keh10
ArboristSite Lurker
So earlier today I had my first real scare when my TIP abruptly failed in a sugar maple. Fortunately it happened when I was testing my weight on it before I began my ascent. I was barely a foot off of the ground when I heard the crack, yelled oh ####, and scrabbled backwards as fast as I could. All in all I was very lucky, the limb (which was no little guy) landed about 8 feet away from where I managed to flee. It landed in the middle of a flower garden, but thankfully missed the house, deck chairs/table, and out of the many trinkets, doodads, and shrubbery in the garden only broke a few of those cheap solar lights. It even didn't damage a $70 automatic sprinkler system which it landed right on top of.
When I first looked at the job on Tuesday, I was pretty certain that the limb would make a solid tie in. It was a 4 in diameter limb with a lot of leafy growth on it. I knew from the start that the limb wasn't 100% because of the moss/fungus growing on the bark and there was also some noticeable decay in there, but nothing that would leave me to believe that the branch couldn't support my weight. Besides, I've used TIP's that had far more noticeable defects. The problem was that unbeknownst to me where the branch attached to the main trunk was included and the vast majority of the heartwood had rotted.
When I was first setting up my line I had a few clues that something wasn't right. First when I shot my throw line into the tree, it caught a small branch above where I wanted my rope to rest. I said screw it and went ahead and pulled my climbing line through. I was about to start whipping my line around to get it off of the small limb when the limb broke after I applied a little pressure to it and my line fell into place where I originally intended it to go. I was surprised at how easily the small branch broke, but I just took it as good fortune that I managed to place my rope without too much fuss. My second clue was when I was just pulling on the line before my saddle was even on. It seemed to have a little to much give to it, but I figured it was nothing and that I was just psyching myself out before the climb. I knew that the branch was plenty large that it should have held my weight and that's why I was actually quite surprised to see it fail even though I knew in the back of my mind that something wasn't right.
All in all, I'm very thankful that I wasn't hurt and no real property was damaged. If a branch is going to fail, better that it happen while you're on the ground. Has anyone else had anything like this happen to them. I feel like it's no too common that we get fooled into trusting a weak branch. I know from now on I'm going to take more caution when choosing my TIP's even when they seem large enough that my weight won't make much difference.
Here's a picture of the tree after the branch fell. Where I made the red circle is where the failure took place.
Here's where the bark had included and allowed the branch to rot. I was able to find these two pieces and stick them back together. I think I'm going to keep them for a while as a reminder.
I should have taken more pictures of the leafy top of the branch. From the ground it looked like any other moderately healthy branch.
Stay safe out there!
When I first looked at the job on Tuesday, I was pretty certain that the limb would make a solid tie in. It was a 4 in diameter limb with a lot of leafy growth on it. I knew from the start that the limb wasn't 100% because of the moss/fungus growing on the bark and there was also some noticeable decay in there, but nothing that would leave me to believe that the branch couldn't support my weight. Besides, I've used TIP's that had far more noticeable defects. The problem was that unbeknownst to me where the branch attached to the main trunk was included and the vast majority of the heartwood had rotted.
When I was first setting up my line I had a few clues that something wasn't right. First when I shot my throw line into the tree, it caught a small branch above where I wanted my rope to rest. I said screw it and went ahead and pulled my climbing line through. I was about to start whipping my line around to get it off of the small limb when the limb broke after I applied a little pressure to it and my line fell into place where I originally intended it to go. I was surprised at how easily the small branch broke, but I just took it as good fortune that I managed to place my rope without too much fuss. My second clue was when I was just pulling on the line before my saddle was even on. It seemed to have a little to much give to it, but I figured it was nothing and that I was just psyching myself out before the climb. I knew that the branch was plenty large that it should have held my weight and that's why I was actually quite surprised to see it fail even though I knew in the back of my mind that something wasn't right.
All in all, I'm very thankful that I wasn't hurt and no real property was damaged. If a branch is going to fail, better that it happen while you're on the ground. Has anyone else had anything like this happen to them. I feel like it's no too common that we get fooled into trusting a weak branch. I know from now on I'm going to take more caution when choosing my TIP's even when they seem large enough that my weight won't make much difference.
Here's a picture of the tree after the branch fell. Where I made the red circle is where the failure took place.
Here's where the bark had included and allowed the branch to rot. I was able to find these two pieces and stick them back together. I think I'm going to keep them for a while as a reminder.
I should have taken more pictures of the leafy top of the branch. From the ground it looked like any other moderately healthy branch.
Stay safe out there!
