Thanks Mark. I went there today, went up the main tree that the broken Hemlock is hung into to get a look at what the weight is on and what I've got to work with. From the ground, as you can see in the first pic, not a whole lot was visible. The tree that is mostly supporting it is a an old fir, topped at least twenty years ago at about 100' up. Now the old topping site has rotted so far down that the entire upper stem has recently started to split, possibly because of the Hemlock falling onto it. So not a good candidate to rig or work off of, more work later on I suppose. So I set up a highline over the entire mess and brushed out as much as I could. Careful cutting, as there are about twenty limbs that are loaded heavily and are likely crucial to the piece not falling. The stem of the hemlock rests on a fir limb that I don't think would support the entire force of the lean.
Can't see much, the footbridge is just visible at the lower right.
The break. There may have been a little sap rot on back side of the break, but not much if any. This is why I hate Western Hemlock.
The fir that the hemlock is leaning into. Arrow shows the hemlock stem.
Looking up from the footbridge.
Looking up from the break after cutting off the brush. The skyline unweighted is at 110'.
It's hard to get a pic that really depicts the whole thing.
I think what I'm going to do is set two guys about 2/3rds of the way up the span and tie them perpendicular to the lean to minimize side to side movement. Get a few beefy ratchet straps immediately below the break to support the strip of wood from splitting down. Then two tirfor jacks to pull directly back against the lean, raise it up just so it comes light and chunk it down airmail style as there's a good drop spot. Chunk it down to the back guy, then set a second one ten feet or so down, tension it, slack the upper one, repeat etc.
Thanks for all the rigging ideas, but I think this route seems best with what I've got to work with.
