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Re: [TowerTalk] Harness, Gorilla Hooks

To: towertalk@contesting.com
Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] Harness, Gorilla Hooks
From: David Gilbert <xdavid@cis-broadband.com>
Date: Tue, 27 Sep 2011 23:49:32 -0700
List-post: <towertalk@contesting.com">mailto:towertalk@contesting.com>
"What am I missing here??"

LOTS.

An eye in the back between the shoulders is exactly where you want it to 
be to restrain you in a fall.  An eye in back will most likely spin you 
around ... face away from the tower ... but more importantly it will not 
snap your spine at the neck like it would if it was in front of you.  
Think about which way you want to be bent with a sharp jerking motion.

Using hooks with no latching gate mechanism to climb a tower is just one 
step below suicide and there is a very good reason you didn't see them 
at any dealers.  In my opinion, anyone who uses anything like that to 
climb a tower better have a lot of life insurance and a family that 
doesn't much care about them.   The latching gate on a proper climbing 
hook is trivial to engage/disengage, and if you can't manage that you 
will probably have difficulty with anything else you do on or around a 
tower as well.  I spend considerably more time making sure I am clear of 
the straps attached to my gorilla hooks as I climb (they blow in the 
wind) than I do actually engaging or disengaging the hooks themselves.

Dave  AB7E



On 9/27/2011 8:57 PM, Wilson Lamb wrote:
> I just bought a Klein harness, which has an eye in the back, behind the
> shoulders.  This looks like a very bad idea to me, since a fall will surely
> drive ones face into the tower.  With a little bad luck, it will hook ones
> chin on a brach and break ones neck.
> What am I missing here??
>
> Steve's harness has no chest hook, so if using a runner one will wind up
> hanging more or less horizontal, with severe stress on the spine when
> fetching up on the lanyard.
> What am I missing here?
>
> Re hooks:  I saw some guys climbing a while back with large OPEN hooks,
> which were great for easy moving while climbing.  They were like giant fish
> hooks, maybe four inches across the opening...no snap gates to deal with.
> What are they called?  I didn't see them at any of the dealers.
>
> Obviously I haven't started climbiing yet, but hope to soon.
>
> 73,
> Wilson
> W4BOH
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