Start climbing this week (first time)

[lovetheoutdoors]

Ok fellas there are 2 guys i work with that do tree work , and i have been wanting to get a little side business started, anyway they offered to learn me and pay me at the same time to climb. Can you guys tell me some basics before i go clueless, i have never climbed with gaffs or spurs , i have always just climbed by the limbs.I bought a good pair of boots with a steal shank ( chippawa). Any tips or advice will be appreciated.

 

[Treeman14]

Learn to climb WITHOUT the spurs. Any idiot can climb a tree with spurs on, but it takes real talent and skill to climb spurless. You'll be a better climber for it.

 

[lovetheoutdoors]

I know someone on here knows something about this subject.....come on fellas point me in the right direction....:help:

 

[Jumper]

The Tree Climber's Companion is as good as any place to start.......

I agree with learning spurless, as that route will open up a lot more opportunity unless you want to work for the McPeak's of the world.

 

[Treeman14]

I know someone on here knows something about this subject.....come on fellas point me in the right direction....:help:

Have you tried the search function yet? This subject has been hashed out many times over the years. Some of the regulars get tired of saying the same thing over and over again to newbies. :bang:

Start low and slow.
Safety first.
Three points of contact.
Two tie-ins while cutting.

What type of setup will you be using?

 

[lovetheoutdoors]

yes i used the search and didnt come up with too much.....just wanted see what was working for everyone as far as climbing.

 

[clearance]

Learn to climb WITHOUT the spurs. Any idiot can climb a tree with spurs on, but it takes real talent and skill to climb spurless. You'll be a better climber for it.

Funny, I was looking at Tom Dunlaps website and he was saying that foot locking was very hard on the body. He said legs and knees are not made to bend like that...people have been permanently injured. Check it out, he recommends a pantin, whatever the hell that is. So people who foot lock are talented and skilled but not idiots for injuring themselves? Example:Treeman thinks he knows all about climbing around power after a one day course=idiot. I'll help you out now, steelcore flipline and decent spurs, Buckingham, Klien, whatever. Try chunking down a big fir, spurless. Never have climbed spurless, but I have limbwalked, must be the same as spurless, weak attachment anyways. With spurs and a steelcore you are planted on the tree, anywhere, branches or not, you can use your body to do anything, without trying to balance yourself. By all means learn both ways, keep an open mind.

 

[pigwot]

Welcome, and safe climbing!! Don't be scared off by the strong opinions on whether wearing spurs make you a real tree man or not... Although I have been on this site for a short time, I have climbed for years. When I started climbing professionally in the early '70s there was a raging debate over the possible harm caused by spiking up a tree you were climbing to prune. Some claimed that the thick-barked trees were okay and thin-barked weren't okay to use spurs on. Others claimed that trees 'healed' from such injuries, others that it would begin their demise. Such debates carried over into the '80s, '90s and even up to '06...
I first climbed 50 to 60 foot oaks when I was 5 years old, without any equipment at all. I was just keeping up with the older kids in the neighborhood...but the important thing is I was developing a true appreciation for the grandeur of trees. I would not dream of 'chunking down' any tree without climbing spurs (unless you have it hanging from a GRCS or crane and the chunks are coming off the bottom). Personally I would not even consider pruning a tree while wearing spurs. How healthy is it for you to go to a barber who is a midget if he has to spike up your leg to cut your hair? Yet just last week, while pruning a large, old storm-damaged maple, I had my groundie tie my spurs on to my climbing line, hauled them up and put them on to take a damaged branch down from over a trailer. Once back to the main section of the tree, off they came, gently lowered again to the ground. There is a place and time for every piece of equipment in your kit, and an appropriate, safe way to use every item, too. Aquiring this knowledge base is the task you must take on to do this work and survive. Read everything you can. Talk to anyone you can find, line clearance crews and the sometimes more cerebral certified arborists, too. Both camps can be opinionated to a fault. Yet, we all have good information, whether book-learned or streetwise. I know that if I ever experience an accident while pruning a mature tree I'd want a seasoned crew of powerline clearers to be passing by right at that moment...they can get up a tree faster than most. In 36 years of climbing I'm glad for several things: 1. never an accident more than a cut finger when these fancy tri-cut blades came on the scene, 2. never an insurance claim, 3. never had a member of my crews hurt, 4. still love to get up in a tree, despite the arthritis and age-related-changes.
So be safe, think safe, and climb safe, while you have fun learning the best skill/occupation out there. And, wear your spurs when they are appropriate for the job.
-pigwot

 

[diltree]

Climbing

Climbing can be cool and fun....but gets tiresome after a while...id say just skip the climbing and find yourself a bucket....but thats just me, I prefer the equipment...I think a nice bucket is allot more fun...just me

www.dillontree.com

 

[lovetheoutdoors]

Thanks for the posts....a bucket would be nice but you cant use a bucket on all trees. A bucket will be a good investment down the road, until then i guess i will be climbing.

 

[Fireaxman]

Have you got your copy of "The Tree Climber's Companion" by Jeff Jepson yet? You can get it from Sherrill, $15, page 104 in the new catalog. Cheap, Good Advice, Easy Read.

International Society of Arboriculture (ISA) also has very good stuff, from elementary to very advanced. They have an "Introduction to Arboriculture: Tree Worker Safety" interactive CD software thing that I can recomend. It has chapters on Safety, Climbing, and Rigging. Tom Dunlap was one of the reviewers, he is pretty highly regarded on this website. www.isa-arbor.com if the censors let the URL com across, or page 107 of the new Sherrill catalog.

 

[lovetheoutdoors]

Have you got your copy of "The Tree Climber's Companion" by Jeff Jepson yet? You can get it from Sherrill, $15, page 104 in the new catalog. Cheap, Good Advice, Easy Read.

International Society of Arboriculture (ISA) also has very good stuff, from elementary to very advanced. They have an "Introduction to Arboriculture: Tree Worker Safety" interactive CD software thing that I can recomend. It has chapters on Safety, Climbing, and Rigging. Tom Dunlap was one of the reviewers, he is pretty highly regarded on this website. www.isa-arbor.com if the censors let the URL com across, or page 107 of the new Sherrill catalog.

Thanks alot i will get a copy of that.....wednesday and off climbing...:rockn: