ye old suicide knot

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TreeHouser
Joined
Feb 26, 2012
Messages
999
Location
Eastern PA
Watched a guy fall 35 feet today. he ran his bucket out of gas and came down on his climbing line...sorta. looked like he just jumped out without a rope he was moving so fast. must not have dressed his knot correctly. live and learn. (this time)
 
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  • #3
don't know yet. he held it together what with the guys being around but you could tell he was in some pain. kinda looked like he hit a log with his tail bone. as an act of hilariousness he yelled headache on his way down! he's a tough mofo but I think he'll need a few days.
 
I can understand a mechanical failure, but allowing truck to run out of fuel while aloft? Sounds like he has more issues than knot tying? Hope he didn't injure himself too badly.
 
Rappelling without a back-up is an accident waiting to happen.

Always test on life support system before disconnecting your other one.

A 'fireman's belay' is sensible if you don't have a back-up self-locking friction hitch (that is where the person below pulls down on the end of the rope tails to engage the friction device. For descent from a bucket, where you don't want two people's weight on the end of the boom pulling on a munter, a back-up prussic above the munter would have saved the day.
 
At least you should test your system before putting all your weight in it, like keeping a firm hand on the bucket's side while tensioning the line.

Or if it was a munter hitch, perhaps he lost his grip on the running side of the line, so it ended like a nearly free fall.
 
A munter hitch could be redirected up at the bucket (clove hitch a biner in line. simple), so that the friction brake-ability of the Munter hitch can be "fireman belayed" without doubling the force of a second person pulling down to try to engage the MH in the weak position (strands 180 degrees from one another).
 
Was the guy working alone or something .Every bucket truck I've been around has a back up of some kind even if it's only a bleed down valve .
 
I wondered that as well, Al. Musta been solo, though the reports of his comments argue against that scenario.
 
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  • #18
there were plenty of people around. bucket truck would not go down without gas. I specifically mentioned the that their truck was low on gas at the beginning of the day. an argument could be made to have some sort of super safe back up belay or whatever but it just comes down to paying attention. dress the damn knot like your suppose to, or even just have a hand on the line. we can all hold our own wait( or at least you should be able to if your in this profession)
 
Wondering if a Fig. 8 (not the knot, but the tool) would make more sense than tying a Munter for this application?
 
I wonder why they just didn't get some gas? Maybe a storm was approaching or he had to pee orrrrr something.
 
Pee out of the bucket before committing yourself to a new life support system! Been there, especially at SP where you couldn't pee in the woods legally.


I think a munter is fine, as is a figure 8 (with a back-up friction hitch!!!!!!!!!!).

I rappel (200 pounds geared up) on a munter on a spar pulling line all the time, backed up with my spurs and life support rated flipline.
 
I'll take a munter or a figure 8 over a poorly tied friction hitch, any day...even without a backup hitch, either would be better.
 
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