my first Fern gully tree take down

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No doubt a better arborist than me could have done it. Unfortunately there aren't any around here. ( where I'm located. )

If ya never try, ya never succeed. I tried. I failed. But I'm still ambulatory. . Part of the reason why I get to live to climb tomorrow. And I will get this one to ground level. And inthe mean time I get to eat humble pie. .

Oh and holding wood. I ain't called a Tramp cause I hung onto a job with guys like you. :msp_rolleyes:
 
I don't think you need to eat any humble pie. That looked like an ugly scene with your ropes bound up in all the suckers on that behemoth. I wasn't thinking to myself how much I would have liked to be there to show you how it was done. Nope. I was sitting here at my computer thanking my lucky stars that nobody asked me to climb that tree.

Most guys wouldn't have the heart to even put a lanyard around it. I think you should take pride in having made a good faith effort, evaluated it from aloft, and then declined to get hurt over your ego or for a few dollars.
 
Look at that. Me and Gologit together on the same side of a tree. Whoda thunk it?

Don't let it go to your head, I'm sure we'll lock horns again. :msp_biggrin:


You were right, though. TB took a good hard look at that tree and chose a better and safer method. That shows judgement. TB is a logger, a production faller, as well as being a climber. He knows how to evaluate risk...he does it every time he works.
If he was working for me I would have backed his play.

If MrHoldenWood was working for me I imagine I'd be sending him home early. Having balls is good...as long as they're not bigger than your brain.
 
It is a good experience for me tho. Helps keep the ego in check. Along with teaching me to have a greater respect for arborists on this site and in general. I honestly wish I could have had one of you to look the tree over with me. .
When I took the vid I honestly figured it would be 2-2 1/2 days of hard and sometimes difficult work. But as more and more junk fell off the tree I lost confidence in my ability to safely get it down while being tied to it.

I will be paying closer attention to my betters on here in the future.
 
You get better and faster at assessing trees in terms of climbing, rigging and time required with experience, but no matter how much experience you have you should never ignore your instincts. Instincts are funny things, they're often hard to justify.... but I can't help think that they're sent to us for a reason! Every accident/injury story I've ever heard starts off with something like "man, I knew something was wrong, I wish I'd listened to my gut feeling on it". It's hard to give credence to those gut feelings when your brain is telling you that things should be fine, but listen to that instinct and it will keep you alive! I think all woodsmen have that sense - fallers and climbers, groundies and rigging slingers.

I don't walk away from many jobs, maybe only one a year, but I never regret it and I never second guess myself. When that sense starts tingling I pack up my gear and live to fight another day.

Shaun
 
I say you made the right call Glen.

The first thing I thought when I saw your pics was "manlift" -- call me a wussy, but I like being alive, and that tree is sketchy -- even dumping it would make my butt pucker.
 
we need to get tramp hooked up with a go pro cam on his hard hat :cheers: ,good call on the man lift ,besides the safe factor ,should speed production a lot ,i love my little snorkle boom for tree work
 
I don't walk away from many jobs either, and it is usually cause of bad vibes from the potential client rather than the tree. Have never regretted letting somebody else absorb the aggravation. I don't know (from just looking at the photos) how climbing that cottonwood to dismantle it would have worked out. Or not......
 
I try to follow a simple rule, NO TREE IS WORTH THE RISK OF INJURY OR DEATH. You came up with another plan and there is no shame in that. There can be a lot of pressure on a climber to get the job done and move on to the next one. Thats how people get hurt. You made the right call.
 
Holden Wood has a valid point and Gologit, remember, NO WHINNING!

So following this logic, a climber man's up, reassesses the tree, and decides either the tree is unsafe or over his capabilities. Looks like this one might have been a little of both. And your response, along with the guy who's always Holden his Wood, is to send him back up to finish the job, as like, what, punishment? Not to mention we don't know where tramp's boss's position on this was from the beginning. If tramp pushed to do the job without a lift, wasted two days and cost his boss money, then they may need to work something out, or part ways, or whatever. Not gonna get involved in that discussion. But a thought process where a climber is mature enough to recognize either his limitations or the true state of the tree( I think it was pdql that made the very valid point that sometimes ya don't know till your up there), and ya'lls response is to make him man up and finish the job is pretty ####ed up in my opinion.
 
Every single tree is a risk of injury or death. It does not need to be big, dead, rotten, or technically challenging.

I know. I had a climber killed in an easy tree. Stupid mistake, he did himself in. The very worst part was that our bucket truck was parked right on the job, waiting to go to work. It would seem that he didn't need any sort of lift for that tree; he could get it done quicker without the bucket.

Kenny was a good guy, it's too bad that he got in a hurry and was complacent about safety.
 
I didn't have peace inside about it once I got it preped. It was fine when we were gettin the suckers down but when I got up it it was real agitated.

Good call, she sure looked nasty. Better to turn around 15 feet up and live to post about it.
 
The only loss to the boss will be the cost of either mobing a lift there and back. Or renting one in Valdez. There are several available there . I figure a Max of half day rental. He told me that if that 1 tree took me 3 days that was fine with him. As long as no one got hurt . I have less than 10 hrs on that tree so far.

No one seems perterbed about my decision yet
The ground guys seemed a little disappointed. Till I told them they could go get the spare belt and spurs and join me up in it. They couldn't have declined my invitation any faster than they did.
I've got all the stuff off it that was hanging over 1 guest house and 1 deck and house. So the time wasn't wasted. I'm home for the rest of the week. 4day weekend.
 
So following this logic, a climber man's up, reassesses the tree, and decides either the tree is unsafe or over his capabilities. Looks like this one might have been a little of both. And your response, along with the guy who's always Holden his Wood, is to send him back up to finish the job, as like, what, punishment? Not to mention we don't know where tramp's boss's position on this was from the beginning. If tramp pushed to do the job without a lift, wasted two days and cost his boss money, then they may need to work something out, or part ways, or whatever. Not gonna get involved in that discussion. But a thought process where a climber is mature enough to recognize either his limitations or the true state of the tree( I think it was pdql that made the very valid point that sometimes ya don't know till your up there), and ya'lls response is to make him man up and finish the job is pretty ####ed up in my opinion.

Actually, if you were following any logic whatsoever you would realize that I didn't say that. All I said was that HW had a point... and for Gologit to remember NO WHINNING. I think you both, in some insecure state of paranoia and need to feel potent, jumped to some conclusion that best suited yourselves. Of course that is just and only what I think and I could be wrong so why would and how could a thick skinned tree man be so offended I don't know. It appears that logic is not the forte of such men.
 

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