Aerial rescue versus self rescue

SkwerI

Treehouser
Joined
Sep 6, 2006
Messages
19,276
Location
central Florida
Recently somebody posted a thread on Facebook about aerial rescue and how we all should embrace the concept. I disagreed and posted as much. After almost 40 years in the tree business, my experience is that 99% of the time the climber is completely self reliant once he leaves the ground. Maybe there may be some government contracts where there is money for 2 fully qualified climbers on one job so the guy in the tree has a backup on the ground, but in my experience that simply does not happen in real life. My experience is that once you leave the ground, you need to be 100% prepared to handle any rescue operation yourself without outside help. If you think somebody will come save you when you frig up, then you will die waiting.
I would like to hear some feedback concerning aerial rescue and the feasibility of expecting somebody else to rescue you if you screw up. Please post your thoughts.
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #2
And Jerry, I'm looking at you. I would sincerely love to hear your opinion on the matter.
 
Stats say most rescues are recoveries.
Be self reliant or you will statistically die.
I'm in you're corner on this one Brian.
Best way to prevent an accident btw is through mitigation of not having one. Tie in like you mean it. Keep shat out of the the way of sharp things. Etc.
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #4
I want to know why this isn't discussed more often. I see stuff posted all the time about 'aerial rescue' and training for such, but it's all bullshit. Once you leave the ground and ascend into a tree you are on your own. Anyone who thinks otherwise is fooling themselves.
 
Tie in like you mean it.

:thumbup:

As far as AR training, if the climber was doing srt and the ground crew was trained as such, it would seem the climber could possibly be lowered/rescued.
 
USFS tree climbing standards and training do include aerial rescue. I taught it in many different scenarios, from an "unconscious" spur climber hanging from her lanyard on the side of a clear stemmed Douglas fir, to a "broken armed" SRT climber stranded on rope well away from the tree, to a cone picker who has "experienced top breakout" in the very uppermost crown of a Western White pine.

Of course, USFS protocols require a second qualified climber on site. While that makes it quicker, it never made it all that quick, with very few exceptions.

In my view, the true value in practicing AR was to convince every climber in training that it would not be easy or fast or even all that safe, and that you'd better do everything in your power to make sure you never needed rescuing. That was the point I hammered on at the post exercise reviews.
 
Last edited:
:thumbup:

As far as AR training, if the climber was doing srt and the ground crew was trained as such, it would seem the climber could possibly be lowered/rescued.
Base-tie only.

I am on SRT, rope to the ground 99.9% of my cuts.

Hitch Hiker/ HH2 CAN descend when there is weight on the line...a good thing.
 
We have here the same fuzz about rescue and two climbers mandatory on job site site. Big corps speak in the governement's hears and actually propose and discuss the details for the technic side of the rulling. The small guys don't have a say in the matter. The big jobs needing many people can have several climbers on one site, but this rule needs every single crew to keep an extra climber (paid as is) doing only ground work to stay available. And a top one because the rescue in real life is serious buisness. The guy needs to be good, trained and free to jump in the task. Rember, you have only 7 minutes max to be up there and at least secure the casualty, idealy guy laid on the ground. More than that and there's a good chance that becomes a recovery. That's stupidly fast in real life just to avoid the harness syndrome, even not speaking about a major bleeding.
 
in germany there needs to be a second climber on the job (he/she is free to climb) with the same qualifikation, i think it makes sense and know a couple of cases where it helped but also act like i am by myself, not relying on someone else for rescue. but if there is a second climber i use a dedicated access line or have spikes on the job.

alot of the second climbers with the same qualification won‘t be able to rescue 😔
 
One of the biggest reasons I went to the HH , using a Grigi always needs two hands and I missed the Taut Line Hitch ... I believe in good safe setups to avoid problems , but ... if something bad happens I know I can get to Terra Firma with one hand
 
A HH/ HH2 hitch could be squeezed between two forearms if hands are damaged.


I had a slight issue with the Akimbo the other day where I had to fight the last couple feet to the ground due to tail tension.
 
I appreciate the mindset of self preservation, self rescue, and making sound decisions regarding body positioning, ropes, and cutting.

However, I have invested into my climbers to give them every resource available to have a long lasting career with a capable team having a safety mindset.

I see nothing negative or “BS” about training for aerial rescue. We typically go to a class once a year with nice guy Dave.
 
Training is legit.

Thinking someone will save your bacon is wishful thinking. I'm in Chicago at the moment. Lots of work to be done under 45'. In Olympia, lots of work at over 100'.

Ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.
Prevention and safety needs just as much or more attention in the company culture.
 
Back
Top