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Re: [TowerTalk] Sad day - W9ZUC tower accident

To: towertalk@contesting.com
Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] Sad day - W9ZUC tower accident
From: David Gilbert <xdavid@cis-broadband.com>
Date: Thu, 18 Sep 2014 21:47:55 -0700
List-post: <towertalk@contesting.com">mailto:towertalk@contesting.com>

I regularly climb my 70 foot tower, and I have more than once been to the 120 foot level of K9RX's tower when he still lived in Arizona (verifying pictures supplied upon request).

I don't care what you think you can do with your free hand ... it isn't going to be as reliable as a hook/lanyard that has already been tied off. I'm assuming that your feet aren't prehensile, and if something happens beyond your control that rotates your free hand away from the tower you become a statistic in exactly SQRT(H/16) seconds after you lose your grip, where H equals your height above ground in feet.

Your final question is pretty silly, since such instances typically don't get reported any more than the number of lives that have been saved by safety belts in vehicle collisions. I can tell you this, though ... every single ham who fell while NOT using a harness suffered considerable harm, and there is a not insignificant list of those.

Dave  AB7E




On 9/18/2014 9:29 AM, Doug Renwick wrote:
Are you talking from experience or just speculating?  When climbing,
remember I said climbing, my 'free' hand is in close proximity to the tower
and if anything should happen to my other hand or feet, I can INSTANTLY grab
the tower with my free hand.  When moving a Gorilla hook your mental focus
has changed and you only have one hand on the tower.

Also remember I said 'if you can't free climb, you shouldn't be climbing'.
However you climb, free or assisted, you need to be in physical shape,
rested, and mentally focused.

Ask 'how many hams have fallen while climbing and have their fall aborted
with a Gorilla hook and fall arrest harness'?
Doug


-----Original Message-----

Yes, you have indeed said that several times here before, and it was
just as ignorant a comment then as it is now.  Every time you unhook or
hook to the tower you only have one hand on the tower ... just exactly
as you only have one hand on the tower when you reach up while climbing
... the difference being whether or not you are hooked in while that
second hand isn't on the tower.  How you can possibly believe that one
hand on the tower is safer than one hand on the tower PLUS one hook on
the tower, or that a free hand not on the tower is more reliable than a
hook already on the tower, is totally beyond me.

Dave   AB7E



On 9/17/2014 8:42 PM, Doug Renwick wrote:
I have said this many times before.  If you can't 'free climb' then you
SHOULD NOT be climbing at all.  The use of a gorilla hook has it's place -
for resting or at the work station.  But IMO it should not be used to
assist
the climb!  Every time you have to hook and unhook the gorilla hook it
means
you only have one hand left on the tower.  That to me is unsafe.  With
free
climbing, both hands are available to grab the tower.  If you can't free
climb - don't climb.
Doug



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