Ever get funny looks about climbing?

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miko0618

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Sometimes when I tell customers I have to or am going to climb their tree, I get a dumbfounded look. It's usually followed up by some type of concern. And I know for sure I have lost jobs because of it. Some people want to be home to watch me so they can stop me before I get hurt.

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Sometimes when I tell customers I have to or am going to climb their tree, I get a dumbfounded look. It's usually followed up by some type of concern. And I know for sure I have lost jobs because of it. Some people want to be home to watch me so they can stop me before I get hurt.

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Everyone assumes that I have a bucket or lift, I get the same look about 1/2 the time when I say I climb.
I recently did a removal for a retired firefighter that used to do high angle rescue and such, even he said I was crazy when I started spiking up the tree and swung around the canopy from my tie in point
I can say I've lost one job for sure to it though, oh well, I look at it like this though, if they were paranoid about me climbing, I can only wonder how paranoid they would be when they see a 600 pound limb is rigging out of the tree over their brand new " TREK"deck lol
 
Oh for sure. I just get an image of what they must be seeing in their heads as soon as I say "I'm gonna climb it".

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...... Some people want to be home to watch me so they can stop me before I get hurt.
......
"No...don't worry about that. You being home just means the coroner gets here a little quicker - at that point, it doesn't make a difference to me one way or the other."
 
I did a job in a lot next to the building containing a Worksafe BC regional office. The lunchroom looked out over the tree I was removing. Due to the position of the tree, I could only due part of it from the bucket and had to climb out to finish it. As I climbed out of the bucket, the people in the lunchroom were holding their heads with looks of terror on their faces. Pretty humourous actually.
 
Try being 65 yrs old with a white beard and talking about climbing. I do DDRT, so the first 10--15' getting off the ground looks very slow & awkward, until there's enough weight of rope to make my footlock work well. I wonder if some people are thinking "That poor old guy can barely make it."

Most of my work does not require climbing. I'm up on rope or climbing with gaffs maybe 4-6 times a month, and enjoy the hell out of being able to do it well.

Rock climbing is huge in this area, so the average person is more aware that people do things on rope. But at first mention of me climbing, they're probably picturing freehand climbing and wondering WTF.
 
Try being 65 yrs old with a white beard and talking about climbing.

It used to be they thought we were crazy for doing it. Now, they don't believe we can do it. When they see us do it, they're back to thinking we're crazy. I've been tempted to haul a wheelchair or one of those aluminum walkers up in the tree with me just to see them run for their smartphones and log onto Facebook.
 
use it for the first 20 feet.

I've done the same. It takes less time to set a ladder to a low limb and work up from there, than to Big Shot a throwline and set a climbline, when I can carry it up with me, clipped in already. We use the ladder sometimes to do polesaw work from a roof. But it's rare to carry a ladder and it always feels funny, like I should sneak in the back way 'cause I don't want anyone thinking I'm that kind of tree guy.
 
We will get elaborate with our ladder setups. Especially getting the limb tips out of the damn phone and cable lines to the house. We set 1 line to support the ladder in case it slips and another line to tie in to. We've tied into the tree and put a step ladder on the dump box and pole sawed from it. The people that see it don't recognize the tie in line. It's kind of embarrassing lol.

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We will get elaborate with our ladder setups. Especially getting the limb tips out of the damn phone and cable lines to the house. We set 1 line to support the ladder in case it slips and another line to tie in to. We've tied into the tree and put a step ladder on the dump box and pole sawed from it. The people that see it don't recognize the tie in line. It's kind of embarrassing lol.

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Yeah Here in the suburbs it's the same. I quoted a job today to clear a maple away from lines going to a house. There were 9 total! 9!!!!!!!
 
Sounds like a fun time

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It's always something. Always!

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I passed on a job today because (among other reasons) along with several trees to be cleared from utility lines there was one Ponderosa Pine with the power drop and some comm. on one side, and phone and another comm. 2' away on the other side. Probably doable without sweat, but a headache I don't need if anything happened to go south.
 
I bid a job last week for a guy to trim a tree out of his yard. He wanted to get a shed installed , so I told him to wait till the job was done since there was no good rigging point for the limb and it would make my life a lot easier.
Well my guys showed up on Saturday to do the job and guess what was sitting right under the Limb -.-

And this guy seriously picked the cheapest, most flimsy shed I've ever seen , it looks like a kids play house from toys r us compared to the one I built myself.
 
I passed on a job today because (among other reasons) along with several trees to be cleared from utility lines there was one Ponderosa Pine with the power drop and some comm. on one side, and phone and another comm. 2' away on the other side. Probably doable without sweat, but a headache I don't need if anything happened to go south.
Not uncommon around here for tree to be surrounded on both sides by wires. In my opinion it just keeps you on your heels when you notch the stem .

Ever see the face of a home owner when you drop a 30 foot stem between lines a foot away on each side and in between two houses?
 
It used to be they thought we were crazy for doing it. Now, they don't believe we can do it. When they see us do it, they're back to thinking we're crazy. I've been tempted to haul a wheelchair or one of those aluminum walkers up in the tree with me just to see them run for their smartphones and log onto Facebook.
Jeff...it really helps when you remember to wear pants...and you dont show up in a hearse/icecream truck from hell...
 
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