I've been getting myself 3 and 4 pitches into my favorite nemesis the Honey Locust. The highest pitch so far is around 80-85 ft. On my first "successful" throw to this pitch everything looked good. I placed my rope and cambium saver through a substantial crotch consisting of a terminating vertical trunk with 3 branches coming out like a crown at the top.

Something was not quite right. I couldn't get the cambium saver all the way through the crotch but the rope moved fine. I tied in, switched over and started going up from around 60 ft. As I swung around the trunk I looked at the blind side of the anchor and was dismayed to see the rope over a dead branch. The _base_ of the dead branch had stopped the cambium saver from going all the way through the crotch. The working side of my rope was running a couple feet out on the dead branch and down through a small branch on the side of the dead branch. (fill in your favorite expletive here: #$%*&!!) This was followed by retreat and tie-in to the nearest branch. If the branch broke I would've dropped only a couple of feet or so but it might've landed on my head. Luckily attached dead wood on locust is tenacious.

I got a clean rope placement in the same spot the next day. Not before I trapped a throwbag. I ran out of time to get up there and take out the the dead branch and recover the bag so I left a throwline in reachable from the third pitch. I've been trying not to leave taglines but had worked too hard to give this pitch up. Next time.
-moss

Great lesson!
Could you have seen the dead wood from the groung by walking around the tree and doing a closer inspection? Or was in not seeable from the ground? Just wondering what to do myself to avoid this.

Originally posted by charlieb
Great lesson!
Could you have seen the dead wood from the groung by walking around the tree and doing a closer inspection? Or was in not seeable from the ground? Just wondering what to do myself to avoid this.

Good point. I knew that there was a dead branch on the other side of the crotch from ground inspection but could not see it from where I was positioned in the tree. I had no way of knowing that the rope was over it until I could move up and around the trunk after I was tied in. The important thing was that the rope was over a solid crotch, the dead branch was a hazard but not life threatening. The other important thing is to move cautiously and observe well after tying into a new anchor when there are blind spots. It's kind of like changing lanes in busy traffic, look twice.
-moss