Climbing a leaner

TJG

TJG

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Location
Berkshire's Mass.
I have a pine in the back that was blown over all of the heavy growth was on the downward facing side. I is about 24" dia. and 100" tall I thought that I would just spike my way up the back and set a climb line ddrt and it would be a piece of cake. I did that today but when it came to doing the downward side I could not get back around the tree. I thought I could just hang from the rope and a lanyard and work my way around. I could not gt back to the high side as hard as I fought. I got all of the heavy wood off of the downward side but it was very uncomfortable. Plus I mad the mistake of using a wide back Buckingham saddle that is like new because I hate it so much. I was as uncomfortable as the day I bought it. two things I did wrong I should have set a climb line higher in the top and the other would have been to use my treemotion. I didn't want it to get full of sap ( work in hard words almost all of the time) which it wouldn't have. My question is how do you throw your weight around a leaner like this? Even if the line was higher up I could have gotten more swing. This wasn't a removal just a prevention trying to get weight off of it to pull it back and close to straight. My better half didn't want me to fell it because that is what I was going to do. I would have had to remove allot of the wood I did anyway so it wouldn't hit the barn. And move a fence. If I stand it up I can tell her it fell over that is if she notices it gone. Any way how do you work a tree like this? Oh the tree is safe to climb I put a come along on a 3'4" 3 strand and pulled it back a little just in case.
Thanks
Ted
 
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Throw your lanyard over the top of the trunk, wrap it under a branch on the opposite side of the tree, then back over the trunk. Try to set it up so your lanyard adjuster is on the leading hip. Pull, thrust, and sware like crazy. The last part being the most important. It is t always easy, but will get you back around.
 
I'm having a hard time picturing the exact predicament - I'm thinking you were dangling on the wrong side the lean and couldn't get back on top?; but I find a pantin foot or hand ascender can get me out of just about any situation. You can use the tail of your climbing line or lanyard to throw or flip around a limb where you want to go and choke off with a running bowline or carabiner.

Then use your ascender to get where you want to be positioned.


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@TJG; Or a knee ascender, which I sometimes find a lot easier to reach when you want to take it off the rope. I've had a tough time once in awhile earlier in my climbing days trying to get access to a CMI foot ascender, which doesn't just "kick off" the foot the way that the Pantin does. I can always reach my knee.

Tim

P.S.

Another thing you can do if you're climbing SRT is to add in a small pulley at the top of your rope before you go to the "down side", and lace the tail of your rope through it. I think this provides a 3 to 1 mechanical advantage, if you prefer to pull yourself up. The mechanical advantage setup makes it a lot easier to move your body weight. You could still use a knee ascender in conjunction with this setup, for a really easy time of it.

Also, (and I'm one of the less experienced climbers on this site, and not a pro, so take this with a grain of salt), climbing with a second rope can be helpful when you're in a situation where gravity wants to press your climbing system hard up against a trunk or a branch. Once you get to a point like that, it can be tough to go further. Having a second rope and system can sometimes allow you to use the second system to pull yourself and your first system away from the trunk, thereby freeing the first system up to advance it further. I hope I'm making sense here. Best of luck.
 
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I agree with tim on the 2nd rope. If there is anything decent nearby to tie off to. I usually work a hard leaner from one side and will have a second system in a tree opposite to me solely for work positioning purposes. It's always a struggle when you get underneath the lean so avoid that as much as possible.
 
Yes I will never go up without all of those pieces of gear. There were no limbs on the high side I cut them off. My plan was very simple gaff and cut my way up the easy side and the ddrt down with a blakes hitch on the low side. It work except I waaaaay under estimated the power of that lean. It is lean 30 degrees or so. And the saddle was crushing my well you know so that didn't help. The lesson I learned was valuable would do it completely different. I did have two lanyards and was safe as far as being tied in. tried to throw and tighten the lanyard around the tree it was just to wide to do anything.
Thanks for your input keep it coming I know it was a stupid move on my part and you can say so. If we don't laugh at our selves.:musculoso::lol:
Ted
 
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Actually all of the limbs are on the ground and I will take pics so you can see the lean it is behind a straight pine. And if I can't pull it back I may take one of the tops off. But will have my good gear on. New BDB and SAKA. I just bought a used 460 and love it. It might just see that. It is better to ask for forgiveness than permission.
Ted
 
That sounds rough to say the least. For something like that I would look for an opportunity to put a second line in another tree upstream so-to-speak of the lean. You could use that to keep you on the the upper side of the leaner as you climb it or climb below the lean and use the second line to get you on top when you need to.

Edit: just saw that strategy was mentioned earlier in the thread. Definitely the way to go if you can set it up.
-AJ
 
You guys are to funny you crack me up. Thinking about this while still in pain I should have ask how before I did the work. Pride I thought my plan was flawless!!
Thanks Guys There is a tall Ash behind her I will put a rope in that if I go up a next time. I don't think there is going to be a next time.
Ted
 
Great learning experience, the painful way teaches the best. Moving from under a large limb to the top of it without rope support above (in your case an extreme leaner) is one of the most difficult moves in tree climbing. Now you know ;-)
-AJ
 
This might sound stupid, and maybe I'm imagining your situation wrong, but when I find gravity pulling me away from where I want to be I just kick off the trunk (pushing away from stem) multiple times if necessary until I develop a good swing. If you can kick way off the trunk, you can actually swing around and past the stem.

This might require descending some to get enough rope above you to get a nice long swing.
 
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