STAYING ALIVE

[pro94lt]

I walked on one bid in my life and that was a huge stone dead beech with limbs all over a tin roof of a commercial building where there was no chance of it not shedding while rigging and the guy wouldn't sign a release of liability.

Whatever happened to the tree?

 

[pro94lt]

I've walked on em too the bad ones are when you throw a number thinking theirs no way and they ask when can you start...

 

[treevet]

Whatever happened to the tree?

It was in a remote area down a long drive so I never checked, but like any other big nasty that you sometimes think only you can do...likely someone else did it and MUST have dinged the roof. Impossible not to.

 

[TreeGuyHR]

Recently took down a beetle-killed 100 ft, 30 in. ponderosa pine. The first day of the job I was pruning a larger pine nearby, and sent my other climber up the tree (still learning, but he thought he could do the take down). He bailed at 30 ft. and came down because it was "punky". Based on his assessment, the next day I rigged a taller fir nearby, deadwooded it and cut a few green limbs on my way up, and moved my tie in (a second rope tied to the base, 'biner on the end) up higher to around 100 ft. where the trunk was about 12 in. in diameter, pulled the 'biner around the trunk and over several fat limbs, and tied into it with my lifeline for the decent.

So I thought. I lengthened my lanyard, expecting my Blakes to pull taught, but it didn't. WTH? Turned out I had tied in below the 'biner on the short end. If not for my habit of only transferring over to the new system after it is weighted, while tied in another way, I would have taken a fast trip to the ground. If I had doubled my rope and rapelled on my rescue 8, I would have been fine, but I had decided to go down on the Blake's to toss some hangers out. I have been climbing for 6 years with my company and was dumbfounded that I could do that -- a screw-up in the same league as the experienced rock climber I read about once that clipped into his blue-jeans belt loop (that did not end well at all).

It also turned out that the pine was not punky but rock hard: the wind had blown most of the needles off, and my guy was just freaked by some loose bark. At least I am going to charge the HO for deadwooding the big fir, because I told him that "I have to tie into it to remove the really punky pine" and it had a bunch of large dead limbs and hangers. I have a vid of me topping the pine; I'll have to post it. When I felled the last 35 ft., it hit some boulders and the butt bounced 8 ft. in the air-- without cracking the log (destined for firewood rounds).

 

[Treepedo]

Arbclimber 5 will be out shortly.http://www.arbclimber.com/
The article I ahve written "Staying Alive" is the best we could do with the information availble. thanks to all those who have contributed to this knowledge.
Here is a sample.
OPENING “It is better to be careful 100 times than to get killed once." (Mark Twain)
Staying alive and the hate of pain are at the forefront of this article. Hate of pain in reference to what we endure as arbclimbers and as has happened so many times in the past to those who suffered at the hands of death. How do we avoid accidents? We avoid them by managing fatigue, distraction, performance and applying sound techniques, tools or a system to ensure optimal performance. We have all suffered and survived moderate to severe physical trauma including; contusions, abrasions, lacerations, and bone fractures as well as the more common soft tissue injury to ligaments, muscles, tendons from sprain, strain and over use of specific body parts. Our scars should not be a badge of honour for our efforts but more a motivator to positively address performance. The following article is one arbclimbers study in preventing accidents through systematic method of anticipating failures, evaluating and pretesting practices and plans, controlling out comes, transitioning and applying solutions to recover/rest, to recognize stress and life threatening accidents. Pain is the symptom of a deficiency or excess in our routine, life and work.
Anticipate, Evaluate and Pretest, Control Outcomes, Practice and Plan and finally Transition for failure as well as success. I say failure in the way that knowing what can go wrong is as crucial as to knowing what can go right.

thanks again to those who contribute! http://www.************/forum/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[Treepedo]

Recently took down a beetle-killed 100 ft, 30 in. ponderosa pine. The first day of the job I was pruning a larger pine nearby, and sent my other climber up the tree (still learning, but he thought he could do the take down). He bailed at 30 ft. and came down because it was "punky". Based on his assessment, the next day I rigged a taller fir nearby, deadwooded it and cut a few green limbs on my way up, and moved my tie in (a second rope tied to the base, 'biner on the end) up higher to around 100 ft. where the trunk was about 12 in. in diameter, pulled the 'biner around the trunk and over several fat limbs, and tied into it with my lifeline for the decent.

