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I mean we are thankful for our troops who drive around land mines. and firefighters who dive into burning building aren't we? If he had died and gotten electrocuted it may be different.

I was reading climbing magazine the other day and there are a lot of people doing way crazier stuff than that just for the hell of being ballsy. And they aren't even helping anyone. If he is willing to be a bad a$$ in the name of saving peoples electricity, who am I to knock it?
 
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yeah. if you think Bout it. he fits the bill of a true hero. he saved a lot of people from the cold and no power for possibly a long time. he put his life on the line for the common good. i doubt i would have gone there, but i cant say that im not grateful for those that will step up to the plate and risk big for the sake of a functioning society. again, i hope they recognize you in some kind of way.

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treebing,

Lenin and the Bolsheviks thought the same, they thought they were the Russian people's heros, look at where that sh*t ended up...with Stalin killing millions in the wastelands of Siberia, thats where. If the guy on the wires is a hero then everyone else is an idiot....

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thats a good point too!

But think about Bruce Willis planting a nuclear bomb on an Astroid. He wasnt worried about safety or someone recharging the line. He just went on and did it. And boom, the planet was saved. He was just an oil driller.
 
treebing, I have to think you are being facetious...

I don't know all the particulars of that video, but I have been around trees and powerlines before, and I can tell you from first hand experience the following things:
-I have never worked for any Tree company where any part of that video would have been tolerated.
-I have never worked for any Electrical Provider who would have allowed that to occur on their property.
-I have worked in tandem with line crews where lines were dropped to expedite tree trimming, and then the spans of line were re-installed. The linemen can put up a span of wire in a very short period of time.
From the very little bit of information I can see in the video... at the very least... I can't see why the guy still has his spurs on.

I mean... Hero? whatever, I like climbing trees... but keep what we do in perspective. If the power company really wants to get the juice somewhere, it's not going to come down to something like the depiction in that video. Most power grids are designed with a certain amount of redundancy so that outages can be limited.
 
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I can't see why the guy still has his spurs on

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How'd you think he got up the other healthy tree to tie in.? You really don't belive he tossed and set a line and foot locked? This was an emergency speed was of the utmost importance.

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Wow some people on this site love to chirp! I'm sure I'm not the only one who has noticed other people complaining about this kind of behaviour. I'm here to learn, take the macho drama elsewhere!
 
All of us have experiences, opinions, and a style based on what has worked for us in the past.
Some guys play the macho card their whole career. While some of their exploits are admirable, and they often climb trees I wouldn't want to... they are sometimes killed or horribly injured. I have heard stories of people climbing broken and shattered trees, climbing between the phases... stories of guys leaning up ladders out of the bucket and tying in to the wires...
As a young climber, I wanted to be that guy. And I had some accidents, near misses and misadventures. By the time I had worked for some residential services and had my Journeymans card, I wasn't looking for adventure in tree work so much anymore. I had developed an attitude of Risk vs. Reward.
Could I throw a tree top over the wires with a whizz saw and have it land right at the chipper? Sure... but if I miss, what's the risk? A huge outage? An electrocution? A fatality? Losing my job? and what is the reward? the ground guys might think it's cool, and I'd be the "man of the hour". But I won't get a raise, I won't get a promotion, and niether the Utility nor my employer wants me doing that anyway...

I got hired by a company that had a much more conservative approach than I was used to. They rigged where I would snap cut, they used control lines when I felt they were unecessary. They wanted us to climb with a certain knot... I felt squelched, and bucked back a fair amount.
One day, the crew boss sat me down and told me that he thought I had talent and skill. "But", he said, "You have the wrong picture of what this job is all about. You are being paid to do it safely. You re being paid to show up on time. You are being paid to wear the safety glasses, and use a tag line. This company is not interested in how big of a piece you can snap cut and maintain control. This company is not looking for the guy willing to take the biggest top. You are being paid well to do it the way we want to do it, and you should think about whether or not you understand this job, and if you can do it or not."
That really hit home, and it has stuck with me ever since. That's why I judged that video harshly... I mean, it could've been me at a time, for sure. But the experiences I have had make it highly unlikely that I would do something like that now, nor would I really approve of or admire someone who did.
 
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Kinda goes along with my theory of there being very few old and bold climbers

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LMAO, wtf, that saying is older than you are NE. most of us know it "theres old climbers, and then there is blod climbers, but there are very few old bold climbers." How are you getting to lay claim to it??
 
You all have good points. I work for a Utility and am a Utility Arborest. I know how the think and how the work. I can see a utility rep just saying " Get it of, we need to turn the lights on". In a storm that happens to us all the time, thats what we do. We calculate and make a sumation on getting the job done the safest, fastest way possible. We all want to go hon to our families. I think there can be "Old bold climbers" I'm 55 years young and still at it. The thing here that needs to be recognized is you have to be smart and use your experiance and a sumation of all your skills and knowledge. No there are things I dont like to do or probably shouldnt do, but it is "MY JOB", no I don't get payed as well as lineman or others at my utility that don't get off the ground, but I do know my work and do it well.
I don't agree sometimes what a Utility expects from the Line Clearance workers. They tell you to be safe but want you to do things and look the other way while/when you do them.
Bottom line I guess is we do what we have to do at that time and look back and reflect afterwards.
Is the worker in the vid ballsy-ya, is he a Hero-maybe, is he stupid- I don't think so, Is he doing his job-YOU BET! In line clearance its a different world. Tree work is a dangerous enough then add power lines, now you have a real mix for disaster.
I will say GOOD JOB and that he knew what he was doing and did it well!
 
Holley... thanks for thinking of me as not that old, mate.

It can be all of our theory, man... kind of like adopting a religion, eh?
 
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