Howdy gents. Something happened to me this month that I've been wanting to tell to you all, but I decided to wait until it was all over - for good or for bad. It's a long tale, and I'm not proud of some of it, so I hope you'll take the time to read it, but if not, scroll down for the pics.
My tree service buddy called me to take down a large oak. It was in a fenced back yard where his truck couldn't go. I looked and didn't think it would be a prob, so I said yes. Wish I hadn't, especially when I later noticed the power lines (How the heck could I miss that??!?) and found out the metal fence panels couldn't come off the posts. Dang it. I hoped this would be easy.
So in mid Dec. I started - took me MANY tries to get my throw bag where I wanted, shooting with my Big Shot. Finally succeeded, and discovered my 150' climbing line was too short. I climb SRT, so I knotted another rope to it on the non-climbing side. Got my lowering rope where I wanted it with less difficulty, and was soon up.
It has been many months since I climbed, so I knew it was going to be hard, being out of shape and my knees are not so great . I was surprised at the terror I had, though. I was really scared, almost climbed back down to forget the whole thing, but I decided it would be OK after a bit. 20 minutes later I was as comfy as I've ever been and having a great time. I was able to drop smaller branches down into pockets without risk of hitting the fence or power lines, and chunked down a number of larger pieces (in proper firewood length, of course.)
Then I had to get to the big branches that were leaning heavily over the power lines. The plan was to climb as high as I dared on a branch and tie the lowering line to it. Then cut the branch lower down so the whole thing would drop and hang close to the trunk - then groundman could lower it and deal with it.
Turns out I didn't tie it high enough, so it was more top-heavy than bottom heavy. And the branch was at such an angle that I had a lot of difficulty getting it off the base where I cut it. I got on top to stomp it with my foot. That worked, but I ended up catching my foot between the base of that branch and the trunk of the tree. I could have easily broken my stupid leg! Idiot. I had the groundman lower it a bit to get my foot out, and that meant lowering it onto the wires. Got my foot out, nothing damaged, but I didn't have time to ponder, for I saw that the branch was starting to draw current from the power lines.
Oh crap. I've seen youtube videos of branches exploding after a few minutes of powerline contact, and I knew I had to get that branch off there soon. I was also afraid that the current might be traveling to the main trunk, so that if I got in between, I might be the 'fuse' that pops when there is an electrical short. Plan was to get a rope over the base of the branch, and get someone to pull down on that to balance out. I saw a man in a parking lot next door, so I hollered at him and he came and held the groundman's rope while the groundman got me another rope from the truck. I had to get down, but my climbing line was now tangled up with the branch and couldn't be undone. Crap. Out comes the knife and my line is now 20' shorter. I get down as far as I can, but I'm still 20 feet from the ground.
Fortunately I use a ladder to get higher up before I start climbing, so I scamper down the ladder, move it, scamper back up so I can tie the rope onto the end of the branch. Groundman goes back to the main rope, and I get back down and grab the second rope. It comes down and after a good deal of pulling, grunting, lowering and maybe a bit of swearing, we get that darn thing down safely.
I lie on the ground, thankful to be alive and have all my limbs working. I check out my leg, and there is a bit of scraped skin and some soreness, but nothing seriously damaged. We packed up and went home. I was sore for a week after that.
I was worried about the other branches, and spent a lot of time thinking about what went wrong and what I should have done right.
Few days later, the weather is nice enough to return, so we're back at it, and we get one of the limbs down without difficulty. There is only one left - the worst one, although it's not the largest. I had tried to climb high enough to get the rope where I KNEW it would be good, but couldn't get up there. Christmas was upon us, and the weather was too nasty to climb, so we waited. I had my Christmas services, concerts, programs, music, rehearsals, and festivities, and all the time I'm thinking about that damn branch, and how to get it down.
