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What are your plans for a fall?

shwacker said:
So has anyone considered if you have a failure that resulted in a serious fall and say broke your back? Or a small fall but you caught a step and lacerate your leg, maybe knick your femoral? Do you hunt alone? Does your partner know where you are exactly? Any cell service?

I will hunt alone in a no service area, isolated areas. I haven’t dropped the money yet but plan on getting a PLB for an absolute emergent situation. Little life insurance...
Click to expand...

Good question... I also usually hunt alone in remote no service areas. PLB devices appear to be in the $250 - $450 ballpark. Might be worth a look. Definitely better than nothing if you find yourself in a life or death emergency. Hopefully they would work through the tree canopy...

 
In the center back of my saddle I have a small Summit molle pouch with one of the self recovery straps that comes with safety harnesses. Hopefully still have a tether or lineman belt to use in conjunction with it to get down. It will always be with me since its attached to my saddle. If I lose my saddle I think I'll have bigger problems.
 
When hunting solo i'll bring a two way radio for weather updates and emergencies if the cell is a no go. Also i'm using WE stepps and the ridge runner platform. If the platform were to fail I keep my tether long enough to lower to the top WE stepp to be able to descend down safely.
 
You have already fell when you leave the ground if using a saddle and I would think as many gadgets as everyone has with them, surely something could be used to get to safty.
 
Why not just bear hug the tree and slowly slide down? If your tether is still attached, it would take some strength to grip the tree and get your weight up enough to loosen the tether. So I might just disconnect and shimmy down. But facing a fall from 20 feet, I'm pretty sure I could figure out how to slide down to 8-10 feet or so where I could just jump. And if there happen to be any branches, that just makes it easier.
 
LateRiser said:
Why not just bear hug the tree and slowly slide down? If your tether is still attached, it would take some strength to grip the tree and get your weight up enough to loosen the tether. So I might just disconnect and shimmy down. But facing a fall from 20 feet, I'm pretty sure I could figure out how to slide down to 8-10 feet or so where I could just jump. And if there happen to be any branches, that just makes it easier.
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This is true. My nieces and nephews were watching me climb last week and one of them said why don't you just grab the tree and slide down. And after that I got to thinking, well, if I was in a hairy situation like say my life depended on it that would be pretty easy. As long as the tree wasn't enormous. Anything under 2 feet in diameter would work.
 
I always carry both a tether and a rappel rope along with other options. If anything ever happens and I'm stuck on one then I can swap over to the other if necessary. for example, one time last winter I was one stick climbing on my short (7 ft) tether. On my third stick move I either didn't get the rope engaged in the cam cleat or I stepped on the tag end and the rope came out of the cleat as I weighted it. Well the stick fell to the ground and left me hanging about 15ft up on a short tether. As I sat there I considered my options. I could break out my small grapple and try to snag the stick on the ground or I could attach my rappel rope to the tree and rappel down, collect my stick and continue back up. I ended up girth hitching my rappel rope, swapping my bridge connection over to it and rappelling down. Having a couple of backups meant that I had a ready/easy solution to what could have been a difficult situation.

I also carry an ATC Sport and prusik in case I drop my Safeguard when I get ready to rappel. I could always climb down reversing the one stick process as well but even though I have practiced it a few times I am not proficient at it and not anxious to do it in the dark. The backup kit is a light, small package that gives me a little piece of mind so I don't mind slipping it in a pocket of my pack.
 
These are great thoughts on back ups.

Now what about this...... you have a platform or stick that breaks. Metal fatigue, poor mod, whatever. You drop anywhere from 6 inches to 3 feet depending on how much slack is in your tether. During the fall you cut yourself badly on the broken stick/platform and are bleeding heavily. Now what?!?
Some may be able to rappell with their gear and descend rapidly, but you still have to deal with the injury in the ground.
Others, like myself, may have to inchworm down the tree. That could take a while. Do you try and stop the bleeding first? If it’s on one leg, maybe you can do it. If it’s an injury on your torso could you get down without constantly reopening the wound? Would you have the upper body strength or pain endurance to get down?
Makes me think about kit like the “treestand wingman” or a single use descent device.

Has anyone badly cut themselves on a fall or know of someone that has?

How did you get down? What would you do different?


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fawnzy said:
These are great thoughts on back ups.

