How do you “ethically” ascend redwoods with weak anchor branches?

I take it from your post that you are, or will be working as an arborist in Redwood territory? If so you will be best served by listening to persons who have actually spent their lives working with Redwoods. In Redwood territory working climbers still use spurs on non removal when necessary, and the trees have somehow managed to remain healthy, vibrant, and big and beautiful...
 
Ptstreeguy said:
Some of the redwoods I have worked on recently have been stripped to the sky 100+’ and honestly most redwoods have very brittle branch unions so unless I get a really good shot that high then I don’t know how to ascend without spikes
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You can sometimes rope-walk on a stationary rope, toes to trunk, with a lanyard from bridge D to bridge D, it's almost like you have spurs. If your TIP failed, pull on your lanyard to arrest your fall, pronto.
 
John@TreeXP said:
Indeed, I was referring to mostly old growth redwoods, coastal redwoods in particular. Old growth Sierra redwoods are similar, and the base and limb diameter can be significantly bigger than the coastal redwoods. Above a certain level in either types of redwoods, locating a throw line's placement can be difficult in many instances. When setting an initial throw line over 150' up, I still maintain that placement can be dicey until the lead climber reaches it to make necessary adjustments. I have both 100'+ doug firs and cedars in my neighborhood, and without a direct unobstructed throw line, a multi-limb TIP with a basal anchor is almost always necessary. Using a drone to video the TIP is another way to confirm the integrity of the line placement if binoculars are inadequate, and pre-climb bounce testing to better ensure the integrity of a limb's strength is mission critical.

I also frown upon using spurs for tree work when not felling a tree, although doug firs may be the exception, given the thickness and ruggedness of the bark. Redwood bark is a bit more fragile and flaky compared to dougs, but it could likely handle spurs without inflicting too much harm to the tree, if there's no other viable alternative. Just be careful not to hit anyone if you dislodge a 12 foot long, tree foot wide and 4" thick sliver of bark, like I did on my last old-growth coastal redwood climb.
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Agreed it’s seems a fairly common consensus that the Doug furs and redwoods have the bark to handle it, I also frown at using the spurs as well, hence the question , I see that there is other options then what I’ve been doin and can’t wait to try them , my fear is that there will still be a lot of times where the shot isn’t able to clean and wrap some good branches
 
Ptstreeguy said:
Agreed it’s seems a fairly common consensus that the Doug furs and redwoods have the bark to handle it, I also frown at using the spurs as well, hence the question , I see that there is other options then what I’ve been doin and can’t wait to try them , my fear is that there will still be a lot of times where the shot isn’t able to clean and wrap some good branches
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There is nearly always an alternative option to spurring up a tree. Might not be a cost effective one, but practice on small scrawny doug firs.

There are some good throwline tricks to aid in getting a good line set. Blast the throw line as close to the trunk as possible aiming to shoot through the tree. Get the throw weight to the ground, then add weight. Slowly hoist the weight (ideally one heavy one 20-30oz) up to the area it exited the canopy. Bob it to get it to slide inwards slowly to the trunk. Sometimes you can get it to wrap the trunk by about 2/3 or more as the weight slides down the limb, you can continue to encourage the weight to spiral the trunk on the way down.

The line might be slightly hung up a stub not allowing it to nest up against the trunk. You can make a weight with a eye on both ends, and use the same throw line or add a second to lift this weight in a endless loop. As it reaches the limb give it a sharp pop, and it will fly in a arch over the obstructing stub or twig, you can do this many times going back and forth to walk the throwline inwards to the trunk.

Choose if you want to base tie to an adjacent tree, or pull the other end into the crown. You will be amazed at the times you can literally walk the line around some limbs if you can get far enough back from the tree. The more you wrap your line around the stem, the less you are loading your TIP with a base tie. If you shoot your line over 1/4 of the life canopy or more you have almost hundreds of limbs captured below your tip. Test your TIP with a buddy bounce test, MA, or just a few good jumps and drops. Mentally I add the diameters of the limbs my rope makes contact with. Say your ideal TIP limb needs to be 4" or greater, is 3 2" limbs good enough? what about 8 1" limbs? (rhetorical use your own judgement)
 
Yet another option, also time consuming, but worth the extra effort is to get the throw line over a fairly decent limb, and then go around the tree and shoot it over another limb at about the same height but on the opposite side of the tree. Then pull the weight up and drop it to isolate the TIP, switch weight to other end, and isolate the TIP on that half of the line. Now the climb line will be over two limbs and will be tight against the trunk if you orient the base tie in the right direction.

Lots of ways to skin this cat.
 
I just have young, about 100yr old, redwoods to climb.

The highest lowest TIP I currently have is about 82'. A 8oz Harrison rocket, 1.75mm throwline do the trick on an 8' big shot pole. A 12' pole would be better as I have to get down on the ground to get enough pull.

From there, a rope walker with RW (with diy webbing chestie for tending), foot and Saka ascenders do the trick.
 
A lot of suggestions from folks with no real working knowledge gained from actually working with redwoods on a daily basis. They are a special tree which calls for a special skillset. If you are in fact gonna be a working treeman who is frequently dealing with redwoods I would strongly suggest you spend some time working with folks who already have experience working redwoods SRT. (not rec climbing). Some of the suggestions around here are gonna get you killed son.....
 
moss said:
Good comments although I think you're describing rope setting and climbing in old-growth redwoods. I suspect that tree work in the PNW is happening more in second or third growth redwoods. They're still very tall/large trees but if the trees are stripped up to 100' as described there's going to be good visibility to assess line placement. There should be close to zero risk for anchor blowout for work (or rec) climbing on the initial ascent, that is achievable with good throwing skill (whatever tool you use) and strong anchor quality assessment skills. It is unacceptable to be getting on rope and be wondering "Am I going to survive getting up into this tree?"
-AJ
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Tree work in the PNW usually includes a lot of non-redwood conifers. Southern Oregon and Northern California are where the remaining 5% of all Coastal Redwoods still survive. The Sierra Redwoods are along the western facing slopes of the Eastern Sierras. That's home to some of the largest and oldest Sequoia-Redwood trees on earth.

I also agree with Rico, don't rely solely on rec climbers or even seasoned redwood climbing arborists. Use the Force, Luke!
 
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Ptstreeguy said:
Agreed it’s seems a fairly common consensus that the Doug furs and redwoods have the bark to handle it, I also frown at using the spurs as well, hence the question , I see that there is other options then what I’ve been doin and can’t wait to try them , my fear is that there will still be a lot of times where the shot isn’t able to clean and wrap some good branches
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Whether to spur or not spur may come down to being a business decision on the part of the property owner/client/paycheck writer, I get that. On the other hand, you hopefully want to be competitive with other reputable tree care professionals who may never use spurs in such cases.
 
John@TreeXP said:
Whether to spur or not spur may come down to being a business decision on the part of the property owner/client/paycheck writer, I get that. On the other hand, you hopefully want to be competitive with other reputable tree care professionals who may never use spurs in such cases.
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My very limited experience with PNW climbers has made me think that there may not be any who never use spurs.
 
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