For a man with 9 kids, I really shouldn't be doing such dangerous work. Even though I take every precaution I can, accidents can still happen as that one branch showed me quite well, and I just don't have the knowledge and experience to really do the job well and as safely as I should. That branch was worrying me, but I had agreed to do the job, and although I wasn't afraid to quit and tell him to call Meurer Brothers, something in me said that I had to finish the job, and that it would be all right if I went slow and carefully.
So yesterday the weather was good enough and the wind was low. I climbed up there, and by climbing the underside of the limb, I was able to get the rope as high as I needed. I dropped down, cut the base, and that terrifying branch just swung beautifully over where it was supposed to, the groundman lowered it down, and it was all over in 10 minutes. I was so thrilled to have that one down!
There were still three large branches to get down, but I had a different plan for those. They were all mostly straight up with a slight lean over the power lines. One of the branches had my lowering rope way up in there, so I put a loop in one end, ran the other end through the loop, and had the groundman pull that end and let the loop tighten on that branch high up. I would notch the bottom, and groundman was to use my block-and-tackle to pull it upright and over to where we wanted it to drop. It worked well, although the branch didn't come over as far as I expected. It pivoted to the side just a bit and landed right next to the fence. Some of the smaller branches hit the fence, but did no damage. Still, it was down safely - a win. Now that branch was forked down low, so really I took care of two branches with one cut, so there was just one tall one left.
My climbing line was looped over a branch on that one. I had gotten out a newer, slightly thinner climbing line to replace my older (now much shorter) favorite. It was easier/safer to use my Unicender on the old one, since it was a 5/8" rope, while the new one was 1/2". Unicender was rated for both sizes, but could slip on the 1/2" if I wasn't careful, so I preferred the 5/8", even though the 1/2" was 200' long. I did the same trick with that line - looped one end so the rope was now tied to a high branch. However, this branch had more lean to it and the groundman wasn't sure he would be able to pull it over even with the block-and-tackle so we called it a day and decided to come back the next day with more help.
Today at 11:00 groundman and I met, and I had all the ropes set and ready to go. cinched up the block-and-tackle, got some other ropes tied on to the main one (so the two other guys could pull on the same rope without getting in each other's way) and we sat around for 30 minutes until the other guys finally showed. I told them the plan, and we set to it. I climbed up (with yet another short 5/8" rope I had tied on the day before) and cut my notch and backcut. I had told them that the b-and-t would give the strength to pull the branch upright, but once it got maxed out and the branch started to tip over, they really needed to keep the momentum going so it would fall where we needed it to.
I cut, they pulled, and the branch came crashing down - not where I wanted, but close to the fence again, and again tagging it a bit with the smaller branches, but no damage. It was down! I was alive and in one piece, the big branches were down, and the rest was ground work. I tied on to the top of the trunk, lowered myself down, and used that final rope to pull down the trunk and THAT one went exactly where I wanted it to. A 40" wide notch will overcome any wind or sideways pull. Tree was down. No damage done to the fence, but I was out a climbing rope, and one of the clips on my foot ascender was broken, but still operable.
So I came home, grabbed my spurs and headed inside. I found my wife, got down on one knee, presented the spurs to her and recited the little speech I had worked on while driving home - it went something like this:
"Milady, I pledge to thee my honor and my fidelity, and hereby present to thee my spurs, through which I have successfully undertaken great toil and hardship for thee, not to mention the fact that I spent a lot of money on them. I hereby retire to thee my climbing spurs."
She laughed, and asked if I was serious, and I told her I was retiring from climbing trees. I'm too old, I don't know enough, I don't do it often enough, it's too dangerous, and I don't make all that much money off of it, although I usually manage to score a fair bit of wood. I would no longer climb a tree unless it was a clear place to drop branches, no fences, houses, cars, or power lines, and not too high or dead, unless it was easy rigging. No more dangerous climbing for me. She was happy to hear that, for she hates it when I climb, and wonders if she will still have a husband by the end of the day.
Anyway, I'm hoping to get all or most of the wood. I'll tell the tree service my climbing price will be lower if I get the wood.
