Climbing question for you guys

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adronetree

ArboristSite Operative
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I used to climb when I was young for a year or so. Then I hired guys better and faster than me to climb and I stayed on the ground directing or running the Bobcat for 12 years.
Now I have moved to Norway and hiring climbers isn't an option, I am the climber again now. Relearning at 40.

I don't have too much trouble but I've found I am quite a bit better and even faster running a double line/blakes than I am climbing with spikes so thats what I'm doing the majority of the time. Basically, I am spikeless climbing even when its not needed.

I seem to be doing the opposite of what I learned in the past. Originally when I started I didn't even run a safety line but only lanyard/spikes with no climbing rope...:confused:

As long as there is a spot to set a rope then I am moving up and down with the rope and only using my spikes and lanyard for positioning or rotating and or extra attachment point when I need to move my rope or when I'm ready to make a cut.

My lanyard seems to be in the way when I'm going up or down anymore so most of the time it is not connected.
The way I learned along time ago was spikes/lanyard and then the rope as safety unless the tree needed to be spikeless for pruning or whatever. All the guys who ever worked for me climb that way as well.

Do you guys think I am getting into a bad or dangerous habit by relying primarily on my rope rather than on my spikes/lanyard?
I question the safety of it it myself but I do like working with the rope alot better than the constant impact of the spikes and keeping the lanyard connected is an extra pain in the ass for me to keep moving it.
Thanks,
A
 
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I can't imagine you're a whizz on the rope if you've just started back at climbing at 40, so you must be average or slow... and if you're slower on spikes than that then your spiking technique must be pretty bad. Yeah there are guys who compete at the world class level footlocking that can get up a rope quicker than a guy could spike it, but for 95% of climbers, spiking is going to be faster and easier. You need both techniques to work effectively and safely. Having a rope set while spiking is a great practice to be in, and having spikes will let you work safer than you could without.

Start by making sure your spikes are properly sharpened. Blunt spikes won't get you anywhere. Try to watch other guys spiking, and get someone experienced to critique you if you can. In general, I'd say beginners tend to have blunt spikes, keep themselves in too close to the tree (bad spike angle), keep their lanyard too low on the tree (lots of extra strain on your back/legs) and move forwards/backwards too much when flipping their lanyard (causing themselves to gaff out).

Shaun
 
Climbing via rope with your lanyard attached to the tree would only slow you down, because yoiu ahve to stop at every limb and reset your lanyard above it. If you're using a quality arborist rope in good condition and have it anchored properly there is no reason you can't or shouldn't climb rope only until you reach your work station, and then lanyard in once yoiu're there.

I won't use spikes for climbing unless it's necessary, mostly for positioning where spikes are the best/only option, but for ascending the tree spikes are just too hard on my joints/knees/hips, they put everything in an uncomfortable bind. I would imagine that guys who have climbed for years on spikes end up with a lot of joint problems.

As for me, spikes are great for positioning quickly/easily, but not so great for climbing.
 
It has only been this year that I started using a rope a lot and I topped my first tree in 83 or 82 . Properly sharpened gaffs/ spurs are super important. Some guys work hard to get the teeth on their saw sharp. But ignore their spurs. They both have to cut bark and wood to work right .
 
Hey

Hmm, yeah I wouldn't say I'm a whizz...after watching a friend here who was the European speed climbing champion I would say most everyone I have seen is not a "whizz".
I have employed climbers daily for 14 years or more and done a bit of climbing during the time. And yes I would say I'm somewhere between average and slow with spikes but I'm dam near the speed of any climber I've ever used when it comes to hip thrusting or walking the tree with the blakes.....Footlocking I don't even bother with...i think its more trouble than its worth... and I'm usually wearing spikes anyway....

Thanks for the advice or reminder on sharpening....its something I very rarely do so I'll pay more attention to that. I use geckos but lately i've been experimenting with wolf claws which have wider bulkier points which seem harder to sink for me. I think the wood here is more dense than Georgia as well. Not too much bark. Most guys here are using pole gaffs basically. You'll never sink longer ones enough to need them.

I'm not too worried about super production speed at this point. Things work a little different here. Back home thats why I hire guys who are super fast climbers to knock out 10 or 20 trees a day.... I'd be lucky to climb, cut, and process 3 or 4 sixty footers in a day here. There's usually only 2 of us as well.
Here every tree gets cut into firewood length and usually on the job, almost everything we would chip they use and keep here in Norway...So the ground work is much slower. Most every job is a hand carry and every piece is a 12 inch cut or so to fit in their ovens....

