Douglas firs

[beastmaster]

We all know different trees have different characteristics. This is true of live trees verses dead trees too.
I recently started working with these big really dead douglas firs. It seems I have a new learning curve here. These trees are dangerous as hell. We dropped one. It was straight up and down, mostly green and it barber chaired. The tipping line was sucured with a base tie in that help slow things down, but it was bad.. I dropped another and when it hit the ground it split in two. I took a big top in a 100 ft tree maybe half and when I inspected the cut , hinge wood had pulled out. Sort of unpluged. It creep me out.
Some of these trees are 200 + ft tall and very dead, lots of structures all around, many have to be rigged.
I'd like to hear from anyone who has experience doing dead Douglas firs. They seem like very weak trees when dead.
I looked at some tops I dropped and some seem to have defects where it looks like they supperate more then break apart. Thanks for any feed back.

 

[beastmaster]

After writing the above I beleive l may have missed identified the trees. I think its white firs I'm talking about.

 

[RyanCafferky]

Welcome to the world of dead white firs. They are likely the nastiest tree you guys are dealing with down there. I've had more climbers come to me with concerns about those trees than any other and I don't blame them. They certainly should be dealt with cautiously. Do a pull test before climbing and then try to limit lateral loading on the tree while climbing. These trees decay faster than most of the other species down there. Do a good basal inspection as well.

 

[beastmaster]

We adapt fast. Where changing how we approach these trees. I'm learning to not trust these trees or take anything for granted. Really respecting those brittle dead tops. Today I broke out a pole saw and and removed an extra 10 ft of branches on the top and set the line with it so I didn't have to climb up there. Takes a little longer, but better safe. Some are really scary.