So there you have it. No, I'm not selling any equipment, unless it be a rather short length of 5/8" climbing rope.
My tree service buddy called me to take down a large oak. It was in a fenced back yard where his truck couldn't go. I looked and didn't think it would be a prob, so I said yes. Wish I hadn't, especially when I later noticed the power lines (How the heck could I miss that??!?) and found out the metal fence panels couldn't come off the posts. Dang it. I hoped this would be easy.
So in mid Dec. I started - took me MANY tries to get my throw bag where I wanted, shooting with my Big Shot. Finally succeeded, and discovered my 150' climbing line was too short. I climb SRT, so I knotted another rope to it on the non-climbing side. Got my lowering rope where I wanted it with less difficulty, and was soon up.
It has been many months since I climbed, so I knew it was going to be hard, being out of shape and my knees are not so great . I was surprised at the terror I had, though. I was really scared, almost climbed back down to forget the whole thing, but I decided it would be OK after a bit. 20 minutes later I was as comfy as I've ever been and having a great time. I was able to drop smaller branches down into pockets without risk of hitting the fence or power lines, and chunked down a number of larger pieces (in proper firewood length, of course.)
Then I had to get to the big branches that were leaning heavily over the power lines. The plan was to climb as high as I dared on a branch and tie the lowering line to it. Then cut the branch lower down so the whole thing would drop and hang close to the trunk - then groundman could lower it and deal with it.
Turns out I didn't tie it high enough, so it was more top-heavy than bottom heavy. And the branch was at such an angle that I had a lot of difficulty getting it off the base where I cut it. I got on top to stomp it with my foot. That worked, but I ended up catching my foot between the base of that branch and the trunk of the tree. I could have easily broken my stupid leg! Idiot. I had the groundman lower it a bit to get my foot out, and that meant lowering it onto the wires. Got my foot out, nothing damaged, but I didn't have time to ponder, for I saw that the branch was starting to draw current from the power lines.
Oh crap. I've seen youtube videos of branches exploding after a few minutes of powerline contact, and I knew I had to get that branch off there soon. I was also afraid that the current might be traveling to the main trunk, so that if I got in between, I might be the 'fuse' that pops when there is an electrical short. Plan was to get a rope over the base of the branch, and get someone to pull down on that to balance out. I saw a man in a parking lot next door, so I hollered at him and he came and held the groundman's rope while the groundman got me another rope from the truck. I had to get down, but my climbing line was now tangled up with the branch and couldn't be undone. Crap. Out comes the knife and my line is now 20' shorter. I get down as far as I can, but I'm still 20 feet from the ground.
Fortunately I use a ladder to get higher up before I start climbing, so I scamper down the ladder, move it, scamper back up so I can tie the rope onto the end of the branch. Groundman goes back to the main rope, and I get back down and grab the second rope. It comes down and after a good deal of pulling, grunting, lowering and maybe a bit of swearing, we get that darn thing down safely.
I lie on the ground, thankful to be alive and have all my limbs working. I check out my leg, and there is a bit of scraped skin and some soreness, but nothing seriously damaged. We packed up and went home. I was sore for a week after that.
I was worried about the other branches, and spent a lot of time thinking about what went wrong and what I should have done right.
Few days later, the weather is nice enough to return, so we're back at it, and we get one of the limbs down without difficulty. There is only one left - the worst one, although it's not the largest. I had tried to climb high enough to get the rope where I KNEW it would be good, but couldn't get up there. Christmas was upon us, and the weather was too nasty to climb, so we waited. I had my Christmas services, concerts, programs, music, rehearsals, and festivities, and all the time I'm thinking about that damn branch, and how to get it down.
For a man with 9 kids, I really shouldn't be doing such dangerous work. Even though I take every precaution I can, accidents can still happen as that one branch showed me quite well, and I just don't have the knowledge and experience to really do the job well and as safely as I should. That branch was worrying me, but I had agreed to do the job, and although I wasn't afraid to quit and tell him to call Meurer Brothers, something in me said that I had to finish the job, and that it would be all right if I went slow and carefully.
