in a rhythm taking the limbs off. I had to unhook for some reason and as I got my wirecore lanyard clipped back on I started to lean back to put the weight back onto the lanyard, Before I got my full weight back on it the hairs raised in a chill on the back of my neck, I immediately stood back up on the spikes to take weight off the lanyard. As I looked down I saw that I had actually clipped into a non load rated accessory loop. I didn't feel like I was rushing but I can say I probably wasn't as deliberate as I should have been, and I don't know if I leaned my full weight into that loop if it would have failed, but at 80+ feet I'm glad I didn't find out.

We know that the climbing portion of our sport is the most dangerous part of it. It makes me nervous to see some concerned with how fast they can get up the tree, or how light they can get the climbing method. Be deliberate, and be safe, and if you have any doubts about what your doing, or a new thing your wanting to try, or a piece of gear you want to try, throw it out here and lets discuss it, especially if your not a professional climber.
 
I had a near miss with my Hitchiker shown on the right in the picture below. I put an anchor shackel on instead of the carabiner with which it was supplied. I was going by a Youtube video by a well known professional climber in which he had done this. He stated in the video that putting the screw portion through on the right would tighten it when descending and so no lock was needed. I tried it a few time and I thought all was good. The last time I descended and as I unweighted it at the ground, the shackle fell apart in my hand. It had unscrewed and I think only tension on the line was keeping it together. I have since wired it as the designers of the shackle had intended and tried it and it did not unscrew. I listened to an "expert" and nearly got burned instead of thinking for myself. I also had an incident where a girth hitched climbing sling slipped off the end of a fleece saddle when the "expert" insisted that it could not possibly slip. I was testing at the ground with that one. I had been up in a tree with the fleece saddle with a rock climbing harness a few days before. The lesson I learned was to think for myself and apply Murphy's Law. If anything can possibly go wrong, it probably will. I will probably forget this rule more times in my life, but I hope not.
 
I personally only climb with locking biners. I was cutting a tree once and using nonlocking biner and after a maneuver I happened to look down and my rope had gotten out of thesafety.
When cutting I am always on two ropes.
You can cut a single line in a blink of an eye.Screenshot_20200511-154433_Gallery.jpg

That was the last time I used one for my saftey.
 
I personally only climb with locking biners. I was cutting a tree once and using nonlocking biner and after a maneuver I happened to look down and my rope had gotten out of thesafety.
When cutting I am always on two ropes.
You can cut a single line in a blink of an eye.View attachment 28105

That was the last time I used one for my saftey.
 
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