Now what about this...... you have a platform or stick that breaks. Metal fatigue, poor mod, whatever. You drop anywhere from 6 inches to 3 feet depending on how much slack is in your tether. During the fall you cut yourself badly on the broken stick/platform and are bleeding heavily. Now what?!?
Some may be able to rappell with their gear and descend rapidly, but you still have to deal with the injury in the ground.
Others, like myself, may have to inchworm down the tree. That could take a while. Do you try and stop the bleeding first? If it’s on one leg, maybe you can do it. If it’s an injury on your torso could you get down without constantly reopening the wound? Would you have the upper body strength or pain endurance to get down?
Makes me think about kit like the “treestand wingman” or a single use descent device.

Has anyone badly cut themselves on a fall or know of someone that has?

How did you get down? What would you do different?


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Click to expand...
That is what I like about SRT/RADS. Nothing to hit on the way down. :grinning:
All seriousness aside, rope climbing techniques have been developed to a very advanced state in regards to safety. Climbing stick cannot compare.
 
Avoidance is best for sure, but most guys are stickin it to the tree.
Hope some thought is given.


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I didn't have a fall but was practicing SRT my first time. I rappelled down and forgot my hand ascender. I had to figure out how to get back up to grab the ascender. I created a loop in the rope and hooked a biner to it. I ran the tag end of the rope through it and used it as a pulley like device. With several unties and more loops I was able to get up to where the ascender was.

Now my back up to the hand ascender is my ropeman 1 from my tether. Redundancy and practice are good things.

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I practiced this method before I started saddle hunting but with my rock climbing harness. It’s similar to having a one step aider but requires no more gear than what you already have. Hopefully my depiction will make sense.

If you fall while in your harness/saddle and attached by your tether, you take your linesman, make a loop in the tag end of it (figure 8) so that you have loops on each end, and tether it to the tree below your current tether like you were using it as a tether and not a linesman. It’ll be girth hitched around the tree and a nice little loop will be dangling at the bottom of it.

You put it at a height where by stepping into that hanging loop that you just tied, it takes the pressure off of your higher tether that saved you. Now you can ‘one-stick’ climb with your saddle tether and your new foot loop tether - either down the tree, to your steps, etc.

Now, if you fall with your linesman on, that’s a little trickier but possible. (You should have been climbing and have a stick or such nearby...but let’s assume you don’t.) You setup your normal tether above your linesman. Hook it into your saddle as tight as you can with no slack, then you have to do whatever you can to climb a hair up the tree to alleviate the pressure on your lineman’s - bear hugging, tree hugging, etc. Once you have your linesman free and are hanging by your regular tether, you do the method mentioned above with that tether to climb up or down to your sticks, stand, the ground, etc.

Sorry for the long post!


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Rise.Kill.Eat said:
I practiced this method before I started saddle hunting but with my rock climbing harness. It’s similar to having a one step aider but requires no more gear than what you already have. Hopefully my depiction will make sense.

If you fall while in your harness/saddle and attached by your tether, you take your linesman, make a loop in the tag end of it (figure 8) so that you have loops on each end, and tether it to the tree below your current tether like you were using it as a tether and not a linesman. It’ll be girth hitched around the tree and a nice little loop will be dangling at the bottom of it.

You put it at a height where by stepping into that hanging loop that you just tied, it takes the pressure off of your higher tether that saved you. Now you can ‘one-stick’ climb with your saddle tether and your new foot loop tether - either down the tree, to your steps, etc.

Now, if you fall with your linesman on, that’s a little trickier but possible. (You should have been climbing and have a stick or such nearby...but let’s assume you don’t.) You setup your normal tether above your linesman. Hook it into your saddle as tight as you can with no slack, then you have to do whatever you can to climb a hair up the tree to alleviate the pressure on your lineman’s - bear hugging, tree hugging, etc. Once you have your linesman free and are hanging by your regular tether, you do the method mentioned above with that tether to climb up or down to your sticks, stand, the ground, etc.

Sorry for the long post!


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Click to expand...
Don't be sorry. That's a really good idea. Probably worth a video if you're willing.

I've thought a lot about safety when I started using a saddle. One of the things I like about how different using a saddle is that it really made me think about what I'm doing and what could go wrong.

