Yes, there is a LOT of information on this page and it will take a while to read and digest. Take your time, watch the videos and take some time to THINK about it. This information could prevent a serious injury or even save your life. Click on this link to view the playlist on the channel dedicated to Safety, Recovery and Self Rescue.
About Safety
“Safe” is an adjective… it’s subjective. There is an entire discipline devoted to Risk Management which attempts to quantify Risk into a number, considering factors like 1) the likelihood of the hazardous situation, 2) the likelihood that it will lead to harm and 3) the severity of the harm should it occur. But the bottom line is that as soon as our feet leave the ground, there will always be some risk, and it’s our job to minimize it to a negligibly small number.
Safety Self Evaluation
Regardless how you climb, you can perform a safety evaluation of your system/method using the information on this page:
Safety Info
Assume that your footing can be lost. If that happens, we need to ensure that our body, our center of gravity is always tied to the tree and on little slack.
Tree Inspection: No matter how we are climbing, we must always inspect the tree for its overall health. Make sure it is alive and no visible signs of decay. Also look for for dead branches or trees anywhere close to us. Do not climb if the location is not safe.
Redundant Bridge – There have been multiple incidents where a bridge or the device it is attached to slipped or failed. JRB recommends having 2 bridges on your saddle, and independently connected to our Lifeline or the tree itself. See page: Bridge
Use a Lifeline, not Tether – JRB does not recommend using a conventional “tether”. It’s just too short to get us to the ground! Whether you climb the rope or not, use a climbing rope as your “lifeline”, which reaches the ground and is attached to the tree and to us (on low slack) for the entire climb, rappel ready, prepared for any situation, whether it was anticipated or not. There was saddle hunting fatality where the victim was stuck on a tether, nothing underfoot and everything else was on the ground, likely dropped. Don’t let that be you.
Lineman’s Belt is for positioning only. Many climbers incorrectly assume that a Lineman’s belt will prevent a fall or injury in the event of a loss of footing. That is a risky and dangerous assumption. Depending on the details of the situation, an injury or a fall is possible. Even a short fall into a metal step or stick could be a life threatening situation. Consider that JRB does not use one except in rare situations like a severely leaning tree.
Falls and Fall forces – Summarizing greatly, forces multiply quickly if a fall is possible. The accelerating effect of gravity causes the arresting force to be much greater than the weight of the climber. Our job is to eliminate the possibility of a fall.
Safety Factor – This is a term used widely in climbing. Safety factor is the ratio of the ACTUAL STRENGTH of a component to the EXPECTED LOAD. Example: Let’s say we have a rope with a Minimum Breaking Strength quoted as 4000 lbs. And lets say that the climber weighs 200 lbs and expects to use it in a NO SLACK Single Rope application. 4000 divided by 200 = a safety factor of 20. Lets say that same climber wanted to use it in a doubled rope application, where each of 2 strands of rope carries half the climber’s weight: 4000 divided by 100 = a safety factor of 40. JRB recommends a safety factor of 20, or 15 at minimum for any rope climbing components. For components like ladders, sticks, steps, JRB recommends a safety factor of 5. For example, if you are using a platform with a “weight limit” of 300 pounds, you don’t know if it will collapse at 350 or 3000. You deserve to know.
PPE: Personal Protective Equipment. Please consider that in every other discipline which involves climbing, the use of a HELMET is a best practice for any type of climbing. Besides a fall, there are other situations which could cause a head injury such as a falling branch/tree or a stuck throwball. If you don’t elect to wear a helmet (typical of hunters), you should minimally be motivated to make your climb as safely as possible. Think about it: If you did fall out in the middle of the woods and were injured or unconscious, there is nobody there to get you the prompt medical attention you need, and phone access is never guaranteed.
Rope (and rope types), Cord, & Carabiners are all covered on separate pages. Make sure you are using trusted equipment from reputable suppliers… and TRIPLE action carabiners (not screw-gates).
Ten Rules for Climbing Safety
This video describes JRB’s ten rules which every tree climber should consider, regardless of your climbing method.
