45° limbs

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xitromag

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Rayleigh
Hi All
I have a job coming up for a multi stem willow that needs re pollarding (i didn't do the previous pollard). All 4 of the limbs have aprox 45° lean with minimal leaders on to climb up to anchor in the growth at the top anchor points are not very large to anchor in either.
How would you guys approach this job i dont have access to a mewp either.
All hrlp is appreciated
Thanks in advance
 
I'll second that. You didn't say how tall the willow is but any time I've played with them, I've always used more than one rope and also braced the tree with rigging, not just climb line/ redirects. It's splity wood that also decays quite quickly. 'Bout as much fun as a two+ year dead column poplar. Be careful. For the pollarding if you don't have a tree with good "knuckles" yet you may find cutting with a chainsaw will tear away at the small shoots too much. In that case something like a Milwaukee battery pole pruner may be your friend - way faster than a pole pruner and rope. And with extension pole(s) you maybe can stay on bigger wood and yet reach those "knuckles". Take care.
 
+1. They're punky corky wood often with bad unions. I suggest a central bit bigger lower tip maybe add a girthed sling/biner false crotch to that (around the stem so you're not relying on the union) once you get up there then take a second (mini?) system and fight your way up/out the leaders while staying tied to the central tip.

edit - "Do the bear skid, da da,da da, da , dadada" - David Wilcox ;)
 
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Bart_ said:
+1. They're punky corky wood often with bad unions. I suggest a central bit bigger lower tip maybe add a girthed sling/biner false crotch to that (around the stem so you're not relying on the union) once you get up there then take a second (mini?) system and fight your way up/out the leaders while staying tied to the central tip.
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I like to girth sling runner footholds to progress up angled limbs like that. Under rope support of course. It can be done with one sling, keep moving it up or reinstall as needed. Hold position with lanyard or moveable redirect to move the sling up. Takes the fight out of the climbing so the climber has all their energy to do the work.
-AJ
 
Coming back in/down, don't do a pure bear skid - lower/release yourself on a long lanyard/mini-climb. "do the bear skid" now the song's stuck in my head! Saw him live once in a bar.

You could actually come back in like a traverse.
 
Apologies if I've given the wrong advice ie I think you said there are 4 45 deg and implied no central leader. Best I can offer is two lines, base tie SRT opposite leader, use it to control your weight on diagonal leader which you bear climb/inch worm etc up. Wash riinse repeat each corner. Usually this is the curse of the silver maple bonused with years of progressive lion tailing. Make sure you've got a well centered tip for the SRT line, it seems there's reasonable beef in the dead center of a pollard cluster, however good luck pulling your climb line through that cluster.

Maybe counter intuitive but to girth-sling your way up use your leg to push/increment up, capture with choked SRT lanyard or 2nd girthed sling etc, easier on your arms. You can also pantin your DRT lanyard occasionally on stubs and intermediate tips along the way. Again, leg power.


It's still in my head "do the bear skid" - warning, bear skid descent hazardous to male parts

edit - had to link the live version out of respect for his creativity and chops as an old dude!
 
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Using my imagination without a photo of the trees. Sometimes I will aim to tie into everything. A choked sling with an opposite and opposing carabiners, ganged up in a wad of sprouts. Think of it as a bundle of corn stocks or a ponytail. This might get you a higher tie in for a further limb walk.
 
Bart_ said:
Apologies if I've given the wrong advice ie I think you said there are 4 45 deg and implied no central leader. Best I can offer is two lines, base tie SRT opposite leader, use it to control your weight on diagonal leader which you bear climb/inch worm etc up. Wash riinse repeat each corner. Usually this is the curse of the silver maple bonused with years of progressive lion tailing. Make sure you've got a well centered tip for the SRT line, it seems there's reasonable beef in the dead center of a pollard cluster, however good luck pulling your climb line through that cluster.

Maybe counter intuitive but to girth-sling your way up use your leg to push/increment up, capture with choked SRT lanyard or 2nd girthed sling etc, easier on your arms. You can also pantin your DRT lanyard occasionally on stubs and intermediate tips along the way. Again, leg power.


It's still in my head "do the bear skid" - warning, bear skid descent hazardous to male parts

edit - had to link the live version out of respect for his creativity and chops as an old dude!
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Every old silver maple I have ever been in for sure.
 
evo said:
Using my imagination without a photo of the trees. Sometimes I will aim to tie into everything. A choked sling with an opposite and opposing carabiners, ganged up in a wad of sprouts. Think of it as a bundle of corn stocks or a ponytail. This might get you a higher tie in for a further limb walk.
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I have been critisized while "tying in to everything" but when I have taken the time, like in these kinds of trees we are discussing, it always made the work muuuuch easier, even if the job took a bit longer than was hoped for.
 
Another thought. If the stems are denuded of tips along their length and only have the epicormic sprout cluster at the top, skip the unwalkable 45 degree fight - put an SRT line in each of the diagonal opposites and spiderman/traverse your way up to each of the two spar tops in turn. I'd say base tie the outer/underside strand and harness to the upper/inside strand - puts your effective tip above the spar surface. Two setups total.

Sorry I probably mean choked when I said girthed.
 
I know this is heretical, but for a Willow that's going to be hacked anyway, and it's a real difficult climb, I would just spur it. The damage and reaction from cutting all the tops out of a tree vs. making spur holes on the trunk, that's an easy one for me. I wouldn't have done it with spurs when I was 27, purely out of ideological zeal. But at 45, practicality wins out. Species dependent, of course...
 
Muggs said:
I know this is heretical, but for a Willow that's going to be hacked anyway, and it's a real difficult climb, I would just spur it. The damage and reaction from cutting all the tops out of a tree vs. making spur holes on the trunk, that's an easy one for me. I wouldn't have done it with spurs when I was 27, purely out of ideological zeal. But at 45, practicality wins out. Species dependent, of course...
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I hear ya on the practicality. maybe put it on the owner to make the call, and offer a spurred price, and a no spur price
 
Matias said:
What is the technical difference?
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Choke I think in terms of a Bowline loop, Quickie, or carabiner used as a running piece to capture the standing part of a line around a tree trunk, limb or branch. Many ways to create a running choke, I named three.

Girth I think of as a choking technique based on the Girth Hitch. Two parts of a sling or cordage capturing something in its own loop. Typical example is a sling runner or cordage configured as a Girth Hitch choking a carabiner, ring, or tree part.

This has been discussed, it's deep in the Buzz archives, I can't remember what was agreed on ;-)
-AJ
 
It can be described, and choices offered quite succinctly. Before I knew barely anything about trees, I still knew that openings in their "skin", like with any living thing, were a vector for fungal and bacterial pathogens. I have worked with many clients that appreciate the knowledge I am able to share with them in the short time I have to do so, and most of mine like to have the opportunity to make informed choices about the life of their tree that they live with every day. Aesthetically even, some people may object to the gaff marks, and will spend a few hundred more to prevent them.
 
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