Wow! Very detailed response. Thank you!
Around the 4 minute area, you seem to be standing on your spurs to cut, with climb line just above the branch you're cutting. If you're going to want to not connect, reconnect your climbing line, you can stand in spurs for most of the tree, rope below flip-line. Keep advancing as you're clearing limbs.
If you're going to move your rope up, again and again, advance it above the crotch somewhat to have some working room (as high as is energy efficient), sit down in your saddle (holds the choked rope above branch to be cut), take the weight off spurs and lanyard, and use them for positioning. Cut your limbs, then cut your stub from one position.
You can keep an throw weight on your screw link or termination carbiner (consider taping on with electrical tape, easy on, easy off later). This will allow much farther advances of your climbing line, allowing your more/ higher overhead support for lateral reaches.
I did a combination of both advance the choke, and toss the screw link to advance on this one. SRT choke made it SO much easier to work the spar. When I got near the top, that was when I started to advance my lifeline above me. I still need to work on remembering when it's above me I can sit back. I've caught myself standing in the spurs for a long time just standing there thinking about my next move/ series of moves, or waiting for ground crew, instead of sitting down.
I like the throw weight idea... I need to get a couple more. I get nervous only having one, because if I drop it, that means I have to haul it back up to continue working.
I don't know what you're calling out before cutting, READY? HEADACHE???? Neither is clear to an unseen pedestrian, kid on bike, etc.
Call from Climber:
STAND CLEAR!
Response from Ground Crew: ALL CLEAR (AFTER CHECKING FOR PEOPLE AND EQUIPMENT)!
Funny you mention that... Not in the video, a kid rode around my cones, around my truck parked on the sidewalk to block the sidewalk from people, and through the front yard directly under the tree. I gave him a very stern "Don't ever do that again, you could get killed!" talk from the tree and he acknowledged and rode off... Thankfully I wasn't making a cut. Ground guy saw his friend ride in the street around the truck, then this kid comes out of nowhere through the yard. Ground guy put a big branch in the way too after that.
Will change my habit in what I say there.
Some species will peel a lot on the bark. You can sometimes cut from the top only, hand or chainsaw, let it peel down, then either pull down or up and the thin bit of holding wood/ bark will peel. When it works out, you can cut with two hands, take your finger off the trigger and throttle interlock (trigger lock-out), peel and guide the limb down, then grab again with both hands and finish off the stub. Two handed cutting, no start and stop saw/ hang and pick-up saw, unnecessarily.
That makes sense.
At 521, I'd have considered flipping your saw over, and backchaining straight through, using the bar to flick stub away from the tree, and definitely not dropping stuff the rope.
Still trying to learn the bar flick... I try it on every stub. Sometimes I get it, sometimes I don't. I'll try it with an up cut tho.
I'd bag the rope and carry it to reduce the ground work of branches forever getting tangled in the climbing line, especially if there is also a rigging line. If the chipper is running, most certainly secure you rope. This could simply mean throwing your tail through a low crotch in same/ another tree, over a fence, etc.
That's been a consideration, just haven't put that into practice yet.
Near the end I had the ground guy drag my tail back near the truck so I didn't gaff the rope.
I did notice after watching the video that when I was rigging down the dead side, at some point the rigging rope got twisted around my lifeline. Will need to pay much better attention to that. But that's why I record everything, so I can try to learn from my own mistakes too.
553 looks like lanyard is way upward, as well as slack climbing line, both in cutting area. Again, hang on climbing line anchored up high, and let lanyard hang low. If you were on your side D rings with that upward angle, you're not getting supported properly. Bridge rings would be different.
I do use my lanyard on the bridge rings. So much more comfortable, and when working the spar, gives me another 6" of work area.