- Tie In, and stay tied in for the entire climb. A Lineman’s Belt is NOT an adequate tie-in.
- Buy In, buy good gear from a good supplier.
- Homework, do your research, from CREDIBLE sources.
- Tree: Consider the tree, and look for hazards above you in all nearby trees, particularly dead branches.
- Manage Slack, less than a foot at all times.
- Strength; the strength of each component must be much greater than the working load.
- Inspect all parts your systems, including friction hitches, metal fatigue, etc.
- Practice; your climbing, and everything you do or might need to do in a safe environment.
- Consider the Stability of all parts of the system.
- Consider Murphy’s Law. If it can go wrong, it will. Every climber has a potentially unique system. Analyze YOUR climbing system and THINK about everything that COULD go wrong and have a plan when it DOES go wrong. Add redundancy where you can!
Ten Misconceptions in Climb Safety
This video was made a year later, addressing JRB’s assessment of the most common safety misconceptions. To be clear, the bold statements are the misconceptions (mistakes) that many climbers make:
- Assuming I am safe… don’t make that assumption.
- It’s not going to happen to me… better to ask if can.
- Trusting my instincts … instead of supplementing with education.
- A Lineman’s Belt will protect me … it won’t.
- A short Tether is ok … we need a Lifeline on low slack and a path to ground at all times.
- My weight is the important metric …. actually it’s your slack profile.
- ‘Not climbing high enough to get hurt… yes we are.
- Falling is the only hazard …. consider suspension trauma, conditions, falling objects.
- It works, don’t need to evaluate what could go wrong … we do.
- Rope climbing is difficult … only if you’re using an inefficient technique.
Source of Advice
As per rule #3 above, when getting “advice” from a fellow saddle hunter, be aware that there are plenty of folks who meet one of these descriptions:
- They don’t know they are unsafe. They like what they are doing and assume they are safe because “it works” and they haven’t had a problem with it.
- They are just following the crowd. “Everybody does it this way, so it must be safe.”
- They are selling something. There is nothing for sale on this website. If you need to purchase anything, you will be directed to reputable products and sources.
Here are some things you might hear which should cause suspicion:
| What you might hear: | JRB’s response: | |
| 1 | I have never had a problem with it. | Ok but is it possible to have a problem? And would you be ok? Make sure all foreseeable problems have been anticipated and mitigated. |
| 2 | If I slipped or my footing device collapsed, I could get hurt. | That’s a problem. Eventually, if we can slip, we will. Our safety should never be dependent on our footing. |
| 3 | If my hand slipped off of something, I might get hurt. | That’s a problem. We should be able to let go of everything, at any time, and not be hurt. |
| 4 | Be careful not to drop it. | Anything we need for our safety must be undroppable. |
| 5 | You gotta trust your equipment. | Trust is earned. Critical components have a guarantee or an MBS… or a backup. |
| 6 | I can’t carry all that rope… | Carrying the optimal amount of rope allows us to climb quicker, easier and safer than any other method… and we don’t need sticks! |
| 7 | That was just bad luck. | Luck represents risk. Risks have been mitigated. |
| 8 | Ya can’t worry about every little detail… | Wrong. We have to consider every detail. That’s how accidents happen. |
| 9 | I use a Lineman’s belt… | Ok, so get up there and step off your stick a dozen times. Sound stupid? It is… a Lineman’s belt is not a fall prevention device. |
| 10 | Rope climbing looks difficult… | Some methods are. But JRB has done it carrying 100 pounds. Can you do that on a stick? |
Hazards & Mitigations
In order to ensure your safety, we must identify and mitigate the hazards:
| The Hazard | The Mitigation | |
| 1 | Falling, whether all the way to the ground or just a few feet. | The BRIDGE of the saddle must ALWAYS be tied into the tree and on minimal slack. |
| 2 | Getting stuck in a tree where we can’t get to the ground, typically after something went wrong. | Use a lifeline (not a tether) and remain on it at all times. Have a redundant bridge and know how transfer weight and to rappel on a Munter. |
| 3 | Equipment failure or malfunction. | Use backups / redundancy for foreseeable failures, including our bridge and friction devices or hitches. Have emergency supplies for repairs. |
| 4 | Falling objects: branches, trees, throwball, etc. | Survey the tree & scene carefully. Consider the use of a helmet. |
Common Mistakes
| Don’t Make these Mistakes | |
| 1 | Don’t assume you won’t experience a loss of footing. It can happen for so many reasons. Instead: Never depend on your feet. Be prepared for it. Always remain anchored the tree via your BRIDGE. |
| 2 | Don’t assume a Lineman’s Belt will save you in the event of a mishap. Instead: Use an Anchor. |
| 3 | Don’t climb without a cinching anchor. Anchor at all times. |
| 4 | Don’t allow more than a foot of slack in your anchor. Manage it. |
| 5 | Don’t advance your anchor up the tree. If you are advancing it, then it’s not cinched. Alternate your anchors instead. |
What Can We Trust?
