Why I am moving away from One Stick climbing method

[neonomad]

Lineman loop for ascending. Don’t worry about the tether slack. Tether should not be relied on except for when you grab the stick and when you are at hunting height.

“Don’t worry about the tether slack” might rank up there with safety advice like “Don’t worry about connecting the ground wire.”

 

[DanCrossNYC]

I am (or "have") transitioned to one-sticking this year.

I've set myself a couple of goals:
1. No active mechanical aids for either climbing or rappelling, but a passive aid like a figure 8 is fine.
2. Once I tie into my bridge carabiner, I don't unlock it until I'm back on the ground.
3. I've always got a tether with minimal slack to take my full body weight.
4. A little bit of slack in the tether line is ok; maybe 6-12", but not several feet.

Here's what I've come up with: I'd love comments/critique. You ain't gonna hurt my feelings; I'm going for a balance between usability and safety, so please lay it on.

* I'm running 8mm resctech and using my rappel line as my tether, with a friction hitch connecting me to the bridge: right now trying to make the cosmo hitch work, but I may go back to the Michoacan plus a munter hitch through the carabiner. I've got a shockcord prusik and a plastic carabiner connected to the tether line to keep it taught as I advance. This isn't weight-bearing, it just keeps some tension in the line to keep the tether from falling down the trunk as I advance and take weight off the tether.
* I'm using an oplux LB with a friction hitch (5-loop Michoacan)
* I'm carrying a second oplux LB/tether with a prusik for going around branches.
* I've got a dyneema sling that I clip into my LB loops (with two carabiners, one on either end) as a second bridge that I clip into my secondary tether (with a third carabiner on the prusik when I need to.

I try to push my tether as high as I can on each movement. As I climb, I'm using my LB but also tending the tether to choke up on it while I'm on the aider, until I get onto the bottom step of my stick. Then, I choke up my LB and put a small amount of slack in the tether and advance it up the trunk of the tree, repeating until I've got it up pretty high. Eventually, I get onto the top step and push the tether up as high as I can; then I come back down onto the lower step and put my weight onto the tether, loosen the LB, and move the stick up. Lather, rinse, repeat until I'm at hunting height. Yeah, I sacrifice a little bit of height on each movement, but in doing so, I keep less slack in the tether line.

If I need to go around a branch or something, I use the second tether rope and clip it into the second bridge, move the main rappel line/tether and then disconnect the second one. Occasionally, for branches that are large enough, I just use my LB for this (e.g., going around a fork where the LB is obviously going to catch in the crotch and it's big enough to hold my weight). The rule here is that there's always something with only a few inches of slack (if that) that can take my weight that's actually anchoring me into the tree.

At height, I tie a bite of rope through an LB loop with an overhand knot or figure 8 or something in case the friction hitch slips.

When I'm ready to come down, I lower my bow with my rope retrieval line, tie in with the LB, choke that up, take the dyneema sling with it's two carabiners and hook that into my bridge, then give myself just enough slack in my tether to grab a bite of rope and feed that through a figure-8. I clip that the other end of the sling. Now, I've got a figure-8 a bit above my friction hitch, then a munter on my carabiner; I remove the stopper knot I put in the rappel line and toss it down. I put a bit of weight on, attach my rope retrieval line to my rappel line, put some small amount of weight on the tether just to make sure it doesn't slip down, disconnect the shock-cord prussic on the tether, and start rappelling down. I stop to grab my stick on the way, but otherwise, that's it. The munter, figure 8, and tended friction hitch mean I come down pretty slowly, but I'm okay with that.

Note that my main rappel line is connected to my bridge carabiner from the time I leave the ground until I'm back down. I don't open it for anything; even putting my back-band on I just unthread it from the triglide it's on and feed it through the (closed) carabiner.

Once I'm down, I disconnect everything, take the hitch off of the rappel line, and retrieve the rappel rope. I tie everything back on from the ground as I'm packing up.

The more I practice the faster I'm getting at this, and I think I'm hitting all of my wickets.

 

[Nohvah]

“Don’t worry about the tether slack” might rank up there with safety advice like “Don’t worry about connecting the ground wire.”

