Have YOU ever took the plunge?

[MasterBlaster]

Hahahaha.

Too bad you didn't tape it.

 

[glens]

You should have tied the sections together, too.

 

[hobby climber]

That happened over 10 years ago and I've only been doing tree work as a biz/hobby for 4 years now. It's vary rare that I use a ladder but when I do the two sections ARE tied together. Lesson learned...the hard way but learned just the same! HC

 

[xander9727]

Ladders are bad for tree work. Except for a few limited scenarios there is usually a better way.

My $.02

 

[Tom D. Wilson]

not falling out of a tree but gave myself a nice bruise on my right knee banging it against a stub and fell abou 16' through a barn roof that we were dismantling, managed to hit the only piece of ground that wasnt coverd in nails and boards and cr@p. hurt my knee on landing, add that to a car crash a month later and a football (soccer to you yanks) injury which ment i couldnt walk for a 4 days and still gives me stick when i'm sat still or turn sharp. But then i know two climbers who have broken their back - one on a motor bike the other snow boarding and they stil climb.

 

[jmchristopher]

I've never tried to be a "dirt dart" (that term is permanently stuck in my head now) but the worst accident I had in a tree ( as against the time I ran the saw through my thigh while on the ground) was when I thought I could free spike just a few feet in a Black oak. There were lots of branches, no sweat, I thought. I kicked out, but had my right hand secured in a nice fork. In an instant all my weight hit my arm, it snapped tight and my shoulder dislocated. My fist held me hanging like it was a chock. My groundsman said I turned sheet white with the pain, but I kind of shrugged my shoulder back into place and thought I'd carry on working. A few minutes later, as I reached for a drop line, my arm fell out of my shoulder socket again. With a few months of Physical Therapy I was able to climb, but I've never been able to throw overhand since. Stupid, stupid, stupid!

 

[jason j ladue]

A few minutes later, as I reached for a drop line, my arm fell out of my shoulder socket again. !

wow! yesss! cool injury/mental image... hope it healed okay. i bet it still hurts when you lay on it though

 

[daddieslilgirl]

nope no how no way! i wouldnt climb a tree if my life depended on it! to scared of heights! but i have fallen !ss over tea kettle out of the skidder a "few" times, does that count? lol

 

[Shaun Bowler]

I have had a few close call that could match anyone out there. I believe that treeworkers are drawn towards this work this work for reasons we may not understand.
If you have been doing this as long as I have,( you probably resemble MB in one way or another) it is a little luck, and self awareness,that brings you home.. everyday.
A connection with nature allow the lucky ones to feel the tree. You go from there.

 

[Old Monkey]

I have had a few close call that could match anyone out there.

Dude, knock on wood or something. That's not something to boast about even if it is true. :angel:

 

[Shaun Bowler]

believe me when I say this "I am not boasting". I am sharing with this community, some of us "have it", and some don't.
I think it is good that a lot of people that get into it, ( treework) discover that not everyone is cut out for this work.

 

[P_woozel]

Elaborate on "it" if you could.

 

[Shaun Bowler]

I would,
If you have to ask....

 

[Old Monkey]

MB can't defend himself now but its "taken." Have you ever taken the plunge? Every time this thread pops back up it bugs me. :alien:

 

[jason j ladue]

shawn, what exactly is "it"? luck? a guardian angel? i'm not superstitious (it brings bad luck), but i gotta side w/ old monkey on this one, you better touch wood bro...

 

[Shaun Bowler]

Dam alright already.
1.I don't understand about MB defending, there is no need to.
2.It... Inituitve. "Quick and ready insight. The power or faculty of knowing things without conscious reasoning."
As opposed to luck.
For me it means knowing whatever moves I make in a tree for any reason, will be based on experience, education, and the situation.
However, to take action and be sucessful, in stressful or simple work enviorments, I enter every time knowing that I will make the right choice. 24years and still climbing.
I have never cut myself. I never feel out of a tree. I have slipped and swung a bunch of times. I had my first knee sugergy two weeks ago. I will be back at work in two weeks. I am a great climber. Not better than anyone else.
I don't want to argue Old Monkey..

 

[jason j ladue]

yeah, i figured that's about what you were getting at, shaun. dont get defensive now. i didnt mean to challenge you in any way- nor do ithink that was old monkeys intent. i just wanted to make sure what the heck you were talkin bout. it seems quite apparent that you are a climber w/ much experience, so i automatically key into your words. like you, i also have 20+ years of treework experience under my belt- yet i strive constantly for further insight. i do consider myself somewhat fortunate. i was blessed w/ a healthy dose of providence, and i am thankful every day for it. meanwhile, i make a concentrated effort to operate w/in my capacities and i am more in tune w/them w/ each movement i make. currently i feel like i am at the top of my game- hitting my stride. i can relate to your intuitiveness, and perhaps it is that sense what makes me better now than ever. use the force...