So yesterday the weather was good enough and the wind was low. I climbed up there, and by climbing the underside of the limb, I was able to get the rope as high as I needed. I dropped down, cut the base, and that terrifying branch just swung beautifully over where it was supposed to, the groundman lowered it down, and it was all over in 10 minutes. I was so thrilled to have that one down!
There were still three large branches to get down, but I had a different plan for those. They were all mostly straight up with a slight lean over the power lines. One of the branches had my lowering rope way up in there, so I put a loop in one end, ran the other end through the loop, and had the groundman pull that end and let the loop tighten on that branch high up. I would notch the bottom, and groundman was to use my block-and-tackle to pull it upright and over to where we wanted it to drop. It worked well, although the branch didn't come over as far as I expected. It pivoted to the side just a bit and landed right next to the fence. Some of the smaller branches hit the fence, but did no damage. Still, it was down safely - a win. Now that branch was forked down low, so really I took care of two branches with one cut, so there was just one tall one left.
My climbing line was looped over a branch on that one. I had gotten out a newer, slightly thinner climbing line to replace my older (now much shorter) favorite. It was easier/safer to use my Unicender on the old one, since it was a 5/8" rope, while the new one was 1/2". Unicender was rated for both sizes, but could slip on the 1/2" if I wasn't careful, so I preferred the 5/8", even though the 1/2" was 200' long. I did the same trick with that line - looped one end so the rope was now tied to a high branch. However, this branch had more lean to it and the groundman wasn't sure he would be able to pull it over even with the block-and-tackle so we called it a day and decided to come back the next day with more help.
Today at 11:00 groundman and I met, and I had all the ropes set and ready to go. cinched up the block-and-tackle, got some other ropes tied on to the main one (so the two other guys could pull on the same rope without getting in each other's way) and we sat around for 30 minutes until the other guys finally showed. I told them the plan, and we set to it. I climbed up (with yet another short 5/8" rope I had tied on the day before) and cut my notch and backcut. I had told them that the b-and-t would give the strength to pull the branch upright, but once it got maxed out and the branch started to tip over, they really needed to keep the momentum going so it would fall where we needed it to.
I cut, they pulled, and the branch came crashing down - not where I wanted, but close to the fence again, and again tagging it a bit with the smaller branches, but no damage. It was down! I was alive and in one piece, the big branches were down, and the rest was ground work. I tied on to the top of the trunk, lowered myself down, and used that final rope to pull down the trunk and THAT one went exactly where I wanted it to. A 40" wide notch will overcome any wind or sideways pull. Tree was down. No damage done to the fence, but I was out a climbing rope, and one of the clips on my foot ascender was broken, but still operable.
So I came home, grabbed my spurs and headed inside. I found my wife, got down on one knee, presented the spurs to her and recited the little speech I had worked on while driving home - it went something like this:
"Milady, I pledge to thee my honor and my fidelity, and hereby present to thee my spurs, through which I have successfully undertaken great toil and hardship for thee, not to mention the fact that I spent a lot of money on them. I hereby retire to thee my climbing spurs."
She laughed, and asked if I was serious, and I told her I was retiring from climbing trees. I'm too old, I don't know enough, I don't do it often enough, it's too dangerous, and I don't make all that much money off of it, although I usually manage to score a fair bit of wood. I would no longer climb a tree unless it was a clear place to drop branches, no fences, houses, cars, or power lines, and not too high or dead, unless it was easy rigging. No more dangerous climbing for me. She was happy to hear that, for she hates it when I climb, and wonders if she will still have a husband by the end of the day.
Anyway, I'm hoping to get all or most of the wood. I'll tell the tree service my climbing price will be lower if I get the wood.
So there you have it. No, I'm not selling any equipment, unless it be a rather short length of 5/8" climbing rope.