So I thought. I lengthened my lanyard, expecting my Blakes to pull taught, but it didn't. WTH? Turned out I had tied in below the 'biner on the short end. If not for my habit of only transferring over to the new system after it is weighted, while tied in another way, I would have taken a fast trip to the ground. If I had doubled my rope and rapelled on my rescue 8, I would have been fine, but I had decided to go down on the Blake's to toss some hangers out. I have been climbing for 6 years with my company and was dumbfounded that I could do that -- a screw-up in the same league as the experienced rock climber I read about once that clipped into his blue-jeans belt loop (that did not end well at all).

It also turned out that the pine was not punky but rock hard: the wind had blown most of the needles off, and my guy was just freaked by some loose bark. At least I am going to charge the HO for deadwooding the big fir, because I told him that "I have to tie into it to remove the really punky pine" and it had a bunch of large dead limbs and hangers. I have a vid of me topping the pine; I'll have to post it. When I felled the last 35 ft., it hit some boulders and the butt bounced 8 ft. in the air-- without cracking the log (destined for firewood rounds).

I have for the last year or so started using a 2nd climbing system. I like the backup for my backup even though it can be pain at times. Angels hard at work

 

[Dan@JBT]

There is nothing more dangerous than a false sense of security. I've done tree removals (climbing) hundreds times before but every time I've been careful, methodical and thought about every step, two or three steps ahead at least. this means that I should keep being careful, methodical and thinking about every step. I think people get into trouble when they think I've done this hundreds of times before so I can do this on autopilot/without thinking about it.

My boss said to me once you could do this with your eyes shut, I said that doesn't make it a good idea

 

[miko0618]

I set rules for myself. one is always check and test my tie in before I trust it. my other is to use 2 tie in's as often as possible. if I am swinging, I lanyard up before I cut. if I zip through my lifeline, I have it to catch me. I process everything. I think that's important. something as simple as how that particular tree is hinging can make a huge difference. I process the condition of every spot of the tree I look at. I try to keep a healthy respect for how dangerous it can be. I think you should put your life in the best possible situation. if you don't like the situation, don't do the job. but don't die.

 

[sgreanbeans]

Arbclimber 5 will be out shortly.http://www.arbclimber.com/
The article I ahve written "Staying Alive" is the best we could do with the information availble. thanks to all those who have contributed to this knowledge.
Here is a sample.
OPENING “It is better to be careful 100 times than to get killed once." (Mark Twain)
Staying alive and the hate of pain are at the forefront of this article. Hate of pain in reference to what we endure as arbclimbers and as has happened so many times in the past to those who suffered at the hands of death. How do we avoid accidents? We avoid them by managing fatigue, distraction, performance and applying sound techniques, tools or a system to ensure optimal performance. We have all suffered and survived moderate to severe physical trauma including; contusions, abrasions, lacerations, and bone fractures as well as the more common soft tissue injury to ligaments, muscles, tendons from sprain, strain and over use of specific body parts. Our scars should not be a badge of honour for our efforts but more a motivator to positively address performance. The following article is one arbclimbers study in preventing accidents through systematic method of anticipating failures, evaluating and pretesting practices and plans, controlling out comes, transitioning and applying solutions to recover/rest, to recognize stress and life threatening accidents. Pain is the symptom of a deficiency or excess in our routine, life and work.
Anticipate, Evaluate and Pretest, Control Outcomes, Practice and Plan and finally Transition for failure as well as success. I say failure in the way that knowing what can go wrong is as crucial as to knowing what can go right.

thanks again to those who contribute!

Whats the deal with them, I ordered the subscription and only got like 3 issues? Months apart?