It was a hell of a ride...

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TheJollyLogger

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Well, I took quite the ride last week. It was about a 60' aspen with about a 10 degree lean towards the swingset and chicken coop. It looked fine, healthy canopy, no signs of decay, no red flags at all. I went up to take the top out, probably a 10-150foot top. Rigged it, notched it, and as I was making the backcut, I felt it lean, more than it should of. I crammed the saw through the hinge, braced for the rebound..... and it kept going over. My first thought was it uprooted, but as you can see, it just completely failed at the stump. Hit the swingset, broke, and ended up in the coop. I rolled right at the last instant and took the hit on my shoulder. I had surgery last friday, and am looking at 3 months of PT, with an expectation of a full recovery. All things considered, it sure could have been worse.

This has always been my biggest concern, hidden structural defect, and it came to pass. There were no external signs, and it felt fine on the way up.
 
You know what sucks, is anytime soomething goes wrong, I always go back and figure out what I could have done differently. This was just a case of the wrong damn tree. It's kind of haunting me, because I wouldn't hve done anything differently with the information I had.
 
You know what sucks, is anytime soomething goes wrong, I always go back and figure out what I could have done differently. This was just a case of the wrong damn tree. It's kind of haunting me, because I wouldn't hve done anything differently with the information I had.
You need a portable x-ray machine (for the trees, not suggesting you'll need more x-rays). I know that you are a very experienced climber. That one would've gotten any climber in the world. Except me. I'm terrified of heights (actually of falling, really) and would have just fallen it into the coop and swing set from the ground. Like usual. Speedy and complete recovery wishes from highway 290
 
You know what sucks, is anytime soomething goes wrong, I always go back and figure out what I could have done differently. This was just a case of the wrong damn tree. It's kind of haunting me, because I wouldn't hve done anything differently with the information I had.

Kinda sucks to roll the dice with your life sometimes to make a living.
Sorry to hear the law of averages caught up to you. Hope you heal up quick.
 
Were you strapped in all the way down? That's some scary **** man, glad you're going to be ok. So you were in the part of the tree that broke on the playset and went over that into the coop too?
At least the customer should have no doubt now that the tree was a risk and should have come down!
 
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