Fear cost me a job with a company today

Mr Monkey, if you want to move past your fear come work with us for a couple of weeks. We slay big trees on a daily basis with a 35 ton crane. There would be no pressure as there are 3 other climbers who could do anything you aren't comfortable with . Take baby steps till you are a slayer.
I'm 100% serious
 
Keep on
pctree said:
Mr Monkey, if you want to move past your fear come work with us for a couple of weeks. We slay big trees on a daily basis with a 35 ton crane. There would be no pressure as there are 3 other climbers who could do anything you aren't comfortable with . Take baby steps till you are a slayer.
I'm 100% serious
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How can I say this...

JUMP ON THAT SHIT!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'd go work with Paul for the experience if I didn't have a 6 y.o. and too busy running a tree show. I still try to figure out about having a week to fly out, like if the kid is going out of town without me.
...and for what its worth, I'm not great at crane work, but I'm definitely not green.
 
pctree said:
Mr Monkey, if you want to move past your fear come work with us for a couple of weeks. We slay big trees on a daily basis with a 35 ton crane. There would be no pressure as there are 3 other climbers who could do anything you aren't comfortable with . Take baby steps till you are a slayer.
I'm 100% serious
Click to expand...

That's a real generous offer. Where exactly are you located?
 
TimberJack said:
May I asked what company this was and you said again as in it happened before? If the company had any sort of safety culture they would have brought in a more expeirenced climber and turned this into a training expeirence. I have a hard time walking away myself but sometimes it needs to be done. Sometimes its not about the tree but the lack of equipment access or availability.
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It didn't happen before with that company, I was actually just trying out working a few days with this company to see if it would be a good fit.

I don't think the company is looking for someone to train, more so a climber who can just take over day to day on the job operations without much assistance.
 
climbingmonkey24 said:
That's a real generous offer. Where exactly are you located?
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If you really are serious about progressing as a climbing, please take Paul up on his very gracious offer. Anyone here would be honored to work with, and learn from Paul.
Make that shit happen. No fucking excuses, whining, or second guessing. Earn while you learn. See it, Be it Bro.
 
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rico said:
If you really are serious about progressing as a climbing, please take Paul up on his very gracious offer. Any one here would be honored to work with, and learn from Paul.
Make that shit happen. No fucking excuses, whining, or second guessing. Earn while you learn. See it, Be it Bro.
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Yo I endorse this. You will be in the do. This is such a great opportunity. Damn it would do my old azz good. But I am tied down good. Plus he would'nt want a geriatric. Get with this giant crew.
 
I've got to say I took Paul up on his offer some years ago. Great no pressure experience and Sam is an awesome cook. I enjoyed my time and was surprised to get paid to learn. C-Ville is a cool college town in the foothills (we call them mountains) It's worth the trip even for just a few days. These guys don't shame others. They embrace the opportunity to share. Plus everyone needs to have the life experience of a Paul moment or story.
 
swingdude said:
Yo I endorse this. You will be in the do. This is such a great opportunity. Damn it would do my old azz good. But I am tied down good. Plus he would'nt want a geriatric. Get with this giant crew.
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Now that I know what your accent sounds like, your posts are way more fun to read.

The Chestie is killer, by the way. I didn't expect it to be such a difference from the weaver. Game changer.
 
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Not sure if this has been mentioned yet but personally, to me, if I don't feel a tint of fear, a little peak of fight or flight with each ascent I make, I walk away from the tree. Not having at least a .01% of fear each time you head up something means your ego has overtaken your primal respect of death to some degree. And those are the days accidents are likely to happen. 24 years in at this point, with 20 years climbing & not one work day has passed where I don't go through a mental checklist to compartmentalize those little hairs on the back of my neck telling me "hey dummy do this right or you could die". I don't have wood to knock on this second or I'd mention my safety record. Now how you take that daily tint of fear & process or compartmentalize it, seems to be wide open for discussion & ask 500 climbers & you'll get 501 answers on how that process goes. But if you don't see it before you start grunting up a trunk, you likely won't recognize it once you're aloft & then it can rear up on you & truly become dangerous. So far as the particular situation you were in with the company & the health/condition of the particular tree itself goes... if they didn't want you any more because you communicated to them a safety issue, or personal safety concern, even if it was majority just your inner stay alive mechanism, you don't want them as an employer. If you pulled it several times a week & were constantly having the fear issues, different story, but first day, one job, being let go? Nah, that's not good management of a tree service if you offer any other value in what you bring to the jobsite.
 
Fight or flight is a natural response as your nervous system knows you are in danger. Like a great soldier, cop, logger, firefighter or any other dangerous line of work, a good tree-man knows or learns how to function at a high level when in that mode. For whatever reason some are more predisposed for it, and really don't need to do much. Some can learn to move past it, and some just simply can't. . Just like learning all the climbing and cutting skills, it is just as important to teach/train the nervous system to become comfortable and operate at a high level while in an excited state. Muy importante if you want to progress as a climber!
 