This is a decision that every climber needs to make for themselves. JRB has selected these as the things he trusts with his life:
- A live, healthy tree. It’s our responsibility to inspect it and check for nearby hazards like dead branches and trees.
- A secure method to tie into the tree. Choices:
- a double rope over a strong crotch (for DSRT)
- a canopy anchor on a strong crotch (for SRT)
- a basal anchor using a strong crotch (for SRT)
- a secure anchor affixed to the the trunk (various scenarios)
- A rated, inspected rope
- A quality saddle from a reputable manufacturer
- A rated, triple action carabiner
- A rappel ring
What needs a backup?
For JRB, everything which is NOT on the list above, JRB recommends that we anticipate it could fail or misbehave, and we should have fail-safe mechanisms (redundancy) built into our system. This includes:
- Anything our feet are on, anticipating a slip, collapse, break or other failure.
- Anything moveable or adjustable, including my mechanical devices or friction hitches
- The bridge on our saddle. This is not because it might break. But because we may be stuck on one bridge and need to transfer over to the other one. It also makes rappel easier.
Self Rescue After Loss of Footing
Consider that components that we put our feet on could experience a failure, or we could slip off of them. We need to be prepared to recover from that situation. Remember: It doesn’t matter if you haven’t experienced this situation; it matters that you could.
Midline Munter Loop
Another tool that JRB discovered for self recovery scenarios… and you already know how to tie it.
One Handed Hedden Knot
The following video shows how a reliable friction hitch can be created using a Prusik Loop, and can be tied with only one hand.
SRT & Garda Hitch Footloop, Four Recovery Scenarios
The following video is relevant to any SRT method (including JRB Hitch Climbing) where the JRB Garda Hitch Footloop is employed.
Emergency Gear
When we consider Murphy’s Law, anticipating everything that could go wrong will require we carry some emergency supplies. In the video below (on DSRT Failure Modes), JRB outlines what he carries in his emergency gear bag, which is kept in his left saddle bag, inside a zip-lock plastic bag. We need our emergency gear on our body at all times, not in a backpack which could be dropped or out of reach. Here are things JRB typically carries:
- Either: A length of cord, a pretied Longhorn Hitch, or a Prusik Loop. Rationale: we might need to replace a friction hitch.
- A spare carabiner
- A small knife (for emergencies only)
- A spare flashlight
- Optional: A spare length of paracord, for leaving an unplanned paracord preset in a new tree.
- Optional: A spare rappel ring for leaving an unplanned floating anchor in a new tree.
Depending on your situation, you might consider other items, such as a whistle, compass, map, batteries, and written instructions or lists. Also, some climbers prefer to wear their emergency knife on a neck lanyard, but please consider that you might forget to put it on!
DSRT Failure Modes & Mitigations
Although this video is specific to JRB’s DSRT method, no matter how you climb, watching this video may give you scenarios to consider in evaluating Murphy’s Law as it applies to your own climbing systems and methods.