An end to tree-climbing?

Post by **dbodner** » Mon Jan 02, 2006 9:54 pm

The next time Charlie Brown gets his kite stuck in the tree, we may not have an uber tree climber available. But, maybe we don't need one.

My impression is that, in the end, Linda threaded a rope over her keel, which served as the suspension point for lowering her to the ground. If so, then maybe Pete didn't even need to climb the tree. As long as we can get a rope up to the pilot (which we did due to Linda's preparedness), and the pilot can tie off and send the other end over the keel, the ground crew should be able to lower the pilot.

We've been looking for a tree limb to send the rope over, when the keel's always been there. We should be able to get the pilot down quickly before the rescue folks even arrive. Something's wrong, this is too easy. What am I missing? Should the keel be our "limb" of choice?

rsickinger · Post by **rsickinger** » Mon Jan 02, 2006 10:47 pm

>>What am I missing? ?Should the keel be our "limb"?of choice?

If you're going to throw a rope over something and lower the pilot to the ground, it had better be something that is solidly anchored;?? throwing the rope over any part of the glider is only effective if the glider is solidly anchored (that's a really big IF);? ?I'm not an experienced tree-hugger, but it is my understanding that this is not usually the case.

~Ralph

Post by **mcelrah** » Tue Jan 03, 2006 7:16 am

The glider can fall out of the tree... - Hugh

Post by **brianvh** » Wed Jan 04, 2006 2:49 pm

Dave pointed out to me offline that if you have a rope over the keel, then you've got the pilot's weight plus the force of all the people on the end of the rope trying to keep the pilot from falling. Could potentially add up to twice the weight of the pilot pulling down on the glider just by lowering by a rope over the keel. Though I should know better, it had never occured to me before, and could have exreme consequences if the glider's not firmly mounted in the tree, or if there's structural damage.

However, if the rope is wrapped around the keel enough times to produce significant friction this would lower the amount of force needed on the other end of the line to lower the pilot. The end result would be only a slight increase in the downward force on the glider as the pilot's being lowered.

Maybe the best approach would be to throw the rope over a limb for safety, then have the pilot wrap it a few times around the keel? You'd want to have the limb a little below the glider so that you don't get impossible amounts of friction against the tree, I guess. But routing it around the keel as well would mean the pilot wouldn't have the scary sensation of swinging free from the glider. If caught between two trees this could be a serious swing.

Flying Lobster · Post by **Flying Lobster** » Wed Jan 04, 2006 3:58 pm

Ralph is correct--the first priority in a treeing should be safely securing the pilot to a stout limb if at all possible. This can be accomplished by the pilot tieing off directly to a limb--or tieing into a rope which is then anchored to a belay (what Pete did at HR). Only if no other option is available should the pilot consider lowering from the glider--and even then it should only be done with assistance from the ground with the rope anchored in such a way as to stop the glider and pilot from hitting the ground in case the glider pulls free. No matter how good the glider looks stuck--it can always blow free and slip to the ground, causing serious injury or death.

marc