Ya just never know

I was out walking the dog yesterday in one of my favorite climbing groves. I came across two tree failures that resulted from a hard storm we had a few days ago. The 1st one was a fairly big Box Elder, about 22"dbh. It had a split on the back side and an open wound/rot that had been there for a couple of years. I've been eying it up, wondering when it was going to go. It went,...no surprise there.
The 2nd one I found did surprise me though. It was a Black Locust, about 13"dbh, and 55' tall. By all apearances it was very healthy with good vigor. No signs of stress or injury. It just snaped off at the base. Obviously the wind got the better of it.
So I guess the point of this is that no matter how how good a tree looks, or how how familiar you may be with it, until you get back down on the ground you never know what may happen. I'm not intending to be forboding or anything like that. But it's just one of those risks that we all take when we head on up the rope. It's part of the thrill. Calculating the risks, gathering up courage and acting on our decision to do the thing.
See you in the canopy.

I hear you but on the other hand I believe every limb or tree failure has a detectable cause. The challenge is to have the eye to spot the flaw before you climb. That's why I'm very conservative with TIP selection for my first climb on any tree.

Black Locust is problematic, I've seen many with decent crowns that had heart rot etc. Did the failed locust have any structural flaw where it snapped?

On the subject of defects, it's so interesting to look at limb and trunk failures to try and analyze what happened.
-moss

I too am very conservative with my initial TIP. On my way up my eyes and ears are analyzing everything they sense.

The locust that failed looked as healthy as you could want a tree to be. The exposed wood at the break showed no sign of rot. I hopped up on the trunk and walked its length, bounced it a bit, took a decent look at the crown...nothing. Just one of those things I guess.