Long Oak ascent.... twice

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Fairfield

Fairfield

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Location
Bucks County pa USA
Top of this tall oak was dead. It had no center leader just two leaders that arched away from each other making a high point for a tie in at the same point that was needed to be cut. Cool climbs. The second climb, the cut got hung up in another oak top making for a third climb to cut that out... what are you gonna do sometimes.

http://youtu.be/Q2meEYwahEk

Climb Safe.
 
This should get interesting - be prepared to defend the one handing!! I hate when tops/limbs get hung up - and it seems to happen for me when pruning and it's one of the last branches on the last tree of the day....
 
ya just a bad habit that I am trying to remember (be more aware of) when working. I notice that and my thumb placement isnt the best. Old habits are hard to break for sure.
 
Those tops didn't look too bad. Why didn't you try and reduce the dead and broken portions and try and save some of that big wood? The first two leads look like they had something decent to cut it back to but it is a little hard to tell if it would have been worth while. They looks like big cuts when small could have worked.
 
ya, hard to tell from the vid. the first top did have a live portion that I did want to bring it to that was about 5 more feet out. The boss on the other hand wanted to go a little more heavy. On his defence though, the live part was showing leaf scortch (sorry if not spelled right). So by next spring it was most likly not going to leaf out. The second top, I cut where I was asked to by the boss and the home owner. The one thing I know for sure about the company is that they do talk things over a great deal before a final answer is given on what will be done. Shame that such a large Oak is on its way out.
 
You working with Keystone now right? I know Bob and he wouldnt remove a tree unless thoughtful consideration had taken place. Good work though. We gotta meet up one of these days.
 
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ya, hard to tell from the vid. the first top did have a live portion that I did want to bring it to that was about 5 more feet out. The boss on the other hand wanted to go a little more heavy. On his defence though, the live part was showing leaf scortch (sorry if not spelled right). So by next spring it was most likly not going to leaf out. The second top, I cut where I was asked to by the boss and the home owner. The one thing I know for sure about the company is that they do talk things over a great deal before a final answer is given on what will be done. Shame that such a large Oak is on its way out.

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Right on, I respect that. we have so many trees getting hammered by BLS it's becoming a huge problem. Thanks for the explanation.
 
I really don't understand the need to make 2 ascents? I understand even less blowing all that green foliage out the tops of those leads??? Looked like a few 2" pieces of dead at the tips.....you guys call that a dying oak? Eek.
 
well, it is hard to see from the vid, but 90% of both leads were dead or on there way out from bls. The need for two ascents was due to the way I climb it was easyer then beating myself up trying to traverse such a large spread in the canopy. The tree split into two leaders at the top and the cuts where probably a good 50 feet away from each other. even with videos it is hard to see the whole picture at times. Trust me though, the company I am with and my self dont cut just to cut. We always keep what is best for the tree and customer in the fore front of are actions.

Now that I think about it, the second lead had more dead in it but we didnt want to cut more due to having more then two large cuts in the canopy at one time.
 
Around here, no that tree is awesome compared to some of the other pin oaks that are just giving up. It was hard to tell the overall angles but I probably would have only accented once.
 
I will throw a weight into the other lead and have rope run over and have the crew pull me over to the next lead.
Sometimes it works out well in my favor and the ground dudes get a kick out of blastin me off to the next lead.
Watcha out for dead fall>knock on wood!
 
I've got no input on the video other than I had to watch an advertisement before it started. That always gets me jaded for the video to follow thereafter - I'm not sure what individuals get paid to "monetize" their vids, but I don't think it's worth it to have to sit through even more advertisements. We're bombarded enough already.
 
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be prepared to defend the one handing!!

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How about defending the saw????? when do you see an echo used by a top notch pro these days? She was cutting OK... but still.....


Jim,
You make me smile... you're not afraid to show the good the bad and the ugly... you lay it all out there...
that last notch took 2 minutes to cut... you got up the tree in seconds... awkward body position for the cut and all.. we've all been there, but there is a better way... and there was no way a notch and pull line were going to move it off the understory tree... so it was all for naught. that was pretty obvious.. still enjoyed the video, and admire you for showing the hiccups..
 
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I really don't understand the need to make 2 ascents? I understand even less blowing all that green foliage out the tops of those leads??? Looked like a few 2" pieces of dead at the tips.....you guys call that a dying oak? Eek.

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Total BS... wtf can you tell from watching a video... not much... you think you know more about the tree's health than the guy that climbed it? and then question his climbing decisions... He's obviously got the rope walker system down pat, so its plenty easy to make two ascents... what can you tell about the traverse from the vid.. not much.. have we ever seen a vid of you climbing???? do you have anything to show us besides you big mouth?
 
I can vouch for Jeff, too. Real deal climber and arborist. Just because he doesn't post videos does not mean he doesn't know what he's talking about. He's also a super nice guy who would probably be open to discussion and not name calling. But I'll leave that decision to him.

-Tom
 
I meant to repost after looking up the BLS, totally valid pruning in regard to that. The video may have been deceiving, I know those long upright leads are usually all wood and a few sprouts which make climbing them difficult, but I find with a little preplanning you cam usually avoid leaving the tree. Set a second line from the ground, toss a monkeys fist across the tree and have a groundie tie it off.

I don't need to validate myself to anyone here. I've had great pleasure in meeting the people I have from this site and elsewhere, but that's not for this thread.
 
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