[TowerTalk] Tower climbing lanyards

[Donald Chester]

I have a set like that, but they were much less expensive. They are designed to go with a full body harness, and hook to the D-ring on the back. 

This probably violates to-day's recommended procedure, but last few times I climbed, I didn't use them. Instead, I use two positioning lanyards with my full-body harness. One goes round the tower and I pull it up with me as I climb. When I reach an obstacle such as a  guy point, I attach the second lanyard round the tower, above the guy point. Then disconnect the one below it, and throw the original lanyard above the guy point and re-attach it. Since the second lanyard is shorter, I disconnect it and continue on up the tower using the first (longer) lanyard, with the shorter one parked on an extra D-ring on the harness.

This is precisely the procedure I used with my old Signal Corps climbing belt I used when I erected the tower 35 years ago. I threw that thing away long ago because the leather was dry rotting, and the spring-loaded hooks had no safety latch. But back then, full body harnesses were not in  common use, and nearly all tower  climbing was done using a lineman's belt and positioning lanyard. Many climbers did not bother with the second  lanyard, and merely free-climbed past the anchor points, something I never would do.

When depending the positioning lanyards, one must make sure the lanyard never drops below waist level while climbing. To assist in this, I use a small carabiner like rock climbers use, to attach the lanyard to a tower rung to hold it in place whenever I am not in complete control of the positioning lanyard, so it can't slip down. If the positioning lanyard slips down too far, whether while climbing or working, it would be easy to lose balance and fall backwards. The positioning lanyard would still save you from free falling to your death, but could result in injury as you dangle in the harness hanging by the lanyard. It might slip down the tower, you with it, until you hit an obstacle such as guy wires, possibly causing severe injury but it would at least slow the descent and make your survival more likely.

With the gorilla hooks it is easy to climb above the hooks before you realise you have climbed too far. In any case, whether the hooks are positioned on the tower correctly or not, in the event of a fall you usually would descend 6 feet before the lanyard even began to arrest the fall. If you escaped uninjured, that would still end your climbing job right there, because under no circumstances should one re-use a lanyard that has already arrested a fall. Gorilla hooks can  lead to another danger, suspension trauma. If you are hanging, even comfortably, in your harness and dangling in space with your legs hanging down unsupported, unable to regain foothold on the tower, the harness may cut off circulation at the groin level; blood accumulates in the legs while the lungs and brain are starved of oxygen, causing the climber to eventually lose consciousness. If no-one is able to rescue the climber within 20 minutes or so, death may occur.  There are many warnings on the US Forestry Service website about the dangers of suspension trauma while tree climbing.

When I use the gorilla hooks, I still place the positioning lanyards round the tower as described above. I never could  get comfortable depending only gorilla hooks and a loose dangling fall arrest lanyard, while climbing. But the worst part is constantly clicking the gorilla hooks and unlatching them as I climb;  I find it very fatiguing and slows down my climbing speed to about half what it is when I climb using only the positioning lanyards. To me, the fatigue and increased climbing time using the gorilla hooks makes it at least as dangerous, if not more, than climbing with positioning lanyards only. In any case, the one thing essential to life and limb is "100% tie-off".

Another thing to be aware of with modern nylon web climbing gear is that the fibres in the webbing have a tendency to fray with use, something that never was a problem with the old leather belts and lanyards. I wrap mine with duct tape over certain spots where they tend to show the greatest wear, and that seems to reduce the fraying.


Don k4kyv