Yesterday I got up in an elm (probably 80' - 90' tall). Power lines about 18' from the trunk and it was leaning toward the lines. The bark was peeling off most of the branches from about 30' up. I tied a high rope for myself and a somewhat suitable crotch that was too low to do much from, looked closely at the bark right in front of me and there were thousands and thousands of holes. I am pretty sure it was the result of woodpeckers, but I am not totally sure. My gaffs were slipping like crazy and the bark would sometimes hold me and sometimes not. And I saw how there were barely any fibers in my directional cuts, the wood felt a bit mushy even. I took out a big lower lead, which probably accounted for 30% of the canopy and then I told the owner I was walking away from it. What do you guys and gals think? I am trying to keep learning even though I have been doing this a while, I just didn't have anywhere high enough to tie into that wasn't already iffy/brittle/on a dead branch and I wasn't able to rely on the spurs to get anywhere. I got a wife and niño, so I walked.