My climb line got nicked by a stub I missed on a red oak in Salem, and I caught it on the way down
Pulling a dead red oak in a backyard off Commercial St in Salem two weeks back, and about 40 feet up my climb line started running rough through my hand. I looked down and there was a 3 inch stub I'd walked right past, and the rope had a fuzzy patch about the size of a dime where it rubbed. Came down slow, no fall, but my stomach dropped when I saw it. I retired that line on the spot, cut the stub flush with a handsaw, and spent the next 20 minutes walking the whole tree with a pole saw before I went back up. The line was only 8 months old and that stings to eat the cost, but a nick like that on a doubled line is how guys end up in the ER. Now I do a full stub scan at every tie-in point, not just where I think I'm working. What's your routine for checking for hangers and stubs before you trust a line in a messy dead oak?