I'd hate to fall with only ONE side of a lanyard connected
on one side at the hip. Sounds like a good way to break
one's back.
A climbing safety rule I recall is to "Always maintain 3 points
of contact with the tower", i.e. only move ONE limb at a time.
When I climb, there is ALWAYS at least one strap AROUND
the tower.
In 35 years of climbing, I've NEVER had my feet slip off a
rung and therefore NEVER slid down a tower. Many years
ago, I switched to using TWO Lanyards, one short one to
hold me close to the tower and one longer one, primarily
for ascending and descending. The straps are alternated
when going around guy attachments or side mounted antennas.
When I arrive at the work position, I loop one strap around
the far leg which also serves as a Fall Arrest. The short
lanyard can also be placed around just the closest 2 legs,
allowing more range of motion but still serving as a Fall Arrest.
My waist belt is Nylon Web and I long ago gave up on
Heavy Stiff Straps. I much prefer Half Inch Braided Nylon
Rope because it is so much lighter and more flexible.
I use a single 8-10 ft rope, folded over in a U looped
through my Left D ring with Miller spring loaded Snap Hooks
rated at 5000 lbs. The Snaps are attached with Bowline Knots
because I don't know how to make eye loops. Yes, they are
somewhat bulky. The Loop can be adjusted to accomodate
different size tower from R25 to R55.
Not too long ago, I purchased a Fall Arrest Harness and strap
from Champion Radio. I will add my usual double rope lanyard
to this assembly. It would be nice to find a source of fixed length
braided nylon lanyards with 30, 36, 42, and 48 inch options and
safety rated snaps.
Tom N4KG
On Tue, 17 Dec 2002 Pete Smith <n4zr@contesting.com> writes:
> 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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>
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