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"If you fall unconscious whilst climbing a tree the chest harness prevents you from slumping into a safe position—head lower than heart. An unconscious climber
by mattpavelle 8y ago
"If you fall unconscious whilst climbing a tree the chest harness prevents you from slumping into a safe position—head lower than heart. An unconscious climber in that position has only three minutes or so to survive and that means the ground team must quickly get them down using an emergency extra rope."
Does anyone know why they don't use a chest harness that slumps you into a safe position? Or why falling unconscious is common enough to mention it?
- oasisbob 8y agoIt's not common, but it's dangerous. The technical term is suspension trauma. I climb solo quite often, and had to make my peace with the fact that if something comes down from above and knocks me unconscious, it could very likely be fatal. I'm not sure it's accurate to say that hanging upside down is any better if a climber is incapacitated. As a practical matter, a saddle that was trying to continually flip you over would drive a climber crazy. There's a bit of debate in the climbing community about the importance of suspension trauma, and how long you have before you need to worry about it during a rescue.