Cottonwood

[tod_k]

We removed this Cottonwood for the Line Clearance Contractor. Another conpany started to climb it and soon came down. They left two ropes on it to help secure it.

 

[tod_k]

Half the tree puked in September. There is not much holding it up. The horizontal crack was opening and closing while we were working.

 

[tod_k]

We used two cranes. We tied into our crane and did all the lifting with a 35 ton.

 

[tod_k]

Once we got all set up, I went to get my gear, but Derrick beat me to it. We he went up it was 4 degrees, with a wind chill of around -20. Here he is using spider legs. He only uses spider legs on all the brush, and round slings for the wood.

 

[tod_k]

The entire crown of the tree was over a 3-phase 12,000 each. Derrick working.

 

[tod_k]

All the debris stayed. Once we were set up the work took around 1.5 hours. Heres the mess. Another company was coming with a chipper so were nice and stacked it nice, but then the large wood ended up right on top, oopps, sorry.

 

[MikePoor]

Hey ToddK, smart move using 2 cranes! That crack looked NASTY! Did you use a breakaway lanyard set-up? (I tie a couple pieces of throwline around a "D" ring and then clip my lanyard into that but only when supported on my climbingline from overhead crane. I've only had to do that 4-5 times.

 

[tod_k]

It's never easy to decide what level of risk you are willing to accept. For this tree we decided to remove the stopper knot from the lanyard if the tree failed you would have to grab your adjuster in this case a prusik. If you were using a camming device that could be hard to do if not impossiable.

 

[Kathy_Holzer]

nice job TK. i always love your gnarly removal threads - good photos, no excessive commentary, best practices. nice job, again.

anybody else ever used a keychain biner as a lanyard fail point? i've done that a couple of times. not a nice feeling but preferable to going down with the tree if it fails.. i like the throwline idea - i've had to break the smaller diameter zing it a few times and it took some doing.
k.

 

[Colin]

Great stuff

Nice fruiting body near that crack too.

 

[Jamin_Mayer]

Since Eric pointed out the fruiting body on the trunk, I wonder why the tree was not removed back in September.

I am sure the decay was bad then, why the wait? Seems like it was too risky to leave that tree there for that long of a time.

 

[tod_k]

I'm sure it was not removed because of cost.

 

[rich_h]

Another excellent job Tod and crew. Do you guys ever get to spend a day pruning ornamentals or is it nothing but the removals that no one else wants to do? Those crazy removals sure keep the blood pumping, but a break every now and again is nice as well.

 

[tod_k]

We have been doing tons of dormant prunning.This removal was a nice break for the men.