Climbing in the rain

I finally had to post on this. I'm sure that there are other NW climbers besides RBtree that are also chuckling over this thread. Out here in the PNW we occasionally quit early in really heavy storm rain... once we get too soggy and cold, but generally, we complain about the sunny hot days out here!

The smart tree companies all have drying rigs or rooms to dry out rope and gear and we dress for the weather. And of course its slippery.

In my office we have waterprof paper and rigs to keep our data dry. I would not get much done if I had to shift the schedule for rain very often. Scott

PS RBtree and I never skip work on a really stormy day to go skiing!
 
oohh, gord, you're badass! i splurged on 2nd hand goretex pants this year. didn't wear them more than a few dozen times though. the drying room my wee company has is called the basement steps, where i pounded a few nails in the wall to hang up wet rope every night. nothing quite like the stank of tree rope that's been soaking wet in a bag for a few weeks.
we work until hypothermia threatens, and even then if there's a starbucks nearby sometimes we'll just suck it up. whining about the heat today, scot, as you said..
k.
 
I always thought it must rain a lot in Seattle from what everyone says, but I just checked the average annual precipitation and it is only 38 inches! I guess it just mists so much and stays overcast so nothing can dry out. Yuck.

In comparison, the arboretum I work at gets an average of 165 inches of rain a year. The last two years has been almost 200 inches. At least it doesn't get cold here.
 
So Leon, check the side of your neck. You're in the rain so much, you're probably growing gills. /forum/images/graemlins/bath.gif

Here, I keep a close eye on the radar, and if the forecast is 50% or more rain chance I schedule non-climbing activities.
 
I agree. Pruning in the rain, depending on the prune of course is almost always harder than doing a removal. I don't know which I prefer doing more though, you always end up getting wet by the end of the job. /forum/images/graemlins/santa.gif
 
I climb in the rain a lot here in Portland. I like the challenge of it and usually don't get too soaked. One
thing I find difficult is hanging onto the throwline when it gets really wet and the drops blinding me while I am trying to look up to use the throwbag. I have found a really good way to dry out ropes and gear which makes getting up and heading out a bit easier. I bought a chrome mesh shelving unit like the kind you see in restaraunts and I spread my gear and ropes out on that. With a small space heater blowing on it and a fan everything can get pretty much dry overnight. If everything is really soaked then I throw it in the front loading washer and give it the old spin cycle treatment.
 
suck it up.
wool clothing is nice and will keep dry for half a day so you can change clothes at lunch..i dont climb in rain gear, up here in humboldt it rains for about 5 to 6 months of the year several months straiht up rain no let up.
just be conscious of you tie in and footing..
i stop when there is wind (extreme) or lightning
i did a removal two months ago in pouring rain and gusts of sixty mph. nutty but had to be done. i just roped smaller logs and removed all the green and pulled each log by rope just to be safe.
wind sucks more than rain.
if your not comfortable in the weather stop..always stay in your comfort zone
 
Have been climbing the rain for weeks now in the NE just getting used to it now, not like the NW though. Some of the guys just grummble about it, but can you do beside listen to singing in the rain turned into climbing in the rain by a few other arbs we work with (watch the students look up laughing at us as we sing it). To close to graduation to have any of the bucket truck boys come in and mess up the new grass seeding jobs that we also do. You all should know that a campus has to look beautifull for mom and dad to see sons and daughters graduate. We use the rope wash bags to store the wet ropes and gear.
 
Yaeh it all makes for a good day when the water runs south and lunch time involves fast food standing there looking like a drownded rat smiling 4 # 2s for the arbs. please. Where the restroom I gotta pea.
 
climbing in rain .... part of the job, as well as blistering heat,wind, snow ,ice...... i was thinking today how rare it is to get the perfect day! but most of the time im still smillin.
Nothing better than walking away from a job and knowing you have beaten the elements, the day i dont feel that is the day i quit!.
 
Did a takedown Saturday that reminded me of this thread. It was raining kind of hard. Im used to not using spurs, and normally, rain makes a huge difference in climbing by making bark slippery. It didnt make much difference with the spurs on and we got the whole thing down (2 ft dia. Hackberry leaning over house in S. Austin). If it had not rained, It would have been in the ninties with high humidity, which would have been far more dangerous, as heat exhaustion is typical doing this work in the summer here. If I had to choose between being soaking wet from rain and my own sweat, Id choose rain.
 
I'm a few years late to the party, but what do you guys do to dry out your ropes when they do get wet? I put mine on saw horses and just string them out, is there a better method?
 
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