Climbing superstitions

thomas, so do you throw up out of the tree jersey style like "the situation" after a hard night of fist pumping and binge drinking? jersey jersey jersey
 
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If the homeowner asks if we a going to hit (insert any weird garden art) I think it is now jinxed and must be moved.

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So true! I always move stuff out of the way.
 
During an inspection, look very close, listen, touch and feel. Anything unusual? Surrounding vegetation, animals the whole unit of space the tree takes. Mighty, weak, or somewhere in the middle? Try it,you'll like it.
 
I stopped using my helmet cam because I'm convinced it's cursed. Everytime I break it out something completely out of the ordinary happens and I almost get dismantled.

Once a newish 1/2" double esterloin snapped while tip tying a 300 pound piece. I blamed it one a rough redirect.

Then we did a tip tie to zip line over top of some 60 year old rhodies. Tip tie went great out of the adjoining tree but when they pretensioned the zip line it caused the rigged piece to tip out into the live tree, broke the top out and I got lit up with a 70 pound log. Concussion and nerve damage to my right elbow. The camera took a direct hit (which I think really save me by deflecting some of the the downward forces) Missed climbing for a week til I got cleared. Blamed it on my stupidity, should have let the tip tie get rigged a little lower as the zip line was being pretensioned and probably shouldn't have used our winch to do the pretensioning. The camera still works perfectly after that!

Also snapped out a newish loop runner while rigging out a 400 pound piece. The loop runner was set as a simple control line, no real weight applied to it.

It's cursed.
 
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I say a word to a tree if I am going to kill it.
I treat a removal like a prize fight. I sometimes feel that my opponent is more worthy than me and I slow up a little, a little extra careful.

I dont like to be paid in advance... bad luck.
If the homeowner asks if we a going to hit (insert any weird garden art) I think it is now jinxed and must be moved.

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I agree with all of this.

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And I agree with the part Tom agrees with.
 
FT any chace we could see some of your disaster videos? They sound pretty good.

I take that right spur first moment to focus on the work at hand. I suppose a deep breath would do the same. Forget about the builder yelling I hope your insurance is good over and over, the ground worker wanting to argue about nothing, the home owner more worried about getting good video than getting nailed, crap like that. It puts me in the zone.
 
None, I try to stay away from rituals that can play with my head.

Habits are another thing though. I'll habitualize safety processes to help me create unconscious behaviours that'll save my butt!
 
Definite rituals. One is patting myself down (not ala TSA) as if I were looking for a pack of smokes or my keys...actually I'm checking my gear to see if everything feels where it should be. It's a holdover from my firefighting days before going into the building.

Other ritual is for big rigging...after it is set up I talk it through
 
I'm like Blinky--a little silent prayer/apology before a removal. I don't know if that's really superstitious, but it feels right to me. I also try to save the boles of removals for some sort of art project or other re-purposing in future (though I haven't really followed through much).
 
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OK then, MY grey beard isn't exactly a chick magnet... or at least it ain't working right.

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Try growing it on the other side of your head. You know reverse the polarity!
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Tony
 
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