Amateur taking too big of a top?

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Action happens a little over 5 mins in. I'm not completely sure what he was trying to do, but it looks like he tried to take way to big of a top.

 
Big top and poor rope work . It would have been fine if he just dropped the top and not had it rigged poorly


Sent from my phone when I should be working
 
Nope I was wrong. Just watched more . Crap ass saw hardly ran . And he either did not notch the tree or cut the hinge because it spun off the spar


Sent from my phone when I should be working
 
The saw should never have been up there the way it ran!
They should have let the top run on the line rather than had it tied static, that was the biggest mistake. Rather than having the top run down, it loaded the top of the tree creating the spring effect we saw. Once the tree was loaded it was over, he lost control of the saw and is lucky he wasn't flung from the tree!
 
Each climber makes the decision whether or not to put his life in the hands of his rope man.

Having spent the bulk of my climbing career as an independent sub-contract climber, whose ground crew varies with each company I sub for, I make it a firm rule to never rely on amateur roper's to keep me safe up top, if that means taking smaller pieces that won't send me for a ride regardless of whether the roper lets it run or not, so be it. An even better option's using a Speedline with a redirect at the base, so even if they're too green to get out of harm's way in the LZ? No one gets hurt.

This accident looks to me as though there were amateurs on both ends, in the tree and on the ground running the rope.

I seriously doubt I'd try to catch a top that big even with a pro rope man running my Hobbs below me.

Vid quality's so poor it's hard to say exactly what happened, a hockled or snagged lowering line that wasn't laid out properly's a common mistake ropers make dealing with tall trees requiring hundreds of feet of lowering line.

jomoco
 
If things are consistent throughout the day, I'll trust my ground guy letting stuff run. If the weight is unknown or something sketchy, I tie it off as slack free as possible. And tie it as close to the notch as possible too.
 
I am not trying to second guess or armchair QB but it must be a topper's golden rule to stop that saw when the kerf starts to open in the back cut and the top starts to go, chain brake, off switch, whatever. Even if the climber goes for a ride due to any other number of mistakes, the bloodspill is kept to a minimum.
 
I rarely work with any sort of experienced ground crew, leaves me to cut everything small. Often I'll leave some limbs to reduce sway and gives me somewhere to sit while I wait.
 
As soon as the top moves, even if you're not roping it down, saw gets shut off and out of the way. That is of course assuming a proper face and hinge, if you don't have that you've already messed up.



Mr. HE:cool:
 
Small is how I fly unless bombing or static load to adjacent anchor point. I have no problem with heights I'm a tree climber so I go to the top. Blocking large tops will at some point hurt you as too many things can and will happen when the load is caught.

Completely agree, it's not uncommon that I will climb a tree until its only 4-5" around the bole before I catch the top. Having a good rope man who knows how to let it run is probably the most important part. And I've found that groundies handle smaller tops much better than bigger ones.
 

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