DanCrossNYC
Member
Hey guys, pardon the newbie question. I'm thinking about safety while climbing and have an idea that I'd like feedback on.
I've tried to search on this, but I'm not gonna lie: there's a bewildering amount of information on the site and I feel confused trying to absorb it all. I thought it might make sense to type up some thoughts and try and get some feedback: apologies if something like this has already been covered. Please bear with me as I type this up: I'll try to be brief, but my thoughts at a bit disorganized just yet, so sorry in advance if it's long.
I heard about saddle hunting late last year and immediately realized this was much closer to how I wanted to hunt than what I've been doing, which is mostly using a climber or hunkering down behind a blow-over, so I decided to take the plunge. I got myself setup with a Mantis and Beast sticks, though too late for the season that just ended, but I'm really excited to give this a try and move over to this (new to me) style of hunting in the fall. And let me tell you how ready I am to through the climber in the trash: that thing was awkward, heavy, and really limited where I could hunt. With a saddle the minimalism, the ability to attack new trees and set up where I want instead of where I can climb, and the possibilities that are going to open up as a result, is huge. I cannot wait.
I've got one question, though. With the climber, I've always used a HSS harness and tree strap on the way up the tree: my routine has been to connect the strap, seat and platform and work my way up by advancing the strap, then the seat, then the platform; lather rinse repeat until I get to hunting height, so I am always connected to the tree from the time I start the climb. Coming down has largely been the reverse: lower the platform, then the seat then the strap until I'm back on the ground. I know this is imperfect, and indeed, reading some of the info on the site about short static falls, suspension trauma, etc, has opened my eyes to just how dangerous this setup _can_ be. I get that, but I'd rather fall a couple of feet and go to the emergency room than fall 25-30 feet and go to the morgue. If possible, I'd like to preserve this always-connected-to-the-tree aspect with the saddle, and improve on it to further reduce the chance of serious injury if I can.
With the saddle, it seems like most guys rely on the lineman's belt up and down the tree. But as I understand it, that's mostly for fall prevention, not fall arrest should you slip. The worst case scenario is where you fall and the lineman's belt doesn't catch on the way down. I've read that a lot of folks are doing SRT, one-sticking, and etc, using their tether as part of the climbing process: that seems like it would solve a number of problems, but where I usually hunt we've got a lot of knobby trees with lots of branches on the way up. Assuming you don't have a preset line (and suck at throwing a tow-line up into a tree, like I do...), this involves a lot of moving the tether, which is tedious: you've got to disconnect it from the bridge, pull the whole thing out through the eye, move it over the branch, run it back through the eye and reattach it to the bridge, etc.
Trying to apply a military-style risk management process to the process, I think the most likely risks are a stick kicking out or losing footing when advancing on the climb. Relying solely on the lineman's belt while moving a tether is probably acceptable, assuming I'm more or less standing in one place while adjusting.
So here's what I'm sort of thinking: suppose I get a length of 8 or 9 feet of dynamic climbing rope with a 5" or so eye spliced into both ends. Now, I loop the whole rope around my bridge and run an end of the rope through one of the knots, creating a big loop around the bridge. Inside that loop, I tie a prussic that I connect to the bridge. If the pussic fails for whatever weird reason, the loop tightens up on itself around the bridge. The tag end I run around the tree and use a twist-lock carabiner though the eye to connect back to the rope: this is how my HSS strap works now. With this, I've got a setup that's looped around the tree, I can choke up on it to keep some tension as I climb, and because the carabiner is on the end wrapped around the tree, it's relatively easy to move around branches and such without disconnecting it from the bridge. I still use the lineman's belt, but If I do fall while moving up the steps I've got this dynamic rope that will absorb some of the shock (and I could possibly pair it with something like a Petzl Absorbica). I have to be comfortable using only the lineman's while moving this contraption around branches and such, but I think that's an acceptable risk.
So I suppose the questions are:
1) am I overthinking this? Perhaps just using my tether (possibly with a second 'biner for speed) is fine.
2) Are there any obvious deficiencies in this scheme that I'm missing? Am I going to give myself a false sense of security if I try something like this?
Like I said, I'd love feedback: this site is great and I've learned a ton lurking around and reading, but it's a bit like drinking from a firehose.
