Thoughts? ideas to improve?

[Owen Roberson]

thank you for the advice, I'm trying to get an internship with Bartlett full time over the summer. I think right now just sticking to my rec climbing is best and looking to find a experienced climber from Bartlett to shadow and learn form would be important before I even think bout taking out another tree.

 

[Owen Roberson]

Sometimes a high anchor point in an adjacent tree can be extremely helpful for positioning especially in a compromised or leaning tree like that. Even if you have to haul out the 200' rope, it's usually worth the time and effort to set-up.

that is very true indeed, like I said im also a minor and only have about 2k invested in climbing I have a 100ft rope 2 50ft and then my accessory cord and hardware so that 200' rope would be nice and quite useful at times I just done have one yet.

 

[Njdelaney]

Others have already addressed the obvious concerns about safety so I will add a couple different things. First, any grown man who would allow two 17-year old guys with no experience or PPE to climb and fell a tree on his property because he doesn't have the money or skill is someone with bad judgment. You will ultimately have to rely on your own judgment about safety because the person with the last word about your life is you. If it smells rotten, don't eat it, even if a waiter puts it on a silver platter. The second thing is that learning hitches should come before relying on rope grabs, ascenders, etc. Here's a challenge for you: next time you find that your tail is too long or short on a given hitch cord for the hitch you want, try a different hitch. They're all different lengths and you can add or subtract wraps to most to change the length and properties. I recommend learning a basic Prusik, distel, Knut, Michoacan, VT and Schwabish to start. My .02.

 

[Owen Roberson]

the guy who owns this land is like a second father to me and charged me and his son with getting rid of the tree with no power tools.
if power tools were allowed, I would never have climbed the tree I would have cut a notch at the base to direct the fall, put a control line about where I was sitting in the photo, pretension the control line and as I finished the back cut have my friend tighten the control line. seeing as powered tools were not an option that was what we were left doing.


I like the Blakes hitch and the VT both are goo hitches. I originally learned to climb on a Blakes hitch in a DRT configuration with hit thrusting. I use rope grabs more now for ascending and try to incorporate hitches in my lanyards (vt with a pinto)

 

[moss]

Great feedback all around.

I lucked out the time I dropped a long limb and the ends hit the ground first and the butt flew straight back at me. The thing that has been a huge factor for me in my learning process is always go small until I know better for the particular situation.

Never ever be pressured into doing something that you are not sure you can pull off. External pressure is a beech but you must resist. Being in charge of yourself is 90% of the battle in being a successful sustainable tree worker.

Everyone out there is willing to make an expert out of you the minute they hear you're interested in climbing and tree work. Resist ;-)

Climb, climb, climb, and more climbing. Use a hand saw only, prune small stuff, learn how to make high quality pruning cuts, with small wood you get to see how it behaves and that experience will translate to bigger stuff as you scale up your skill set. Try light rigging with a long sling runner to catch and control what you cut, even if there are no targets below.

Learn how to position your self with stability for performing tasks in a tree, always tied in twice (main rope and lanyard) whenever your hand saw is coming out of the scabbard.

Good luck, stay safe, stay in touch with the 'Buzz.
-AJ

 

[Stumpsprouts]

thank you for the advice, I'm trying to get an internship with Bartlett full time over the summer. I think right now just sticking to my rec climbing is best and looking to find a experienced climber from Bartlett to shadow and learn form would be important before I even think bout taking out another tree.

This is a fantastic path forward in my opinion.

I appreciate your humility and openness to feedback here. That is a very important thing to bring to this line of work.

You asked about that tree, there’s a lot I can’t see in those photos that would determine best way to deal with it. A leaning tree I’d often like to put a tie back on the trunk halfwayish up. That would be a beefy rope going back to some kind of mechanical advantage. That often gives stability and ease of mind to get higher up in the tree. I mentioned your TIP was going to the wrong spot. You’d want it somewhere behind ya, against the lean, to have better body mechanics, not to mention the material you cut will be much less likely to interfere with your climb rope.

Sometimes you can’t avoid tying into the tree itself. I had a white pine around 130’ tall with a severe lean, somewhat uprooting, no good tie in points adjacent, no crane access. I had two tie backs with bull ropes. One was triangulated - hard tie to base of one tree behind, onto a block on the stem of the pine, back to a different tree behind with a mechanical advantage device. (Photos of that below)

Every situation including the oak tree in your photo is different and the more situations you’ve seen and experienced leading up to that will help you have more tools in your chest and ideas of ways to handle the task at hand. Getting years in with some professionals is the best way to do this.

 

[MO_treeguy]

Kid if you were close to where I work my boss would love to bring you on part time till you were done with school. I’m one of the oldest at my company at 30, we have slowly built up the work force that are guys from 19-23 with work ethic similar to you. Young, stupid and hard working but willing to learn. 6 out of 8 have began to climb this past winter, they weren’t allowed to until they put in a year just so they know their job before jumping to the next level. With them watching for a year or so they already have basic knowledge how to attack the job at hand. If you find the right mentor around you, most likely they’ll hit the reset button on you and reteach everything. Don’t take it personal if that happens, just keep that same attitude as you’ve shown through the criticism directed towards you in the thread.

 

[treesap]

Kudos for climbing without a shirt... The thought of loosing a nipple has kept me from even considering it...

You, my compadre, are the Vladimir Putin of tree-men!

View attachment 74752

lost my left nipple to a chipper last year, trust me Rico, for the love of god keep your shirt on (Not because you will lose a nipple, but to keep your co-workers from seeing that forest of chest hair)




edit: Before anyone gets upset, im joking

 

[moss]

lost my left nipple to a chipper last year, trust me Rico, for the love of god keep your shirt on (Not because you will lose a nipple, but to keep your co-workers from seeing that forest of chest hair)




edit: Before anyone gets upset, im joking

Gullible that I am I was trying to visualize losing a nipple to a chipper, could not make it work any which way I tried.

In my nearly wasted youth I was in a band we were auditioning drummers, guy took his shirt off before we started, girl in the band said “Nope, if I can’t take my shirt off at gig neither can you now”.
-AJ

 

[treesap]

if I can’t take my shirt off at gig neither can you now”.

I though they payed extra for that?

 

[rope-a-dope]

Seems like everyone handled the safety talk well since I last dropped in.
You eager lads should def have supervision. I was the same way as a teen, up a tree with a hacksaw, dropping ailanthus with hatchets, falling off moving cars.... Vital stuff for your development, but try to skip the scars.
If you are near Raleigh Charlotte or Asheville there are fantastic tree folks to link up with. Climb with friends and learn stuff and keep it in the back of your head that it's not worth dying or shitting in diapers for. Remember to be scared and ask how would you get help if someone is injured and how fast could they get there.
And when you are using power tools? Absolutely gear up and go turtle speed.