Am I the only one who gets this scared?

[TimBr]

@0nly1promise; Here is one link to a probably too-old thread that discusses the issue a bit, but it was at the time when SRT was just starting to take off, I think. I've never worked in a Palm tree, so what little I know is all second hand.

I think Palms kill people fairly often, when the fronds just flop over onto climbers and pin them. You should look for videos of such on YouTube.

Here is the link to the old thread.

http://www.treebuzz.com/forum/threads/palm-tree-climbing-101.10102/

Also, welcome to the TreeBuzz forum! I think you are going to like it here!

I found the thread I posted a link to by using this forum's search box utility, and typing in the words "palm tree method". You could try a more simple or more complex search to find other threads in a similar way, on any subject of interest to you. All of the old conversations have been preserved and are just waiting to be discovered and revived! It is a really rich resource.

Welcome aboard, and congratulations on making your first post in this forum!

Tim

 

[southsoundtree]

I am fairly new to climbing as well, but I have come to enjoy it very much. At times it can be brutally terrifying, but I do trust the gear I'm using. I live in Florida, so the biggest trees we really have are 50' - 60'. There scariest things I really have to do is some of the really tall Palms, you can't spike them as for hurting the tree unless its a removal, so we use an extension ladder as high as it will go, and honestly the scariest part is going up the ladder in fear of it sliding off the tree. Once at the top though, I usually ratchet strap the ladder to the tree, throw my flip line around, stand on top of ladder and lean back and with a power pruner take the fronds off hanging at 10 and 2.... Now at least in a typical tree there are branches to hit or possibly grab if you were for god sake fall... I stay tied in 100% of the time with either my flip line or safety line in a typical tree, but the palms are a little different. Literally, if you were to go down, its concrete, grass, cars, drive ways, roofs, etc.... with nothing but you and air. Pretty much the first things I ever started in were really, really, tall palm trees, which really helped me get over the fear of being in anything else.... I will say at times, the fear is just natural, to say there is no fear would be a lie, yes I have a little more confidence in my gear and self with certain situations, but to say your fearless is a hazard waiting to happen. If anyone has any suggestions by the way for palm trees, I'm all ears

Can you strap the ladder to the palm near the base, with the ladder very upright/ vertical, using a flipline/ climbing line around the ladder and palm?

 

[FreeFallin]

I would think SRT with the line passing all the way over the head would be much safer than a ladder, especially since the deaths seem to mainly be suffocation inside the skirt, those things are nasty. I have done small palms and you just never know what's hiding in there. Bees, rodents, scorpions (in the southwest), and a ton of dust. I would go up the outside, get a second tie in somewhere on the crown, and then trim down from the top.

Purely theoretical idea, not from experience at height.