Bowsite.com

Saddle safety

I spent 4-5 hours shooting from and just generally getting used to my saddle this weekend. I know there are alot of us newer saddle guys here, if you guys are anything like me you have taken steps to shave money off the cost of your setup. I re-purposed a couple lifelines; one is now my linemens belt and the other is my tree tether. Well, this morning I climbed up where I left my tether the night before and found the knot that keeps the carabinier attached to the prusik had come almost completely undone, presumably while I was hanging 20 feet from the ground the night before. On closer inspection I found the factory tied knot was not dressed properly, maybe not a big deal for a normal tree stand, but while hanging, swinging and manipulating yourself in saddle, an improperly dressed knot could be disastrous. Just a friendly reminder if you are using knots that are factory tied, please double and triple check that they are indeed tied properly.

not only factory tied, HFC,.....check ALL knots before leaving the ground. I've rock climbed many many times with my friends, and not once do we 'blow off' the preclimb checklist. check the figure 8 follow of the climber, climber checks the 'biner is through both loops of the harness, gate's pointing the correct way and locked and the rope is through the belay device AND 'biner....etc etc. details matter....even for experienced climbers,

Yikes! Glad you saw it first!

Checklists are very good. Read about a hospital checklist which, when used, evidently reduces surgery mistakes by something like 50%.

Guys, please be careful, wow that's spooky.

I should also add...many safety harness manufacturers make their prussik loops just using an overhand knot. I make all my loops with a double fishermans knot....WAY more secure.

Hick, that's funny, before I even clicked I knew what site it was gonna be. I love that site. So useful.

Thanks for the tips, Hick. I think my heart skipped a beat when I climbed up and saw that carabinier barely hanging from the prussik. Definitely a good wake up call, could have been a much more real wake up that's for sure.

lol Bruce....grog is the best way to learn a knot by far.

HFC a lot of climbers wont trust any know they haven't tied themselves.....heck...very little difference between and overhand knot and a knot know as the "european death knot" lol

Fun day climbing down in CT on Thursday.

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