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I have a tricky pruning job to perform on a 80' cottonwood. Much of the top 20-25' is dead. Tree seems structurally sound but definitely has some issues as about 1/4 of it is dead or declining. It provides good shade though so, HO has asked me to prune out dead.
Problems are: 1) can access only with my 55' towable boom or climb. No larger (taller) truck can get to it nor could a big crane, 2) dead limbs are reachable with my 55' boom but will require rigging or I would have to climb the dead branches to remove them as they have the potential to hit house or garage if I let them freefall.
I don't trust climbing the dead branches and there are no surrounding live branches or other trees to tie into so I am thinking I will have to work out of the 55' lift. That means rigging down 25' tall dead branches and by rigging, I mean a slow hinge with a rig point right below my cut. What scares me is the resulting jerk once the branch falls. Past experience tells me to expect the dead branch to break apart once it slaps into other parts of the tree and that shaking action might even cause other branches to break off.
Wondering how some of you climbers would approach it. Sorry no pictures - just imagine 8" dia max wood at about 55' narrowing to about 4-5" at 70' and just slender branches above that. Not much to rig from and no way to easily set the rigging unless I climb up the dead branches. If I do get a higher rigging point set, it would likely be off of the dead central leader about 70' up where the branch is about 5" diameter (at around 55', it's about 8" dia and dead where it attaches to the main trunk). I'd have to rig some pretty small stuff but as I said, just getting those branches rigged would be difficult. Not much to speedline off of. I do think I have plenty of clearance to rig the entire 25' long pieces but it's the jerk and the slap against the tree that causes me concern as I can see pieces breaking off and spearheading through the house or garage roof and I can't take that risk.
Thanks for any help.
Problems are: 1) can access only with my 55' towable boom or climb. No larger (taller) truck can get to it nor could a big crane, 2) dead limbs are reachable with my 55' boom but will require rigging or I would have to climb the dead branches to remove them as they have the potential to hit house or garage if I let them freefall.
I don't trust climbing the dead branches and there are no surrounding live branches or other trees to tie into so I am thinking I will have to work out of the 55' lift. That means rigging down 25' tall dead branches and by rigging, I mean a slow hinge with a rig point right below my cut. What scares me is the resulting jerk once the branch falls. Past experience tells me to expect the dead branch to break apart once it slaps into other parts of the tree and that shaking action might even cause other branches to break off.
Wondering how some of you climbers would approach it. Sorry no pictures - just imagine 8" dia max wood at about 55' narrowing to about 4-5" at 70' and just slender branches above that. Not much to rig from and no way to easily set the rigging unless I climb up the dead branches. If I do get a higher rigging point set, it would likely be off of the dead central leader about 70' up where the branch is about 5" diameter (at around 55', it's about 8" dia and dead where it attaches to the main trunk). I'd have to rig some pretty small stuff but as I said, just getting those branches rigged would be difficult. Not much to speedline off of. I do think I have plenty of clearance to rig the entire 25' long pieces but it's the jerk and the slap against the tree that causes me concern as I can see pieces breaking off and spearheading through the house or garage roof and I can't take that risk.
Thanks for any help.
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