I use a Kestrel kit, predator platform, and climbing sticks. Climbing up, I have typically used the linesman belt, but the more I've thought about it, I plan to tether in at ground level and move it up as I go. I do need to test this though as I plan to use 3 full length heliums and usually wrap my tether around the tree twice, so I'm not sure all the geometry will work out and allow me to maintain minimal slack in the system.

Assuming I get that worked out, I should be reasonably safe from a fall regardless of dropping a stick or possible equipment failure, aside from the tether itself. Depending on what fails though, self rescue could be an issue.

Platform isn't a problem since that's the same height as my top step. Losing 3rd or 2nd stick would be an issue though. If I'm really stuck, I have cell service where I hunt so worst case I can call for help.

However, this discussion had got my brain working about other possibilities.

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fawnzy said:
These are great thoughts on back ups.

Now what about this...... you have a platform or stick that breaks. Metal fatigue, poor mod, whatever. You drop anywhere from 6 inches to 3 feet depending on how much slack is in your tether. During the fall you cut yourself badly on the broken stick/platform and are bleeding heavily. Now what?!?
Some may be able to rappell with their gear and descend rapidly, but you still have to deal with the injury in the ground.
Others, like myself, may have to inchworm down the tree. That could take a while. Do you try and stop the bleeding first? If it’s on one leg, maybe you can do it. If it’s an injury on your torso could you get down without constantly reopening the wound? Would you have the upper body strength or pain endurance to get down?
Makes me think about kit like the “treestand wingman” or a single use descent device.

Has anyone badly cut themselves on a fall or know of someone that has?

How did you get down? What would you do different?


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Click to expand...
I did lacerate an elbow while falling 3 feet or so once. It happened almost exactly as you described in your post. My repurposed/old/DIY stick failed and came off the tree as I was stepping to the platform. I was tethered on a rappel rope and wearing a lineman's belt but I had failed to move up my tether attachment before stepping over so I dropped about 3 feet before coming to a stop. I smacked my elbow on the serrated edge of the platform I was using at the time and opened it up a bit as I went by. It took a little thought and some aerial gymnastics to untangle myself enough to get tension off the lineman's belt and onto the tether but I wasn't panicked so it worked it out ok. I then removed my platform and just tossed it to the ground then rappelled down. I took off my t-shirt and wiped down and wrapped my bloody arm in it so I could pack up my stuff and walk out. I had no idea how bad I was cut at that time because I couldn't see it but it turned out to be pretty superficial despite coating my forearm in blood before I got to the ground. To me the key was keeping my head and reasoning out a solution and then taking my time to make sure I didn't do anything else stupid getting out of the tree.
 
Not to derail this discussion, but interestingly enough, another discussion here linked to a video that led me to this youtube video. I wouldn't climb while just connected by the legs as he is doing, but I could see carrying a small second tether with a foot loop that could be used like we were talking about and moving your regular tether to descend as necessary.


Now my brain is really churning...

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boyne bowhunter said:
I did lacerate an elbow while falling 3 feet or so once. It happened almost exactly as you described in your post. My repurposed/old/DIY stick failed and came off the tree as I was stepping to the platform. I was tethered on a rappel rope and wearing a lineman's belt but I had failed to move up my tether attachment before stepping over so I dropped about 3 feet before coming to a stop. I smacked my elbow on the serrated edge of the platform I was using at the time and opened it up a bit as I went by. It took a little thought and some aerial gymnastics to untangle myself enough to get tension off the lineman's belt and onto the tether but I wasn't panicked so it worked it out ok. I then removed my platform and just tossed it to the ground then rappelled down. I took off my t-shirt and wiped down and wrapped my bloody arm in it so I could pack up my stuff and walk out. I had no idea how bad I was cut at that time because I couldn't see it but it turned out to be pretty superficial despite coating my forearm in blood before I got to the ground. To me the key was keeping my head and reasoning out a solution and then taking my time to make sure I didn't do anything else stupid getting out of the tree.
Click to expand...

Sounds like a good set up to get back down. Do you carry any first aid with you now?


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fawnzy said:
Sounds like a good set up to get back down. Do you carry any first aid with you now?


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Sadly, no. I do keep a first aid kit in my truck and my longest hike in is maybe 3/4 mile and most are around a 1/2 mile. I figure I can strip off my shirt and use it to bind a wound if need to and get that far. If something more serious than a laceration happens (i.e. broken leg, ankle), I'm gonna have to break out the phone call for some help anyway.
 
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