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Rigged a rope runner wrong at a 60 foot white oak last Tuesday | Arborists - SMM Buzz

Rigged a rope runner wrong at a 60 foot white oak last Tuesday

Was up in a white oak in Raleigh. Had my rope runner set up but missed a step in the threading. Got halfway down and the thing jammed solid. Had to hang there for 20 minutes working it loose with one hand. My ground guy was just staring up. Finally got it free and finished the descent slow. Now I double check every time before I leave the ground. Anyone else have a close call with a mechanical device they thought they knew?

3 comments

3 Comments

parkera222mo ago

Hold on, let me push back a little here. Are you sure the rope runner was set up wrong, or could it have been a worn out part or a rope size issue? In my experience, those mechanical hitches are pretty forgiving unless you really skip a major step. I've seen guys blame a bad setup when really their climbing line was a little too small for the device, or they had a burr on a bushing that finally caught. Your mileage may vary of course, but it might be worth checking the rope diameter with a caliper before you write off the threading. A lot of close calls I've had turned out to be a combo of hardware wearing out and me not noticing.

derek6562mo ago

Hey man, that's a really solid point. I've definitely been guilty of blaming the setup when it was just my equipment getting worn out over time.

lane.eric2mo ago

That parkera22, you make a good point about checking the rope size. I had a similar thing happen last spring with my Hitch Hiker. I was only about 30 feet up a water oak when I realized I had threaded the rope through the top eyelet wrong. It worked fine going up but on the way down it locked up tight. I remember just dangling there, calf muscles burning, trying to wiggle it loose. My buddy on the ground kept yelling "just cut it" which I wasn't about to do with a 200 dollar rope. Took me a good ten minutes to figure out I had the rope going over the friction plate backwards instead of under it. Now I never leave the ground without doing a bounce test first.