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Doing conifers without spurs, even large fir trees has made me faster not slower...
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Hmmmm. That would be interesting to see.
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yes. how do you quickly take apart the spar, especially if it's bare?
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Usually I try anything to avoid chunking down a log by rigging out of adjacent trees or dropping it. But worst case scenario if I have to block down the wood and there is no place to stand, I will cut a small face cut or cuts for my feet and stand on those while I rig and get tied in. I work at least 40 hours a week doing mostly removals /forum/images/graemlins/crazy.gif and I have only put on spurs maybe 10 times this year. A strong rock climbing background got me very used to standing on next to nothing so using the features of the tree is usually plenty.
<font color="red">I will cut a small face cut or cuts for my feet and stand on those while I rig and get tied in. </font> I work at least 40 hours a week doing mostly removals /forum/images/graemlins/crazy.gif and I have only put on spurs maybe 10 times this year. A strong rock climbing background got me very used to standing on next to nothing so using the features of the tree is usually plenty.
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Do you freeclimb and tie in when you want to make a cut?
Do you realy think cutting notches for footrest is faster then stepping around on spurs?
I can imagine that a rockclimbing background has benefit in treework. And using material specific for treework (spurs) in combination with those rock skills will do faster and saver work i believe.
To realy understand youre way of working and production you make i need to see it. With all trees beeing different i know some can be done easy with only ropes and most will be best (most cost/time effective) to TD with spurs.
Hey I was taught and still am learning some more ways to things, but the one thing that my buds keep etched in my head(do to some whipping poles) is use spurs. They rock jock it too and so do I at times but rocks do not whip some times do the mass leaving the top, or tugging on the rigging.
We had a close on ethe other day when a large chunck slammed the tree from the cut and push that sent him a good wave. When he came down and looked at the new guy he just said that is why I where these gaffs to my arse in one place when you all deside to give me a ride, and then pointed to me then the rest of the log up I went.
<font color="red">I will cut a small face cut or cuts for my feet and stand on those while I rig and get tied in. </font> I work at least 40 hours a week doing mostly removals /forum/images/graemlins/crazy.gif and I have only put on spurs maybe 10 times this year. A strong rock climbing background got me very used to standing on next to nothing so using the features of the tree is usually plenty.
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Do you freeclimb and tie in when you want to make a cut?
Do you realy think cutting notches for footrest is faster then stepping around on spurs?
I can imagine that a rockclimbing background has benefit in treework. And using material specific for treework (spurs) in combination with those rock skills will do faster and saver work i believe.
To realy understand youre way of working and production you make i need to see it. With all trees beeing different i know some can be done easy with only ropes and most will be best (most cost/time effective) to TD with spurs.
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If I can tell that a tree cannot be done efficiently completely spurless I will wear my spurring boots and when all of the brush is off of the tree I will have the ground crew send them up for the last bit of the tree.
I never free climb in trees that I am working on. What I meant by getting tied in is having my flip line around the tree while I pull out the rope guide and reinstall it below the next cut. It is quite rare that the features of the tree are not sufficient to stand on or that there isn't some way to use the rope instead of something to stand on so cutting face notches for my feet is a rare occurence.
To answer MB's question of "why not just wear spurs". I hate wearing them. Now if someone made a smaller more low profile spur possibly incorporated into a boot so the spur could be inserted or protruded when needed and then retracted when unecessary then I would wear those for removals. Or if someone could make a Pantin ascender harness that works with spurs or a Pantin style ascender that attached to the side of the spur then I might wear them.
Actually MB, when I am forced to wear spurs I strap on a pair of brand new Buckingham Titanitum spurs with the nice aluminum pads on them. Might as well wear the best if
I am going to be forced to wear them. I did some thinking today and this week I am going to try a Pantin on my right foot and a spur on the left for removals and see how that will work. Maybe it will be the best of both worlds. I'll let you know how that goes.
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Actually MB, when I am forced to wear spurs I strap on a pair of brand new Buckingham Titanitum spurs with the nice aluminum pads on them. Might as well wear the best if
I am going to be forced to wear them. I did some thinking today and this week I am going to try a Pantin on my right foot and a spur on the left for removals and see how that will work. Maybe it will be the best of both worlds. I'll let you know how that goes.
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ehh...i wish you were joking about that. believe me i'm much more new school than old school and i prefer to climb spurless than with spurs but i'd much rather strap on a pair of spurs than be stubborn about it. what's you real beef with them anyhow?
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I did some thinking today and this week I am going to try a Pantin on my right foot and a spur on the left for removals and see how that will work. Maybe it will be the best of both worlds. I'll let you know how that goes.
ehh...i wish you were joking about that. believe me i'm much more new school than old school and i prefer to climb spurless than with spurs but i'd much rather strap on a pair of spurs than be stubborn about it. what's you real beef with them anyhow?
and btw what's a big fir tree?
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I don't feel I'm stubborn. I just do what works for me on a day to day basis. An large fir tree around here will be 24-48 DBH and 100-150 feet tall. We do quite a few of those a year. Occasionally some are even taller though those are rare thank goodness unless I am pruning them then the bigger the better.
Strip them on the way up via natural crotch rigging if you cant just bomb the branches off.
When you climb rocks you probably use chalk and those sticky boots. Well for trees we got another type of sticky boot ... I think you dont wear them enough to get used to them and 100% confident in them.
Around these parts having lots of palms to climb you dont really have an option but to get efficient and confident on your spurs. If you're bit of a worry wart for skidding out on your spurs just double wrap your lanyard and have a choked lifeline back up.
When blocking down you just step down to the next cut .... wooosh, done, step down to next one and so on. How could not having spurs be faster than that?
depending on the space available..
i like top down if its wide open, like a windrow, otherwise you have to clear a place for things to fall thru an keep your rope clear...it is nice to have the dampening of canopy below you to absorb some wiggle on previously topped conifers or a co dominant. just send 20' ers all day and drop the stick when all the clean up is done and out of the way.
if its a tight space rope down i go bottom up and rope the top.
its true groundies get bent out of shape when you go top down..but thats why im a climber.
go big or stay home
If I ever feel the need for dampening, I skin the tree on 1 half going up. Pop the top out into the 180 degrees of cleared canopy, fly back to the bottom. Skin it then rig the wood out. Still time consuming, but only when appropriate. Think I've only done a couple like that. Large skinny White Pines. I hate White Pines.