I don't think that analogy is accurate at all. The slack tether WILL serve as a (painful) secondary arrest device. It's incredibly dangerous to ascend with a slack tether and no another aid. The odds go up exponentially for pinching fingers, slipping, being non-protected when you get up your stick and the rope is biting into the bark and not cooperating, etc. If the tree is slanted at all, forget it... the odds go even higher

When you use a ropeman, you can snug it up pretty tight when you are getting your tether up for your next move. It's also great for prepping at hunting height. Another layer of security while you haul your bow, layout gear straps etc.

Once you grab your stick and get it into next position, next step should be to sling your ropeman and climb. You do not need to manage both. Climb with the ropeman (which should be up generally around shoulder height when climbing... not level with your waist).. Once you are up at top of stick, with ropeman still on, you can reach down and grab the tether that is probably going to be somewhere around your shins.

I'm not preaching that this is the only way. But I really hope you guys protect yourselves more than just climbing with a slack tether. Don't want to see any other posts about horrible accidents. I'm trying to feed my family... I want to ensure that I and the food get home to them safely.

 

[Jtaylor]

A little bit of slack in the tether line is ok; maybe 6-12", but not several feet.

Stand on your platform a couple feet off the ground, give yourself 6"-12" of slack in your tether and hop off. You'll wish you didn't.
Actually don't because then you're supposed to toss anything that experiences a fall away (at least in the world of fall arrest/restraint systems at my job).

 

[GetHomeSafe]

I was just thinking about this the other day and you may disagree, but idk of ANY system that doesn't introduce some type of slack in the tether or linemans belt. There have been 100's of times where I would be climbing using my linemans belt while trying to take the largest step possible and have a downward angle on it after I stepped up(slack in it).

Even when using a climbing stand; you will put your tether up as high as you can and then climb up to it, move it up again, etc.

I have come to these conclusions:
1) You will ALWAYS have slack, though amounts will vary from method to method.
2) I believe a tether is safer than a linemans belt.
3) I like one sticking due to the lack of weight being carried in.

JRB=Zero slack, 100% of the time. So now you know one method without slack.
Exact same reason I quit one sticking.

 

[DanCrossNYC]

Stand on your platform a couple feet off the ground, give yourself 6"-12" of slack in your tether and hop off. You'll wish you didn't.
Actually don't because then you're supposed to toss anything that experiences a fall away (at least in the world of fall arrest/restraint systems at my job).

To be clear, I'm not saying I want to experience falling at all, either with or without slack, but I am saying that I'd rather fall a few inches than a few feet.

 

[Jtaylor]

You ain't gonna hurt my feelings; I'm going for a balance between usability and safety, so please lay it on.

To be clear, I'm not saying I want to experience falling at all, either with or without slack, but I am saying that I'd rather fall a few inches than a few feet.

Understandable, just complying with your request.
I've fallen a short distance handing a friend a pruning saw. I was on the second screw in step up and raked the hell out of my ribs on the bottom screw in step after the one I was on snapped. Could you imagine landing on a sharp 1 stick step, or swinging into it from a 1' fall because that's exactly the path your body takes when falling.
My dad has fallen without any fall protection from a homemade plywood stand and his heel is permanently disfigured and ankle almost fused, it could've been a lot worse.
I guess I'm not sure where I'm going here, but any slack could potentially be deadly and especially when you're out in the woods by yourself.

 

[GetHomeSafe]

Understandable, just complying with your request.
I've fallen a short distance handing a friend a pruning saw. I was on the second screw in step up and raked the hell out of my ribs on the bottom screw in step after the one I was on snapped. Could you imagine landing on a sharp 1 stick step, or swinging into it from a 1' fall because that's exactly the path your body takes when falling.
My dad has fallen without any fall protection from a homemade plywood stand and his heel is permanently disfigured and ankle almost fused, it could've been a lot worse.
I guess I'm not sure where I'm going here, but any slack could potentially be deadly and especially when you're out in the woods by yourself.

Yes I have a bow hunting friend who fell climbing sticks. His rope saved him. But of course the sticks sit in the center of the gravity path. Stitches in his jaw and groin. Barely missed cutting his femoral artery. That would have been it this side of heaven. Praise the Lord he survived it. But that's the thing with sticks, one or more. They are sharp, hard, they protrude out from the tree. They sit in the middle of the gravity path.

