Reg
Branched out member
- Location
- Victoria, BC
This job was undersold by the company I was working with. The proprietor had given a cheap price because it was supposedly a friend who didn’t want to pay but didn’t want any damage either. Our task was just to put the tree down without damaging anything, just the two of us.
Tree was about 130 ft and had been topped 25+ years ago by a local logger....who as it turns out sent the top straight through the neighbour’s kitchen. The owner didn’t volunteer that info though, insisting the trees had never been touched....and continued to play the job down and that we ought to be done in a couple of hours. Yeah whatever.
The zip line was the ticket. A single line tensioned at the base of the tree, up through a block and then terminated at the landing out yonder. No haul-back/control line. I had 3 loop slings that I would rig to 3 limbs at a time. We would leave each limb still attached at the landing so it would re-tension the line for the next limb....only untying after all 3 were down.
A little trickier nearer the top as the line angle got steeper and there was a high risk of the some of the limbs sweeping and breaking stuff out of the adjacent fir where they had grown through, around and above....which would have landed on the roof. So I had to be patient and re-direct the line a little higher and cut the limbs a little shorter.
The top still had a lean-back but was now sufficiently clear of the adjacent tree and I’d done as much as was practical in shifting the favour. We pre-loaded the top 50ft with the 5:1 and then further took aim with a pocket full wedges and axe. The 5:1 was un-manned at this point because being only two of us there is always a risk of somebody appearing from nowhere walking around the corner and into the kill zone....and the 5:1 was so far away to get a good angle that Scott would’ve been totally blind to what was happening.
Anyway, it straightened up as soon as the back-cut neared the finish-line and then stalled a little, so rather than cut any more I took the time to tap in the wedges before edging further towards the notch....away she went, jumped 15 ft and landed perfectly flat.
A lot of messing around setting up as it was pretty rough terrain at the far end of the rigging, but worth it to leave absolutely no doubt about the outcome. Photos are a poor because it was a damp gloomy day. Scott is the faller right at the end. Be a few minutes embeding the photos.
Last one
Tree was about 130 ft and had been topped 25+ years ago by a local logger....who as it turns out sent the top straight through the neighbour’s kitchen. The owner didn’t volunteer that info though, insisting the trees had never been touched....and continued to play the job down and that we ought to be done in a couple of hours. Yeah whatever.
The zip line was the ticket. A single line tensioned at the base of the tree, up through a block and then terminated at the landing out yonder. No haul-back/control line. I had 3 loop slings that I would rig to 3 limbs at a time. We would leave each limb still attached at the landing so it would re-tension the line for the next limb....only untying after all 3 were down.
A little trickier nearer the top as the line angle got steeper and there was a high risk of the some of the limbs sweeping and breaking stuff out of the adjacent fir where they had grown through, around and above....which would have landed on the roof. So I had to be patient and re-direct the line a little higher and cut the limbs a little shorter.
The top still had a lean-back but was now sufficiently clear of the adjacent tree and I’d done as much as was practical in shifting the favour. We pre-loaded the top 50ft with the 5:1 and then further took aim with a pocket full wedges and axe. The 5:1 was un-manned at this point because being only two of us there is always a risk of somebody appearing from nowhere walking around the corner and into the kill zone....and the 5:1 was so far away to get a good angle that Scott would’ve been totally blind to what was happening.
Anyway, it straightened up as soon as the back-cut neared the finish-line and then stalled a little, so rather than cut any more I took the time to tap in the wedges before edging further towards the notch....away she went, jumped 15 ft and landed perfectly flat.
A lot of messing around setting up as it was pretty rough terrain at the far end of the rigging, but worth it to leave absolutely no doubt about the outcome. Photos are a poor because it was a damp gloomy day. Scott is the faller right at the end. Be a few minutes embeding the photos.
Last one
