At 08:15 PM 12/16/02 -0500, Dick Green wrote:
>Once the positioning
>lanyard was above the guys, he unhooked and stowed the free end of the fall
>arrest lanyard until the next obstruction. Once at his destination, both
>lanyards were used for maximum safety. Again, I wondered whether it's really
>safe to climb with just the positioning lanyard attached. Obviously, it's
>better than free-climbing, but is it safe?
I find it easy to envision problems climbing with the positioning lanyard
around the tower, because it's too easy to imagine sliding down to the next
guy station, which could be quite a distance below. At least you don't
fall away from the tower, so presumably you can grab something.
When I climb, I use a fall-arrest lanyard on the back D-ring and my
positioning lanyard hooked to one of the hip D-rings. Going up I hook one
on a rung as far above me as I can reach, while looking at it to be
sure. Then I unhook the other one (which by this time is between my feet)
and just let it hang while I continue clmbing till the first lanyard is
between my feet, and repeat the cycle.
I figure that if I were to fall while climbing, I'm gonna get bruised
whether the current fall-arrest protection is in the middle of my back or
on one hip, but it sure beats getting dead.
73, Pete N4ZR
Sometimes a tower is just a tower
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