saftey techniques for cutting out

[Mitchell]

forarms in

There is more to this technique than just stopping the slip after a spur out. It teaches the new climber that while using spurs to keep your hands on the flip line. After a couple of years of doing this muscle memory kicks in. As joesawer says when your hands are on the flip line, you are in the proper body position and spur out becomes a nonissue. Once you lean forward to bear hug the tree, your spurs will kick out, your legs will wrap around the tree and unless it is over a nub, your flip line can fall below your knees. This may be just a scary situation in a small tree but will kill you in something big.

While working in Eucs many of the trees will have their first limbs above 80' with smooth, powdery white trunks with very little taper. If this technique will work in these situations, which it does, it will work with any tree.

Proper training with mentoring with qualified trainers/climbers reduces the likelihood of incidents requiring aereal rescues.

D Mc aka blow hard.

squeezing the flip in with your forams was how I was shown to arrest a fall. I learned to climb logging sport poles so no bark and pretty smooth wood. the technique worked well there. Ofcourse you have both hands on the flip line so it is more natural thing to do.
With out ones hands on the flip line I doubt any one would grab the flip line to choke it, no doubt they will bear hug the tree or grab whatever when they kick out.
When climbing logging poles I learned to never lean to far back so as to not flip over backwards and come down head first back to the spar. A very ugly situation that has apparently snapped a neck or two.

I have never fallen more then a few three feet and it has always been in douglas fir with thick irregular bark, so the flip line stops a fall instantly. I dont think I even had a chance to react, gravity sure works well. In arbutus [madrona] or small spars I double wrap the flipline. As I keep the loop loose I find it doesn't slow me down much.

I have kick out enouph times now that I don't sweat the one or two foot fall anymore it but man did it ever scare the tar out of me before.

 

[D Mc]

With out ones hands on the flip line I doubt any one would grab the flip line to choke it, no doubt they will bear hug the tree or grab whatever when they kick out.

A very good observation, Mitchell. I know a lot of you guys have been up one side and down the other and I am not trying to tell you how to do your work. BUT, spurring out is most likely to happen while you are moving. And as taught to me, at those times, place your hands on your flip line. Don't get in the habit of grabbing the bark, branch or a nub while you maneveur yourself into position. Your best friend, while moving, will be your flip line. Once you get into position to do your work, you have other options.

For you guys who tuck and roll once you hit the ground, does this happen often? And where's your flip line?

D Mc

 

[joesawer]

I think you should train yourself to lean back against the flip line to increase the angle of your gaffs to get them back into the wood. It is a part of trusting your gear and getting the most out of it. Bear hugging the tree shows a lack of experiance and trust in your gear.
As for flipping upside down and smacking my head into the trunk-I have never had that much slack in my flip line. Dont ever plan to either. If you have that much slack it should be treated as a TIP instead of a flip.
How can you possibly tuck and roll with a lanyard around the trunk?

 

[Ken05]

Just to share a related story - I used to climb utility poles for a CATV contractor. Typically the heights where relatively low and the poles where gaffed repeatedly over the years resulting in hundreds of gaff holes with out turned splinters facing upward. For this reason we where taught not to bear hug a pole in a gaff out but to kick free and take the fall. One guy on our crew on a hot summer day "burned" a pole doing the bear hug wearing only a t-shirt. He must of had 300 splinters embedded in his arms and torso ranging from tiny ones to ones 1x4 inches thick. Freakin nasty.