Thanks in advance!
I've tried to search on this, but I'm not gonna lie: there's a bewildering amount of information on the site and I feel confused trying to absorb it all. I thought it might make sense to type up some thoughts and try and get some feedback: apologies if something like this has already been covered. Please bear with me as I type this up: I'll try to be brief, but my thoughts at a bit disorganized just yet, so sorry in advance if it's long.
I heard about saddle hunting late last year and immediately realized this was much closer to how I wanted to hunt than what I've been doing, which is mostly using a climber or hunkering down behind a blow-over, so I decided to take the plunge. I got myself setup with a Mantis and Beast sticks, though too late for the season that just ended, but I'm really excited to give this a try and move over to this (new to me) style of hunting in the fall. And let me tell you how ready I am to through the climber in the trash: that thing was awkward, heavy, and really limited where I could hunt. With a saddle the minimalism, the ability to attack new trees and set up where I want instead of where I can climb, and the possibilities that are going to open up as a result, is huge. I cannot wait.
I've got one question, though. With the climber, I've always used a HSS harness and tree strap on the way up the tree: my routine has been to connect the strap, seat and platform and work my way up by advancing the strap, then the seat, then the platform; lather rinse repeat until I get to hunting height, so I am always connected to the tree from the time I start the climb. Coming down has largely been the reverse: lower the platform, then the seat then the strap until I'm back on the ground. I know this is imperfect, and indeed, reading some of the info on the site about short static falls, suspension trauma, etc, has opened my eyes to just how dangerous this setup _can_ be. I get that, but I'd rather fall a couple of feet and go to the emergency room than fall 25-30 feet and go to the morgue. If possible, I'd like to preserve this always-connected-to-the-tree aspect with the saddle, and improve on it to further reduce the chance of serious injury if I can.
With the saddle, it seems like most guys rely on the lineman's belt up and down the tree. But as I understand it, that's mostly for fall prevention, not fall arrest should you slip. The worst case scenario is where you fall and the lineman's belt doesn't catch on the way down. I've read that a lot of folks are doing SRT, one-sticking, and etc, using their tether as part of the climbing process: that seems like it would solve a number of problems, but where I usually hunt we've got a lot of knobby trees with lots of branches on the way up. Assuming you don't have a preset line (and suck at throwing a tow-line up into a tree, like I do...), this involves a lot of moving the tether, which is tedious: you've got to disconnect it from the bridge, pull the whole thing out through the eye, move it over the branch, run it back through the eye and reattach it to the bridge, etc.
Trying to apply a military-style risk management process to the process, I think the most likely risks are a stick kicking out or losing footing when advancing on the climb. Relying solely on the lineman's belt while moving a tether is probably acceptable, assuming I'm more or less standing in one place while adjusting.
So here's what I'm sort of thinking: suppose I get a length of 8 or 9 feet of dynamic climbing rope with a 5" or so eye spliced into both ends. Now, I loop the whole rope around my bridge and run an end of the rope through one of the knots, creating a big loop around the bridge. Inside that loop, I tie a prussic that I connect to the bridge. If the pussic fails for whatever weird reason, the loop tightens up on itself around the bridge. The tag end I run around the tree and use a twist-lock carabiner though the eye to connect back to the rope: this is how my HSS strap works now. With this, I've got a setup that's looped around the tree, I can choke up on it to keep some tension as I climb, and because the carabiner is on the end wrapped around the tree, it's relatively easy to move around branches and such without disconnecting it from the bridge. I still use the lineman's belt, but If I do fall while moving up the steps I've got this dynamic rope that will absorb some of the shock (and I could possibly pair it with something like a Petzl Absorbica). I have to be comfortable using only the lineman's while moving this contraption around branches and such, but I think that's an acceptable risk.
So I suppose the questions are:
1) am I overthinking this? Perhaps just using my tether (possibly with a second 'biner for speed) is fine.
2) Are there any obvious deficiencies in this scheme that I'm missing? Am I going to give myself a false sense of security if I try something like this?
Like I said, I'd love feedback: this site is great and I've learned a ton lurking around and reading, but it's a bit like drinking from a firehose.
Thanks in advance!
