Safety vest worked

Save a few bags for me Dean!

Jami

Was using my climber and the bark was really gnarly on this Red Oak I was climbing so the teeth on the platform didn’t get a good bite. You guessed it, the platform went falling down and I only fell about 30 inches until the strap yanked me to a stop. The strap hurt my ear a little and Big Jim and the twins were a little sore for a while, really gets your heart beating.

So the question I have is, do I need to replace my vest or is it ok to use? The strap is sewn in to the vest and it looks ok, nothing came unstitched that I can see. My thought is for $50 I might be best off getting a new one.

Call the manufacturer and I bet they say to replace. For piece of mind replace what if you weakened the stitching and it lets go when needed? Be Thankful you were wearing one.
I always wear mine from the ground to the top only unhook to hook to the permanent attachment at the top.

Mwal

Glad to hear you ended up alright

I do have a question I have always wondered (assuming your bottom fell to an unreachable height), how in the H do you get out of that hanging predicament with out some one showing up with a ladder? Swing over and get onto your steps?

This happened while you were climbing, or after done climbing? If it was while climbing; don’t your feet lock in so the base can’t fall away? I don’t attach a strap to the tree and tie in until I get to sitting height. My stand has a rope to attach the seat to the base in case the base drops while sitting. I have had the base slip while climbing and that is a bad feeling. Glad to hear you were wearing a vest! Now that I have a family a vest is a must, and I never go without it.

Nut

When using my climber i use a linemans climber strap until in final position adds a little time. In my tree lounge the climber seat is connected to the foot climber. On ladders i use a static saftey line and use the linemman strap until that is in place. Let us know what happened

Mwal

I forgot to tie the rope connecting the base and seat together at 4 feet like it usually is, I had it connected but loosened it because it had gotten tangled with the line I hoist my bow up with and failed to readjust the distance, but I was still able to pull it back up. I had reached my sitting height and had stood up on the platform to set the teeth into the trunk. I had been bracing most of my weight on the seat portion of stand and when I thought the base was good and seated I put my full weight on the base and that is when it gave way and dropped down. I was still in contact with my seat portion of stand and used that to pull myself back up so I could sit on that to retrieve the base. I use a strap I put around the tree and adjust it up as I am climbing, not as nice as the sliding prussic knot I use for my fixed stands but it saved me from who knows what injury or worse.

Glad you are OK.

I will say that I am a Firefighter and we are trained in high angle rescue (buildings, scaffold, etc). We are told that any rescue rope that has had a dynamic load (stretched) is no longer able to be used for safety reasons.

Be glad it worked, and go spend $50 and get a new one. Glad all was alright and you were not hurt.

And take the other one and throw it away immediately so you are not tempted to use it again for any reason.