 

[Old Monkey]

Dam alright already.
1.I don't understand about MB defending, there is no need to.
2.It... Inituitve. "Quick and ready insight. The power or faculty of knowing things without conscious reasoning."
As opposed to luck.
For me it means knowing whatever moves I make in a tree for any reason, will be based on experience, education, and the situation.
However, to take action and be sucessful, in stressful or simple work enviorments, I enter every time knowing that I will make the right choice. 24years and still climbing.
I have never cut myself. I never feel out of a tree. I have slipped and swung a bunch of times. I had my first knee sugergy two weeks ago. I will be back at work in two weeks. I am a great climber. Not better than anyone else.
I don't want to argue Old Monkey..

Everyone is my brother here. I prefer discuss not argue, unless you want to weigh in on the Mexican Illegals thread. I just get worried when folks seem to jinx themselves by talking a little too big. If I didn't care about folks, I wouldn't worry. I've worked for a lot of "the best climbers" evidently. They all couldn't have been the best though and I not sure if thats something a person ought to try to be. Safe, productive, reliable, I like those better and it sounds like that's where your at.

Do I come across argumentative on this site? It is not my intention. :angel:

 

[pantheraba]

2.It... Inituitve. "Quick and ready insight. The power or faculty of knowing things without conscious reasoning."
As opposed to luck.
For me it means knowing whatever moves I make in a tree for any reason, will be based on experience, education, and the situation.

Three falls -- was never top-roped then...always do now...I'll get to the instincts last.

1. I was using my spurs and belt (no saddle back then) to set a big rope for a "commando crawl " (obstacle course) in a hemlock deep in the Cohuttas in N. GA. A spur (tree, not line gaff) must have kicked out. I don't know if the spike entered my lower right quad, just above the knee, when it kicked out or when I landed in the soft straw. But I still have a V shaped scar above my knee...only got meat, no tendons or ligaments. The ole boy driving the Scout taking me to the doctor got it stuck in the mud...they cut down a small tree to leverage to jeep out of the mud...that took about an hour while I held pressure to staunch the bleeding…got 8-9 stitches.

2. I already related this somewhere else recently...long story short, when I first worked for a real tree company, I only knew how to rappel. I found myself about 90 feet up tall pines in June in Atlanta, spraying them for pine beetles...hot, nasty, dehydrating work. I didn’t have a link so I used my belt most of the way down and then hand over handed from about 25 feet. My grip gave out about 10 feet up and I crashed in a heap at the boss's feet...hot, wore out, embarrassed but OK...he just spit his chaw and said, "Da- -, boy, I ain't never seen it done like that". That was my first day as a climber.

3. Instincts...after I have been with this crew awhile, the other climber, a great guy with a lot of skill and experience was teaching me a lot. I trusted him ... a lot. So, when I was about 20 feet up a BIG trunked dead oak that my belt wouldn't go around at the ground I had a sudden urge to belt on...again, no top rope, just me and the tree. As I got set to put my belt around the tree, Mike said, "There's a limb about 2 feet above you...get your belt above that and you'll be safer." I tried to do what he said...the very next step, the spur kicked out of the dead wood and I hugged the trunk as I slid down...was doing pretty good, just grunting a lot until I hit the bulge of an old limb at about 10 feet. It threw me out away from the trunk and I landed mostly on my right wrist. I thought I was OK, sat out awhile, they told me I looked real white. I went back up and cut the first limb but as it fell I found I couldn't hold the saw right. Got down, finished the day, had trouble driving my stick shift home, went to the hospital, and, yep, the wrist was broken...small bone called the navicula. Took 2 months in a cast to heal.

I realize now that my instincts were good. I listen a lot more to me now than I do to them...especially if my way may take a little longer but is safer.

And I appreciate all the info you guys share here...I am picking up ideas and techniques that increase my safety awareness.

 

[jmack]

foolish

i had a red maple td 23 dbh new saddle and lanyard setup, never pre inspected my gear before starting to climb. lanyard was 2n1 style with carabiner attachment to belt with leather trap. spiked up 25' and was leaning back with stihl 036 and bang started to fall. This made me mad because I thought I broke the carabiner and if I lived I was gonna make someone pay!, I had clipped the far end of the lanyard to my accesory strap (the 2nd clip not in use) this grabbed the trunk finally and Hulahooped me around the tree once which slowed me down. After I got up and inspected myself (bruised and sore) and equipment I found that Biner was intact and the trap was attached to the dee and the biner it held intially but when i leaned back it broke (of course) and dumped me. always pre chek your gear

its a lifestyle