Rappelling from tree
My friend and I were on a tough sport climb and couldn't make it to the chains. Thus, we had one quickdraw still on a bolt and we didn't want to leave this behind, (a quickdraw on this same project had been stolen only 2 days prior when I left it the first time)
We decided to hike up and around the cliff and decided it was much too difficult to try and reach the chains from down climbing the cliff.
We saw a big tree (definitely thicker than my whole body and alive, the trunk I could barely give it a hug and connect my hands, I'd say) and didn't want to hike back down the cliff after rappelling. Thus we had our rope go around the tree equalizing the lengths of the rope and threw the rope off until we could see both ends hitting the ground.
We didn't wrap around the tree at all so we could pull the rope down at the end.
Was this safe?
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Short answer: If the tree is a living and thick one, then it was OK.
That being said, there are several reasons you should had done a proper anchor with multiple points (trees, in this case) and equalized, and then walked back again to the top.
One simple drawback of your approach is, that the friction between the rope and the tree trunk, when you recall the rope after the rappel, can be harsh to the rope sheath and abrade it. And your rope costed more than the quickdraw you wanted to recover. It would unlikely cut it (and you would already on the ground anyways) but would it be worthy to damage the sheath of your expensive rope?
Also you could, although unlikely, misjudge the solidness of that single tree. Having two points (trees) is of course going to be better, since we're talking about something you're about to hang your life from.
That being said, what we usually do here in the Alps (where is most of the time, if not always, impossible to reach the top of the crag by other means than climbing) is to leave behind a maillon rapide in place of the quickdraw when this situation happens. A maillon is much cheaper and many people carry one just in case.
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Was it safe? Yes, you were not in any danger here (unless your tree was a Charlie Brown Christmas tree).
Was it the best thing to do? No, for a couple of reasons, the most important being that it does not comply with leave not trace ethics, and can badly scar the tree. It's also no good for your rope, dragging your rope through dirt and sap can significantly shorten the life of your rope. When anchoring off trees you should tie an alpine rappel anchor around the tree and lower off of a rap ring.
What you should have done, is rappelled off of the bolt. You could have tethered right to the last bolt you were able to climb to, threaded your rope through the hanger, and rappelled off the fixed anchor while still on belay with a prussic backup below your ATC, cleaning your gear on the way down.
Not only is this cleaner, it's also easier, and safer than being lowered by your belayer, because you still use all of your intermediate protection in between your top bolt and the ground. If your top bolt fails somehow, you're prussic will catch and you're only going to fall as far as the next bolt.
Alternatively, you could leave something else up top instead of one of your quick draws, like an old carabiner that's ready for retirement anyways, or a mallion/quicklink that you brought with you because you knew ahead of time there was a possibility you might need to bail on this route again.
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These rock climbers Obviously did not read your question. if the tree was bigger than you could hug. this was overkill. use the rule of thigh. A branch as big as your thigh in softwood is good enough.
Also, you would not hurt the cambium of the tree. Us tree climbers do it all the time...and we care about trees. if you are worried and want increased safety, tie a mid line knot (use an Alpine Butterfly) at the half way point put a locking carabiner though it and around the other line that goes around the tree. This the repel line. Note you now have a secure non moving loop around the tree. When you get to the bottom, you can pull the other end and retrieve the whole system.
I find there are good ideas from Rock and Tree climbing. Take the eclectic approach to knowledge
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You do not say what size tree, but to me big means something like 1/2 meter or more diameter trunk. Presuming a living tree with no obvious movement of the roots the tree was infinitely stronger than your quick draw or chains or bolts holding them to the rocks. "Was it safe" is not the right question "was it safer than what I already accepted as safe enough" is the question and the answer is absolutely yes, its safe enough.
You do have a single point failure, but if you pulled the tree over, its unlikely a second anchor would hold you and the tree. In the end, on abseil you have a single point in the rope. Is the tree stronger and more reliable than the rope? Its it not uncommon where I live to set-up a multi point belay using slings or rope around a single large secure tree. This is to protect against your equipment failing, or you failing to set up correctly - either far more likely than a large tree falling on you head.
If the tree was smallish, as long as its over about 300mm diameter, alive, its roots not into fractured rock and not moving when you swing on it, it is more than strong enough to be safe. I have happily abseiled off a much smaller trees but every climber has to deal with situation where absolutely safety no longer exists, weather they know it or not.
As I said in my comment, its not acceptable to pull the rope down if its going around the tree. The correct way to use a tree as an abseil anchor is to use a sling around the tree and abseil off the sling.
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