View cuts spikeless?

Arborist Forum

Help Support Arborist Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

xtremetrees

Addicted to ArboristSite
Joined
Feb 11, 2004
Messages
1,095
Reaction score
0
Location
GA
Who has ever heard of topping out a view cut spikeless?

This is restricted to mountian area tree folks above 2000 feet.It is the bread and butter of many shops. They may climb 600 verticle feet topping out views for a new cabin just built on a cliftin a average day. The result is toped out trees but the views can be breathtaking.. I have done it many a day.
But being ISA C.A. I can no longer offer this service.
1.) It always a steep slope the treees on, virtually impossible to throwball
2.) Throwball and top?? WTheck.
3.) How can a C.A. be and offer a service in mountainous areas>?

In some way I think this one applies being a C.A. is like shooting yourself in the foot.

Any C.A.'s over 2000 feet up?
 
xtremetrees said:
Who has ever heard of topping out a view cut spikeless?

This is restricted to mountian area tree folks above 2000 feet.It is the bread and butter of many shops. They may climb 600 verticle feet topping out views for a new cabin just built on a cliftin a average day. The result is toped out trees but the views can be breathtaking.. I have done it many a day.
But being ISA C.A. I can no longer offer this service.
1.) It always a steep slope the treees on, virtually impossible to throwball
2.) Throwball and top?? WTheck.
3.) How can a C.A. be and offer a service in mountainous areas>?

In some way I think this one applies being a C.A. is like shooting yourself in the foot.

Any C.A.'s over 2000 feet up?

I guess I've been in FL too long. What does elevation have to do with the ability to toss a throwball? :popcorn:
 
It means standing on one leg and throw on a 30 degree angel then walk thru majorlimbage and throw again.. Not gonna dress the topping issues?
If it werent for topping noone would have a view.

Yes some cut them all down and yes some cut lanes and finally yes others still delimb them all the way up to see thru .. but mostly they just top for spectacular views.It its been severals years sence I've worked in the mountains topping for views is the rage.

When the brush is chipped, we would make a pile and sence it up with a cable then jump on top of it ride it up the hill via the cable on the big stick boom. You could wench it up the hill but youd burn a winch out in a day.
 
Last edited:
Treeman14 said:
I guess I've been in FL too long. What does elevation have to do with the ability to toss a throwball? :popcorn:


I guess you have palms to climb a plenty uprooted and all. Beings you from FLA but you sound like ya from the natth.

I cant see a C.A. doing a decent living in these semi mountainous regions. Hold up to the ethics in this given situation and well you'll go hungry friend. Dont matter if you got a plenty work or not. It just isnt cost effective.
 
Last edited:
Are you worried about your fellow ISA guys ratting you out? Do it, don't be shy. Not one ISA guy on this site would ask one of Canada's biggest utility outfits why they let everyone spur around power when all of thier supervisors are ISA certified. Pathetic, get the spurs on, get up the trees and give people the view they want.
 
TreeCo said:
I'm telling.
Are you going to tell the ISA that B.C. Hydro lets thousands of miles of trees by powerlines get spurred, given the fact that all of the vegetatation supervisors are ISA certified? B.C. Hydro uses the "good" name of the ISA to mislead people into thinking they are qualified and have the trees best interests at heart, I couldn't give a flying ----, but you ISA types should back up what you spout off about, really, to be true and consistent.
 
Make sure you have atleast a few throw lines, little practice on Big Shot makes it much easier to hit those small holes to thread your climbing lines.
They' may think the tree(s) already having to be topped, why spike it too?
They' are going to have the work done, and the way they' want it.
They' sure love their view in the mountains.
....better than cutting them down.
 
clearance said:
Are you going to tell the ISA that B.C. Hydro lets thousands of miles of trees by powerlines get spurred, given the fact that all of the vegetatation supervisors are ISA certified? B.C. Hydro uses the "good" name of the ISA to mislead people into thinking they are qualified and have the trees best interests at heart, I couldn't give a flying ----, but you ISA types should back up what you spout off about, really, to be true and consistent.

Clearance, is that true that BC Hydro spur climb prune jobs?

Also, frankly, unless there is a law or reg against it enforced by some govt dept there is a big fat f_all anyone can do about it.

About the only thing left is voluntry enforcement by getting everyone to be certified and stick to a code of ethics. Now that could be wiggly with the ISA.

Over here, your CA is from colleges and an education that cant be taken away, you will always be a CA, however you can (not must) be a member of arb associations like ISA or TCA or QAA etc then you cant do it coz of the code of ethics and professional behaviour.

So guess what, people throw away their memberships as they keep their CA and can top, hack, spur butcher and do whatever the heck thay want coz .... no regs.

If the tree doesn't have a protection order then you can do what you like in essence. And most trees around here dont have one so the righteous can be the fools for sure.

It's a big black area that is up to local govt to enforce regs, and those trees near power lines dont have any protection or regs right?
 
xtreme I've done a lot of vista pruning spikeless. There are several threads in the archives here about topping vs. reduction for view. The best compromise I've worked on was to remove some tall-growing trees in a sight line and replant with apple trees. ;)

re ethics for ca, what are you talking about? ISA members' ethics are below; bcma ethics are 13 pages of lawyerly overkill, but there is no separate code for ca that I know of. So what are you talking about?

I spiked an oak yesterday to set a line in a dead pine that was leaning in it. That was the safest and most practical way to do it. ANSI allows spiking in the bush and in some other situations where a throwline is not safe or practical. Nothing in the wording below forbids it that I can see.

ISA members will:

Strive for continuous self-development by increasing their qualifications and technical proficiency by staying abreast of technological and scientific developments affecting the profession.

Not misuse or omit material facts in promoting technical information, products or services if the effect would be to mislead or misrepresent.

Hold paramount the safety and health of all people and endeavor to protect property and the environment in the performance of professional responsibilities.

Subscribe to fair and honest business practices in dealing with clients, suppliers, employees and other professionals.

Support the improvement of professional services and products through encouraging research and development.

Observe the standards and promote adherence to the ethics embodied in this Code.
 
treeseer said:
I spiked an oak yesterday to set a line in a dead pine that was leaning in it. That was the safest and most practical way to do it. ANSI allows spiking in the bush and in some other situations where a throwline is not safe or practical.

Couldn't set a line with a big shot? Even this old dinosaur realizes these new toys make the job much easier. :)
 
Dadatwins said:
Couldn't set a line with a big shot? Even this old dinosaur realizes these new toys make the job much easier. :)
no, pine was too tangled in oak.
 
I'm in the mountains, and I've done plenty of view work with no spurs, no topping. It's usually better to remove trees outright than top them or over-reduce them. It's not too hard, really, except getting brush out, or talking the homeowners into cutting windows framed with nice trees rather than clearcutting a panorama. "View crack" is what we call it, they get a little bit of view and they always want more. Personally, I'll only go so far, they can find someone else if they want to scar the landscape just so they can see the next ridge and make everyone below look at their house. I've had great success in convincing people to moderate cutting, having trees within a view can be pretty nice.
 
I'm with est take a softer approach. I do vista spikeless all the time, usually in the seventy foot range down. I won't do topping, but will do removals.
 
Nice post. Good suggestions. And my hats off to you. Im a short drive to the mountians here and may one day return. I have been trying to help with ridgetop protection, beings you folks live in them you know. The company I worked for did solely topping and bigstick booming out brush. We even went back and re-topped thats no fun climbing thru all that dead stuff.
I'd agree, view crack. ha.
 
Back
Top