On Friday I took my climber out to some state land to try my luck. After my sit was over I started my climb down. When I was about 5 feet from the ground the top portion of my climber failed and I flipped backward and ended up hanging by my feet like a kid on the monkey bars except all the pressure was about mid way up my calf. I was hanging in major pain trying to figure how I was going to get out of this. I could see the underside of the straps that were holding my feet so I thought maybe I could cut them. I reached for my buck multitool and it had come out of the case on my belt in the fall. I was thinking that calling someone meant hanging in excruciating pain for a minimum of ten more minutes or potentially much longer. So I decided that I would try get a foot out even if it meant that I break my leg or ankle in the process. I put my hands on the ground and pushed like a handstand pushup and pulled down with my right leg while twisting my left foot, I finally felt it move a little and that encouraged me to try harder. I finally got my left foot out which took the pressure off from my right foot and allowed me to get loose and hit the ground. I sat on the ground shaking and gathering my thoughts for a few minutes then grabbed my stuff and walked to my truck with a pretty good limp.
In all I was hanging for about five minutes but all I did was bruise my left calf real bad but more importantly my kids still have a father and wife still has a husband. I have never been so scared in my life! After looking the stand over it looks like I did not have the clip on the pin that holds the cable in properly clasped...my STUPID mistake because I was in a hurry. Had it come out any higher I would not have been able to reach the ground and could have been much worse. Another major thing that plays into the ending well is that I have lost over 100 pounds if I had not I would have never been able to push myself up in that position. I am a very lucky man and will think about what I am doing next time.