Shaun Bowler said:
2.It... Inituitve. "Quick and ready insight. The power or faculty of knowing things without conscious reasoning."
As opposed to luck.
For me it means knowing whatever moves I make in a tree for any reason, will be based on experience, education, and the situation.
Three falls -- was never top-roped then...always do now...I'll get to the instincts last.
1. I was using my spurs and belt (no saddle back then) to set a big rope for a "commando crawl " (obstacle course) in a hemlock deep in the Cohuttas in N. GA. A spur (tree, not line gaff) must have kicked out. I don't know if the spike entered my lower right quad, just above the knee, when it kicked out or when I landed in the soft straw. But I still have a V shaped scar above my knee...only got meat, no tendons or ligaments. The ole boy driving the Scout taking me to the doctor got it stuck in the mud...they cut down a small tree to leverage to jeep out of the mud...that took about an hour while I held pressure to staunch the bleeding…got 8-9 stitches.
2. I already related this somewhere else recently...long story short, when I first worked for a real tree company, I only knew how to rappel. I found myself about 90 feet up tall pines in June in Atlanta, spraying them for pine beetles...hot, nasty, dehydrating work. I didn’t have a link so I used my belt most of the way down and then hand over handed from about 25 feet. My grip gave out about 10 feet up and I crashed in a heap at the boss's feet...hot, wore out, embarrassed but OK...he just spit his chaw and said, "Da- -, boy, I ain't never seen it done like that". That was my first day as a climber.
3. Instincts...after I have been with this crew awhile, the other climber, a great guy with a lot of skill and experience was teaching me a lot. I trusted him ... a lot. So, when I was about 20 feet up a BIG trunked dead oak that my belt wouldn't go around at the ground I had a sudden urge to belt on...again, no top rope, just me and the tree. As I got set to put my belt around the tree, Mike said, "There's a limb about 2 feet above you...get your belt above that and you'll be safer." I tried to do what he said...the very next step, the spur kicked out of the dead wood and I hugged the trunk as I slid down...was doing pretty good, just grunting a lot until I hit the bulge of an old limb at about 10 feet. It threw me out away from the trunk and I landed mostly on my right wrist. I thought I was OK, sat out awhile, they told me I looked real white. I went back up and cut the first limb but as it fell I found I couldn't hold the saw right. Got down, finished the day, had trouble driving my stick shift home, went to the hospital, and, yep, the wrist was broken...small bone called the navicula. Took 2 months in a cast to heal.
I realize now that my instincts were good. I listen a lot more to me now than I do to them...especially if my way may take a little longer but is safer.
And I appreciate all the info you guys share here...I am picking up ideas and techniques that increase my safety awareness.