• The SH Membership has gone live. Only SH Members have access to post in the classifieds. All members can view the classifieds. Starting in 2020 only SH Members will be admitted to the annual hunting contest. Current members will need to follow these steps to upgrade: 1. Click on your username 2. Click on Account upgrades 3. Choose SH Member and purchase.
  • We've been working hard the past few weeks to come up with some big changes to our vendor policies to meet the changing needs of our community. Please see the new vendor rules here: Vendor Access Area Rules

Safety reminder - bears repeating

neonomad

neonomad

Well-Known Member
SH Member
Joined
Sep 4, 2019
Messages
1,373
Near miss story. Yesterday I was installing a semi permanent setup for use the rest of the season... four LW sticks up to an M7. I’ve been in a JX3 this year so am just a little rusty with this slightly different climb. After setting up I was climbing back down and my buddy said “what’s up with that step?” (Referring to the stick I was on) The buckle side of the LW strap was only half engaged on the versa, I was hanging by a thread and I took weight off the stick IMMEDIATELY. I am typically super attentive to hooking these straps on, I make it a point to stare for 3 seconds at each versa before heading up, but this slightly adjusted setup threw me out of my routine. Job one when climbing is to have sticks tight, and fully seated in the versa buttons... especially now that we’re in thicker gloves season I thought I’d repeat this, since it’s one of the easiest things to ensure a safe climb. To top this off, I was getting my friend comfortable with the setup, with one aider on the bottom stick. As he was fishing his boot into the aider he applied too much side pressure to this (same) stick above him with his grip hand and it kicked out. And that strap was very tight. I’ve never seen either of these mishaps happen in four years of using sticks. A cursed climb! Lessons learned and hopefully got that out of our system.
 
Thanks for posting. Aiders are a whole different ballgame when you first try them.
 
joel0711 said:
After 30 years with a tree lounge---Shoot full sticks are a new game to me!!
Click to expand...

I’ve started doing something that most guys aren’t... I advance a tether above me, so if I do slip - and if I keep the tether advanced - damage from a fall should be reduced. For a long time I just lineman’d my way up, which is just fine as long as everything goes as planned. Lineman is most likely going to keep you from falling much, but it’s going to do that by dropping you into the climbing stick. I would guess adding the tether adds 3-5 minutes to the process.
 
neonomad said:
I’ve started doing something that most guys aren’t... I advance a tether above me, so if I do slip - and if I keep the tether advanced - damage from a fall should be reduced. For a long time I just lineman’d my way up, which is just fine as long as everything goes as planned. Lineman is most likely going to keep you from falling much, but it’s going to do that by dropping you into the climbing stick. I would guess adding the tether adds 3-5 minutes to the process.
Click to expand...
More safeties are always better.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top