I agree with you that your chances of something going wrong are reduced when you always have the flip line attached and spiked in though. Highly unlikely but I guess the rope could break or you could cut through it maybe but that cable's never going to let you fall....


imagineero said:
I can't imagine you're a whizz on the rope if you've just started back at climbing at 40, so you must be average or slow... and if you're slower on spikes than that then your spiking technique must be pretty bad. Yeah there are guys who compete at the world class level footlocking that can get up a rope quicker than a guy could spike it, but for 95% of climbers, spiking is going to be faster and easier. You need both techniques to work effectively and safely. Having a rope set while spiking is a great practice to be in, and having spikes will let you work safer than you could without.

Start by making sure your spikes are properly sharpened. Blunt spikes won't get you anywhere. Try to watch other guys spiking, and get someone experienced to critique you if you can. In general, I'd say beginners tend to have blunt spikes, keep themselves in too close to the tree (bad spike angle), keep their lanyard too low on the tree (lots of extra strain on your back/legs) and move forwards/backwards too much when flipping their lanyard (causing themselves to gaff out).

Shaun
Click to expand...
 
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So people actually do the hip thrust climbing method?????
I'm asking because I don't know. :confused:
I guess with spurs on it makes sense. .

Anyone have any vids of it??

Adronetree, from what I have seen the Wolf spurs are quite a bit wider at the points than some spurs. If I loose a bunch of weight I would like to try the Geko's. The look like they would stick well.

When Was in my 20 s I could go up 80' on a spruce pole in 30 seconds with flipline and spurs. Can't do that now tho.
 
Yeah Tramp, hip thrusting on a blake's is probably the most common method. Most guys down here never go beyond that. It's all arm strength, which is why I prefer srt. I'll still hip thrust if I'm only going up twenty feet or so, but that's about it for me anymore.

To the op, trust your rope, it'll hold ya and can be faster than spurs depending on what you're doing. What type of trees are you doing mainly? Jeff
 
i trust the rope more than the spikes and lanyard. I don't know why you wouldn't. I use my spikes and lanyard to walk up the tree when I hip thrust. the same as you would spike up a tree except my hands are on the rope not the lanyard. I prefer to work from the ropes. I value the spikes ability to give me foot holds. you can limb walk about anything with spikes on. they work best used together. if I had to leave one or the other at home, it would be the spikes.
 
miko0618 said:
i trust the rope more than the spikes and lanyard. I don't know why you wouldn't. I use my spikes and lanyard to walk up the tree when I hip thrust. the same as you would spike up a tree except my hands are on the rope not the lanyard. I prefer to work from the ropes. I value the spikes ability to give me foot holds. you can limb walk about anything with spikes on. they work best used together. if I had to leave one or the other at home, it would be the spikes.
Click to expand...

So do you primarily do removals or pruning ect. ??
 
tramp bushler said:
So people actually do the hip thrust climbing method?????
I'm asking because I don't know. :confused:
.
Click to expand...

All we do, all day every day. I have yet to try SRT, want to, but I am in pretty good physical shape, minus the major spine injury's, but hey, who's counting.............3, so I stay with the old ways, like it too much.
At 42, I weigh around 137lbs, have a 8 pack, looking for the 10, and can hand over hand for hours. Teaching my kids the same way. Cept I am making them learn olD school first. I have not even taught them foot locking yet, just to the point to belay the line with their feet. Just this week I let my oldest clip his seat together instead of traditional one side to one side on the seat. I have foot ascender and some other fancy gadgets, but they stay on the truck most of the time. The only new thing that I have added as of late was the caterpillar friction saver, I really love those things, make it so much easier, very little friction. My middle boy, who has taken the most liking got it, is going to be real good, kid is 180 and freakin jacked! I made him hip thrust about 40ft last week into a birch over a spruce, so as he was going up, the spruce was poking him, so he went as fast as he could. Once he got to his destination and looked back, he was surprised to see how far he went in such little time. You should try it tramp, would be a quick way to drop some pounds and get into that saddle ya want!
I hate spikes too, I use them when I have to, but even on removals, if I have I line set, off come the spikes. I use them mainly when bucking the log on a removal when there is no bark and its hard to keep a line in place or when doing a removal on a "pruned" tree that was actually lion tailed so bad the tree dies. Some of those long aas, strait and smooth branches are not easy to get out to with out any lower branches to climb on
 
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