Beetle Kill pine

Good job..
Funnest part was listening to the wifey ... Really funny..
Nice job on the remote life line.. Very efficent and safe.. I normally clip saw to my saddle, and I like how you keep it running and just let it hang below your feet... Very fast when there are a lot of cuts and small moves between them..
 
Nice, professional work... the peanut gallery steals the show though.
I hate climbing dead pine, looks like it was dead less than a year though so no biggie.

How come your video streams right in and Jesse's take forever? Any ideas Jesse?
 
I understand your reasoning for using a remote tie-in point, but in dead trees if it's not actually supporting you the load bearing from the TIP can be the cause of what you are trying to avoid in the first place. Especially when the limb of that top hit the line. And pulling on it like you did to free it up needlessly shakes the dead tree.

Working above a tight v-crotch union in a dead conifer is risky business too. Really, if you have to go very high above it the two tops should be tied together.

It appears that there was a Dutchman in that one trunk section, and it veered toward your climbline. Maybe just the way I saw it though.

Getting the smaller top to drop off the stem instead of tipping over has its place when the drop zone is tight, but doing that to a standing piece of trunk wood can cause the top to rock back and clobber you. Careful there.

That tree was dead, but sound.. A tree in a more advance state of decay could have shaken the top or limbs out from jerking climbing technique. As a rule in dead trees,, move a little slower.

luck and care, Jerry B
 
Two debatable details of your technique come to mind.

Chainsaw lanyard use on a trimsaw, and leaving your saw running from start to finish.

I've never used a chainsaw lanyard on my climbsaw for a very specific reason, all the climbers that have been stitched up after inadvertently cutting themselves when the branch above them they've just cut free gets tangled in the lanyard and jerks the still running saw out of the climber's hands violently.

A chainsaw lanyard is best used on larger saws when buckiing down and catching the main trunk, so you can toss the saw quickly and brace for the coming bull ride.

Now leaving your saw running all the time is another highly debatable technique that Stihl would probably support doing. But I don't simply because it wastes gas and increases the amount of trace noxious fumes I breathe in.

I thought starting up the tree dragging a running saw was kinda korny myself.

Now remember I'm just a cantankerous old school climber that many folks here can hardly stand, but I mention these issues in the hope that all climbers actually reach their senior years in an un-crippled state.

Screw the saws and look after number one first.

You did a great job, particularly the pre-installed lifeline.

jomoco
 
It occurred to me that that tree probably didn't need a remote tie-in. Looked like it was dead less than a year. I probably would have climbed without the displaced TIP... but god knows, I hate climbing dead pine.
 
Nice job. I would have blown that top out a little early but thats me. I HATE dead trees, so I myself would have gone with the remote tie in. If anything it makes me feel a little better. Sometimes safety is something that calms you down and gets you to think a little bit slower and more deliberate.

My wife would be saying the same things.
 
Nice Job jman. The pine beetle title caught my eye. I climb them on a daily basis. Nice quick job. My only thought would be your extra tie in point. If you did pitch off the tree that would be deadly. Unless that point can stay above you on another tree I wouldn't bother. The distance and drop would be awful. You could try tying an anchor on the tree your climbing so you have a straight fall down.Tie in on the big wood that you know is solid. If you fall you might not even feel the drop. If you've ever rocked climbed you'll know what I mean. If your really unsure of the tree find another way.For that one you cold drop a couple sections of fence and let it go or just drop a huge top. That tree looked solid in the vid. Once again nice job. I'd let my saw run as well. Better than yanking on that thing all day.
 
Im young(23) and probably not as experienced as many of you, so I appreciate you criticisms...even jomoco(i cant stand that guy...
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). Im pretty thick skinned so dont be shy.

I didnt think we would be able to get any of our equipment to it. I ruled out felling because the only clear path would have ended in a hang up, which seems more dangerous than climbing that tree imo.

Actually Gerry (if its alright with you), on that chunk of wood I `speed cut,` if you look real careful, hits the tip of my foot. I was lucky it AND the top werent bigger, lesson learned.

Im glad I was finally able to get a video up here because I feel it is a great learning opportunity.

Could someone explain, in greater detail, the reason behind NOT putting a safety line in an adjacent, healthy tree while cutting its dead neighbour...the swing, and the added pressure on the dead tree I understand, but is there more?
 
