Spur climbing - basic technique more likely it is that the climber will gaff out .
• The climber should have both hands on each side of the lanyard , ‘ carrying ’ a small amount of slack between the hands and the harness and ready to perform a selfarrest if required .
Aim to adjust the lanyard until a position is found which gives a good gaff angle or angle of attack for the spurs , without being uncomfortable for the climber or making it difficult to move . Climbers should try to maintain an angle of at least 30 º depending on trunk timber and bark type to prevent gaffing out ( or kicking out ) and avoid sheets of loose bark .
Gaffing out occurs where the climber ’ s spur ‘ slips ’ and slides down the trunk tissues without biting in . Gaffing out can also be described as losing ‘ gaff purchase ’. Short slips can be recovered from easily , but a serious gaffing out can result in the climber sliding down the trunk some distance or even to the ground .
As can be seen below , more acute gaff angles will tend to push the spurs down the trunk rather than into the timber , making the climber much more prone to gaffing out .
To access trees using spurs , climbers pass a pole-belt or lanyard around the trunk so that it is connected from harness Side-D to Side-D .
The lanyard is adjusted until the climber is the correct distance from the trunk . This will be slightly different for each climber , depending on harness type , trunk diameter , personal fitness , gaff type and body shape .
As a rule :
• The further out from the trunk ( in other words , the more the climber leans back ), the better the gaff angle of the spurs is likely to be , and the less they will slip out .
• The closer into the trunk , the less tension the climber will feel in their core ( stomach ) muscles , and the more comfortable they may find it to both stand and move , but the
Note that gaffs will penetrate differently on different tree species and timber qualities . Hard , dense , dead timber may allow less spur penetration and may require a more perpendicular angle of attack to prevent slipping .
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