TreeSmithAK - good words. On YouTube I occasionally see things that make me gasp - like one dude jumping up with his feet to shove wood into the chipper about a week or two ago. Or spurring up a limb without any tie-in even for a short section at 40+ feet. After years and years of safety and health in process industry, everybody has to be on the lookout for the kind of creeping "Oh don't worry it'll be OK just this once" - it'll always creep into your work eventually. And we found often journeymen were the worst offenders - they were the ones that jammed the footswitch on pipe threaders so they were faster - and the ones who lost fingers eventually. This behaviour creep is the thing that most bothers me with some crews I watch. "It'll never happen to me" - what was it again - "If it can happen it will"? Hence traditional safety's insistance on spotting unsafe behaviours or near misses at the bottom of the incident triangle as they call it. Lots of little things before the big thing. And statistically, large firms have much more chance of seeing something happen in their organizations than does a small firm or a one man show. That's why large firms heat trace thief hatches and PVRV's on outdoor liquid tanks in cold climates so they can't freeze something and collapse a tank. Been there, done that. To a lot of small firms this is overkill/ extra $$.
Some fear is a healthy thing - makes you check your knots maybe? Complacency/ comfort/ being on autopilot can kill.
(Born under the birth sign of the Cringing Chicken)
 
Good advice on spending more time in big trees, and getting to know them.
I can't relate to the fear taking over; I just breathe deep and think it through. Gut and instinct are lower chakra energy and often a bad influence. imo
Yoga and meditation are key balancing practices for me, that translate to daily life.

I think you've been psyched out by the overwhelming fear our "teachers" have for interior decay, if you keep repeating

"Half of the base was rotted and hollow about 6 ft or so from the ground up. And you could pick the wood apart with your hand."

The tree is vertical because it is strong. Turn off your mind; relax, and float downstream. Trust the tree.
 
Coming from a newbie, it just takes time. I climbed rock for 15 years before I started messing around in trees. While similar, they are very different. I climbed trees recreationally for about 2 years before I started taking a saw with me. My first large pine removal about 5 or 6 years ago, I remember clearly. It was about 100' and I limbed it to about 75' and started getting nervous. I wanted to go higher, but couldn't, my legs and body started shaking. I got focused enough and dropped the top from there, which was about 10" in diameter, much bigger than I wanted. Everything went fine. Fast forward to last week and I climbed a 110' spruce, limbed on my way up and I dropped the top at about 100' and 5" in diameter, all while a group of school kids waited at the bus stop down the road. Then snapped a few pictures of the view. It just takes time.

Fortunately I started out on my own as a side gig, and was very selective on the work that I took and was under no pressure to do anything I wasn't comfortable with. Having my own business for 5 years now I still walk away from jobs I'm not comfortable with. There are bigger outfits with more experience and bigger crews and I have no problem understanding my limitations. While I love a challenge and the puzzle solving of tree work, my main goal is to go home safe everyday.
 
That was like me I started with just climbing recreationally before I got into tree work professionally. And I started out with my own little business as well. So I could turn down the jobs that I didn't want. Although unfortunately there were a few times early on, this was a while ago that I would take a job and then get started with it, get spooked and then not be able to finish it. Luckily it never cost me on my reputation.

Recently I actually had another work opportunity open up right after I lost this opportunity because of getting scared. I've been working for a new company since last week. Already did some crane work, and already got scared again as well but the owner was cool about it.

I rode the crane up into a large silver maple and the entire time I was panicking if something went wrong with the crane, the cable snapped and I fell. Then when I got into the tree and tied in I was able to move down a few feet to a different position, and then got myself in a crotch and stayed there and wouldn't move. I didn't come right down however. The owner who climbs went up and did the tree and I got to watch. I had to come down to undo the crane slings.

One step at a time. Been saying it for a while I need to find some big trees and do some practice climbing in them.
 
Really does take time and consistent climbing, I haven’t been climbing much lately myself, today had to prune a limb of a 130ft eucalyptus next to the wires that we couldn’t reach with the bucket.
Amazing what a couple weeks out of the bigger trees doestoyour confidence, not that I found myself scared just checking things much more thouroughly than usual
 
i used to get a BAD leg shake and gut grumble at about 65'.
Just had to talk carcass thru it.
.
Any force can be fer or against ya, depending on how you position the flow of force.
i'm saying fear can be good if it keeps you carefully alive and considerate.
.
TITS as Fail Safe; L-earn why "can't" fall;
L-earn to trust and float on rope like spaceman lightly;
lay back in light play and feel it's support in cradle of belt, learn to like it and the floating feel.
Bouunce around horizontally kicking off with legs twirl, meet next limb likewise(wear brain bucket).
.
Then, keep rope 1foot from tight in working; if things go sideways;
plan to lay comfy in supported cradle and know which way it will float you away to.
Like martial arts guy know which way going to duck and roll at every minute and turn as constant companion.
.
Too many hotshots and braggerts out thar;
your problem is actually refreshing (as well as reminiscing)!
Listen to bod, but teach it as it teaches you!
 
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