Spikeless work positioning for trimming Phoenix canariensis

[Chaplain242]

Well done, and great pic!!

 

[mikewhite85]

Great job. They are no fun!

I've seen beastmaster slay quite a few of those!

 

[ptspringer]

I've done about 1/2 the ball now, but had to redirect my climbing line around the tree to do it, as I found it too tiring to attempt advancing the lanyard without improving my technique. I find I need two hands free to adjust the two adjustable lanyards, and that they are difficult to adjust when weighted. I think I'm going to add a rope grab/lanyard attached to the short rope (that is girth-hitched onto a frond) and my bridge. That way I can ascend use the foot ascender and then capture my weight on the short rope, while having two hands free to adjust each of the other now unweighted lanyards. Perhaps that is the method Chaplain was suggesting all along, and I'm only now understanding.

To transition lanyards, I plan to ascend as high as possible using the short rope. Cinch my left lanyard tight, and release/remove my right lanyard. Next I will remove the short rope and hang from only my former left hand lanyard while moving the short rope from a right to a left side frond. Next I will ascend the short rope, and transition my former right hand lanyard to the left of the short rope. So my old right lanyard becomes my new left one, and so on...

Does this sound right?

 

[ptspringer]

I've seen beastmaster slay quite a few of those![/QUOTE]

I hope I'm not slaying, but just trimming while doing no harm to the trunk.

 

[Chaplain242]

I've done about 1/2 the ball now, but had to redirect my climbing line around the tree to do it, as I found it too tiring to attempt advancing the lanyard without improving my technique. I find I need two hands free to adjust the two adjustable lanyards, and that they are difficult to adjust when weighted. I think I'm going to add a rope grab/lanyard attached to the short rope (that is girth-hitched onto a frond) and my bridge. That way I can ascend use the foot ascender and then capture my weight on the short rope, while having two hands free to adjust each of the other now unweighted lanyards. Perhaps that is the method Chaplain was suggesting all along, and I'm only now understanding.

To transition lanyards, I plan to ascend as high as possible using the short rope. Cinch my left lanyard tight, and release/remove my right lanyard. Next I will remove the short rope and hang from only my former left hand lanyard while moving the short rope from a right to a left side frond. Next I will ascend the short rope, and transition my former right hand lanyard to the left of the short rope. So my old right lanyard becomes my new left one, and so on...

Does this sound right?

Yes pretty much. There is a rhythm to it.

It sounds harder, but I find easier to feed lanyard from left to right over fronds, when circling palm clockwise (looking at ground). This is more energy efficient on retrieval as it is hard to get lanyard clip jammed when retrieving resulting in efforts to free it.

You can put your left foot attached to your short rope out to your left, and jam foot against trunk, whilst stepping up, with right hand gripping a frond above you, and left hand advancing left lanyard to the left. When fed over fronds rest yourself down, and clip in left lanyard. Step up and tension left lanyard and then undo right.

More little steps but easier than swapping lanyard sides. Could get away with lanyard side swapping but I would probably get tired quicker too, as bigger sideways movements require more strength. Methodical smaller steps in a rhythm may win the day better for you. Try both methods and see what works.

This is why I love ladders when doing palms like this...

 

[DSW]

I'm glad I don't work on palms.

I'd end up spiking every single one if I had to do it every day.

 

[ptspringer]

Sorry if it seems like ages to get this palm tree trimmed, but I have a good excuse (twin grandchildren born last week). I'm going to try the following instead of using two lanyards. After climbing the SRT rope (white one), I skip a frond to the left and install a lanyard on the next frond (blue one) and lower myself on to it. Next, I advance my climbing line to the third frond as shown using a friction hitch and carabiner on my climbing line. I can easily use the climbing line to raise and lower myself while being continuously able to belay to the ground and reascend if needed. This avoids a 2nd lanyard, short rope & foot ascender. By moving 3 fronds to the left each time I should have approximately 7 positions around the tree. My climbing line will follow me around the tree, and I'll reconnect directly once I circumnavigate the tree.

 

[ptspringer]

I'm finally done! Nest year I'll try to be more artistic with the ball. Thank you everybody for your help, especially Chaplain242 and Jefflovstrom.