 

[DB4x4]

I'm not here to debate anybody. Everyone should evaluate their climbing system and stick with (pun intended) whichever method they believe is the right combination of safety and effectiveness.

That said, I've seen some folks post about the dangers of one-sticking because "there's no way to eliminate slack in the system." You can reduce, if not altogether eliminate the slack through use of progress capture (hitch/tender, ropeman, safeguard, etc) and a lineman belt.

Like I said, I'm not here to debate. I'm just putting this out there for informational purposes. I'll admit that it takes me an extra minute or two climbing this way compared to how I used to do it, but I think it's worth it...

1sticking

TL;DR Not everyone one-sticks the same way, and maybe it's safer than we thought...if you minimize slack during climbing. I think it’s a bit of a misnomer to say one sticking is inherently safe or unsafe. There’s commonly a lack of nuance when discussing this topic. I’ll agree that almost...

saddlehunter.com

 

[DanCrossNYC]

Understandable, just complying with your request.
I've fallen a short distance handing a friend a pruning saw. I was on the second screw in step up and raked the hell out of my ribs on the bottom screw in step after the one I was on snapped. Could you imagine landing on a sharp 1 stick step, or swinging into it from a 1' fall because that's exactly the path your body takes when falling.
My dad has fallen without any fall protection from a homemade plywood stand and his heel is permanently disfigured and ankle almost fused, it could've been a lot worse.
I guess I'm not sure where I'm going here, but any slack could potentially be deadly and especially when you're out in the woods by yourself.

No, I appreciate it; don't get me wrong. I just wanted to clarify that I'm not suggesting falls from any height are ok or acceptable.

I don't think there is a way to make climbing a tree perfectly safe. A lot of folks who are one-sticking seem to be saying, "yeah, that five feet of slack you've got in your tether as you're climbing is fine..." and that seems super dangerous. A lot of folks who are climbing sticks say, "well, I've got an LB so I'm good" and that also seems unacceptably dangerous. On the other hand, while I don't want to fall six inches or a foot, and while I'm pretty sure that'll end hunting for the day, I think the probability that it'd end in the morgue or a wheelchair is a lot lower.

In the end, I think it's all about striking a balance between safety, convenience, and effort. Maybe JRB is the right answer.

 

[fwafwow]

In the end, I think it's all about striking a balance between safety, convenience, and effort. Maybe JRB is the right answer.

^^^ this. I am a newbie, but it's clear even to me that there is a spectrum of what people will do (if anything) to protect themselves from harm. SH seems to have a more narrow part (or perhaps the upper end) of that spectrum - with wearing some sort of harness being an apparent customary baseline, but wearing a helmet being the point at which ribbing starts. On SH at least we can discuss without much controversy or defensiveness, and if one's approach is different, to each their own.

I try not to let the perfect be the enemy of the good - so 6"-12" of slack is better (IMHO) than having your tether end up near your feet (at least if that's your only direct connection - and the LB is not enough to offset that amount of slack - for me).

I also very much appreciate hearing what others are doing, as it gives me ideas of how to improve. I'm focusing on JRB, but I also realize I have a good bit of learning and practice in front of me before I trust myself.

 

[DanielB89]

I know that what I do is not the absolute most safe way to do it. Everything we do has some level of risk in it. Stepping up on a ladder has the assumption that the ladder is going to hold, you also have the assumption that you're not going to fall backwards. I say that to say, YES, there is definitely a risk of slack in your set up. I am putting faith that when I step up on my step, it's going to hold me and that I wont fall back while moving my tether up the tree.

I fell one time about 10 or so inches and caught a wildedge step in the rib and my heavens did it hurt. I thought I broke a rib. It was TERRIBLE!!! I am afraid of what could happen if you were to fall ontop of a sharp step or something like that.

 

[GetHomeSafe]

Thanks for your account of what can happen. Safety is important. It can make the difference on getting home again.

 

[GreginPA]

I try to push my tether as high as I can on each movement. As I climb, I'm using my LB but also tending the tether to choke up on it while I'm on the aider, until I get onto the bottom step of my stick.

appreciate you posting this. I recently switched from climbing with my mad rock to climbing with a self tending friction hitch. So after seeing your post I have started tending my tether as I climb my aider.

Great idea, thanks.