Hey Dylan,

I don't think it's a bad idea to tie into another tree. Just bad idea to climb past the anchor point.Your now lead climbing and not on a top rope system. You no longer have a nice swing from tree to tree. When you do this it now becomes a big fall with an agressive swing into the next tree. And in your video the distance between the 2 trees looks big which will equal a big fall. Think about the length of rope in the system when you where pulling it around that branch. If you fell then how far would you fall? Clear as mud, sorry If that's hard to understand.

Your in a world class place for rock climbing with Skaha. Next time you bump into a rock climber ask what's worse. Lead Falling from directly above your anchor or from way out horizontal from it.

In the end if I'm that unsure of the tree I'll find another way or step aside and let someone else have it. A Lead fall out of a tree is not a good option ever. Stay below your anchor in my opinion(top rop climbing)
 
Dylan, I've done the very same thing when I was your age, and more than one time too. Only after time and reflecting back did I see it differently. Not so much as being wrong in technique but more in using the methods more appropriately.

Your thinking and problem solving skills are on target and I didn't mean to be a critical jerk.

Jerry B
 
Good Job , I removed 3 dead pine over some drop lines last wk, they were dead for at least 2yrs and they had me nerves ,, Climb Safe my Friend !!

Later in SO-CAL Hot HOT !!
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Looked good overall but I also think you are at high risk when you climb so high in relationship to your remote TIP. If you had to bail out from the dead pine you would pendulum at a high rate of speed and could easily get seriously hurt, crippled for life or dead. Your little boy needs you healthy and whole. Think it out.

Having a TIP just for the sake of having one doesn't do much good. If you had to rely on it I think it would be a problem.

I had a fair sized leaner recently that I didn't want to be committed to..I installed a high line and worked off it. I set an initial TIP in a nearby tree to get me to the height where I needed to work and then used the highline to drift/pull over to the leaning tree.

It looked like there were quite a few trees around your dead tree...such a rig might have worked...or may be useful next time.

Like Jerry said, think it out and be safe...if it doesn't seem to be doable safely then just don't do it. No shame in saying, "NO".

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7214668571601822956#
 
I don't think any less of anyone for pointing out what they see as a 'red flag' in my work, or anyone's work for that matter. I appreciate more than begrudge anyone the citicisms they offer if it helps me to progress. I dont think you were being a jerk Jerry, and I realize that you have probably been at this game since I was a zygote. So since you have done this and progressed from this, what way would you have tackled that tree?

I believe climbing up and taking a large top would have been much riskier than doing what I did...too many variables, not to mention the immense force that would act upon the spar. I realized that the fall/swing would probably have been injurious in the least, the alternative in my mind was going down under a buckled trunk.

Would it have been better to piece it down from the top? Traverse with a midpoint tie in (I may have ran outta rope!)? How would you guys have done it?

If your input will help me walk in the door to my son's bright shining smile every day (oh yeah honey...you too), then bring it on!

Oh yeah..no steel core, to be honest I've never really tried one, and dont personally want one.

That oak highline is the shizzle!! Very professional, I'd like to see it done in real life
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!

dylan
 
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Oh yeah..no steel core, to be honest I've never really tried one, and dont personally want one.

[/ QUOTE ]

That video shows you may want to get one.

If you don't want a wire core lanyard, then use your hand saw as fast as you do your chainsaw. The limbs didn't look terribly large. A Zubat would have sliced them through fast enough. (I think. You can correct me on that).
 
It looked to me like you never really went waaay above your TIP, just that stuck rope made it look that way for a minute.

I think what GB referred to initially was that if the trunk wasn't sound, the act of freeing that rope or possibly just having it tight could deflect the spar enough to make it fail. With your tree that was unlikely because it wasn't recently alive.

First pine I ever topped had most of it's bark already sloughed off, going on 3 years dead. When I pitched the top I looked down to see harmonics in the wobbling spar... it was flexing in different directions simultaneously. I got down quick... and had to do another just like it. Makes me shudder just thinking about afternoon. The trees turned out to be basically sound by the way, but still...

Like the others said, keep doing what you're doing, you've got what it takes. Never stop learning.
 
Dylan, today, with that particular tree, I would not use a remote tie-n. I'd work it same as a green tree. Aside from any other defects the tree might exhibit the soundness usually dictates how I approach it. And basically that has to do with how long the tree has been dead. 1-2 years I usually treat it green. 3-4 move slow and careful. 5-6 find another way.

Where I live there is a pine bark beetle infestation underway and literally tens of thousands of dead pines to deal with, and all in varying states of decay.

Below is a link to a vid I posted a couple of years ago. And the method has been used by many a climber in the removal of dead trees in more advance states of decay.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ii005FC_JaQ
 
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