Wow - even before I read the whole article, when I scrolled down and saw the picture where he had traced the outline of the broken branch in orange ... and I saw what remained of it ... YIKES!! That's an extremely skinny branch, even at the collar. I could not imagine ever making a decision to tie into it 10ft out.
I feel very sympathetic toward this man, and I hope his healing is going well. That being said, if I can kindly implore fellow recreational climbers to please go WAY CONSERVATIVE when estimating the strength of your tie in points. I go pretty high into my trees and I do tie in to some thin branches - but hardly ever less than 4" healthy green top growth. Always vertical or near vertical branches, loaded mostly straight down.
I appreciate this guy sharing his extremely painful ordeal with us to remind us that for all of our strong, expensive gear, it's choosing the wrong TIP that's most likely gonna come back to bite us in the ass. Don't load a limb in such a way as to leverage a weak axis.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Oldtimer  Rec climber serious injury
This is the first time I've heard of a Rope and Harness Recreational Tree climber suffering a serious injury falling out of a tree: happy helmet - Tree Climbing
Here is a detailed summary of the accident and the costly recovery. 
It was bound to happen I guess, the climber is doing ok after recovering from a broken back.
-Copied from "Moss" posting |