anyone have experience identifying dangerous Palm skirts that are ready to fall in a climber ?

[Palm learner]

I have read about the dangers of the skirt / accumulated bunch of hanging old dead fronds from Mexican fan palms slipping down and killing climbers. I have also watched a lot of videos showing failed rescue attempts , retrieving dead climbers .
I also know I'm supposed to throw a like over the top and climb outside the skirt . I have always climbed underneath the skirt .
I have trimmed many Palm trees in the last 7 months , and usually the fronds & "skin" are very well attached and it would be a difficult task to dettach them from the trunk without a chainsaw .

Once I climbed one 1' thick base 40+' Mexican fan Palm about half way up before I decided the skin was detaching and slipping too much as I attempted to reach the top so I climbed down and didn't touch that tree or the one next too it that looked the same (very skinny , once the skin comes off I know there even skinnier )


And then again recently I trimmed about a 40' Mexican fan Palm and not until I was up at the top dos I have lots of problems with the skin slipping and being pushed down . I was already way up there so I slowly finished and it took way longer . I felt like I was on a stair master machine .


I was just wondering if there is any good way to tell when there safe or not safe to climb ?? Because you cannot pull out a frond from most of the trees I touch ... I just want to stay away from the hazardous ones ..


Some observations I've made but not sure if there legit :

I think that if the tree still has skin that has already been spiked in the past that the skin will often be loose and seperating from the tree ..

I also noticed looser skin and skinnier palms in colder more humid climate further up north & on the foggy Bay Area , compared to the Central Valley and Sacramento .


I also think that if the Palm has been skinned from the base up , that possibly the new dead growth on top that has not been "skinned" yet may be more likely to slip down ??

Anyone with hands on experience post here !


I know that I can just look at some old Mexican fan palms and visually see the skin separating from the trunk of the tree and see that obviously those would be a nightmare to climb .

 

[jefflovstrom]

We judge by more than 5 years growth
Jeff

 

[jefflovstrom]

If you feel unsure about a palm skirt, everyone will tell you about srt and shooting a line over the head and basal tie,,
If you are in production or just not experienced enough or maybe you do not have a big shot and gear, I get it,
You can take a FS up with you and lanyard above the FS, and tie in your climb line and progress up,
if you sense movement of the skirt, hug the palm and unclip your lanyard and drop down on your FS ,
If the movement happens so fast that you are unable to unclip your lanyard,
cut it with your saw,
Jeff

 

[beastmaster]

I've climbed thousand of palms, 90% of them from the bottom. It only takes one to trap and suffocate you. I fear old soggy ones my self with many years of growth.
I've srt'ed up many and there are dangers there too.
I started a few years ago after much thought, to using my climbing line as my lanyard and a prussic. I figured if fronds were to collapse on me I could come down fronds and all. Much like using a friction as Jeff said. It might work.