Root Failure When The Ground is Saturated with Rain

The risk of having a vehicle accident driving to the job site is probably many times higher than the risk of the tree suddenly uprooting while you're in it. It doesn't appear to be in a low area that would be supersaturated. You could always take extra time and put a couple of slightly tensioned guy ropes on it for peace of mind. I'm guessing you could break a pickup truck in two trying to pull it over with a running start. I'd do a good inspection from the ground, look it over with binoculars and, if nothing looks out of kilter, go to work.

Last week I was taking down a 65 ft 18" DBH white oak with fungi all over it and a dead, bare top. Had to go to plan B halfway through when I found it was too soft to hold a spur. Still, once it was on the ground cut up, it was obvious there was still enough good wood to hold thousands of pounds, except for the completely dead top which I dropped in one piece.
 
rico said:
Coming from a place of concern and kindness I would strongly suggest that you seek some professional help in dealing with your serious fear/anxiety issues.. It has gotten to the point where it is crippling you and making you irrational. Time to deal with it bro..
Click to expand...
Agree with Rico. Other thing to consider is things like diet. As an example last night I ate too many of some of the saltiest potato crisps I have ever eaten - to the point I woke up with stomach cramps. Tried to line clearance in the bucket and my balance was all over the place and felt like I had sea legs. Had to cut small as couldnt trust throwing larger cut pieces. Didnt bother me as I already knew the cause. Job took 20 mins longer, no biggie.

Maybe taking time to get yourself settled would be an investment
 
I’ve been climbing for around 5 years.

Just to paint the picture, when I started climbing I felt comfortable climbing to the very tops of bigger trees, etc. Those same trees I’ve climbed many times over (at my house) I’m now nervous to climb to the top because of this fear / anxiety of something bad happening. Even though I used to do it multiple times per week / everyday when I was starting out, and I felt comfortable up there.

This is strictly an anxiety issue. I have it in other areas of my life outside of tree work.

Part of it is I get more nervous around bigger wood. Idk why I just do. I have plenty of confidence in my climbing ability and my knowledge of tree work, it’s my mindset I need to work on...which I’m trying to.

This all started I suppose when I helped a buddy with a job and the tree had heart rot. Evidently I held onto that thought and image of that tree and have completely snowballed with it to make the situation into something it really isn’t, and now I feel nervous about climbing oak trees.
 
Last edited:
climbingmonkey24 said:
Maybe just calm the anxiety and think more rational
Click to expand...
I used to spend a lot of time flying back in the day, and I HATE flying, particularly takeoff. I tried something a few years ago that actually helped. During takeoff, I put on Iron Maiden's "Aces High" and crank it up over my BT headphones. Did the trick. I actually like takeoff now. Bubba Watson (the golfer) actually likes it when the crowd roars during his opening tee shot. The mind is a strange thing.
 
climbingmonkey24 said:
@LordFarkwad no
Click to expand...
Just a joke!

Edit: I deal with a certain baseline level of fear of heights (I know this because I know people who aren't afraid of heights, and...I'm not like them). I started having jaw pain when I first started climbing, and realized that it was because I was constantly clenching my teeth while > ~20' or so. All that to say, I'm somewhat familiar with anxiety surrounding this activity. My biggest allies in the fight have been 1) time in the tree, and 2) slightly more regimented thought/rationalization. Example: when first climbing, I was afraid of having a single bridge, single rope, etc., and was obsessed with running two parallel bridges, until I realized that each strand in the rope/bridge was in fact capable of bearing my weight (so not only was there redundancy, there was like 20x redundancy).

I'm not saying that's your path out, necessarily - as that isn't the exact issue you're dealing with - BUT I do think you can get a handle on this, even if it involves bringing someone else in to help solve it.
 
Last edited:
@climbingmonkey24 I think what @rico said is important. You have also said yourself that this affects other areas of your life so talking to someone as a first step is just the right choice. There will not be any piece of advice anyone can give that your anxiety will not find a way around, and you yourself know that this isn't necessarily rooted in logic, so processing the anxiety separate from the tree situation, which is ONLY the trigger, not the gun, is a necessity. Tell the client that you want to wait a little longer to allow the ground to dry up so you don't ruin the yard, or tell them whatever you want but don't push through because you will traumatize yourself. You have some level of anxiety disorder which is not uncommon, but tree work drags it out into the light where it can't be hidden. That's the only difference. You'll also be working in a compromised state as @Stumpsprouts alluded to. This job alone will not make or break anything. Postpone or walk, and get some counseling, and you can beat this. My .02
 
rico said:
I know I sound like a broken record, but do not underestimate the power of caffeine when it comes to fear/anxiety. If you are doing any caffeine you must cease and desist immediately.
Click to expand...
For sure! I have an anxiety issue as well (my mother is probably the poster girl for the anxiety club of America) and caffeine makes it far worse, for no good reason. I can’t get near caffeine if I’m leaving the ground or I’ll be a mess in the air.
 
Lactic acid is bad enough not to want milk in your system before climbing - the extra amount can really tighten up muscles way worse than normal.. not really part of the conversation but perhaps worthy of note…
 
Chaplain242 said:
Lactic acid is bad enough not to want milk in your system before climbing - the extra amount can really tighten up muscles way worse than normal.. not really part of the conversation but perhaps worthy of note…
Click to expand...
I was curious about lactose or lactic acid in your GI tract affecting skeletal muscles. I found several sources contradicting what most of us have been told for ages. It seems odd given all the advancements in science that there's still not consensus on the biochemistry of muscle activity. Here's one excerpt:

How Lactate Got Confused with Lactic Acid​

The whole misunderstanding dates back to a study published in 1923 by two British scientists, Otto Meyerhoff and Archibald V. Hill. In their Nobel-Prize winning research investigating the energy capabilities of carbohydrate metabolism in skeletal muscle, they suggested that lactic acid is produced in humans as a side reaction to glycolysis (the breakdown of glucose to fuel muscle activity).

And that’s essentially how it’s been explained ever since: Lactic acid is a sort of residue from your muscles burning fuel, and its buildup is what causes the burn and ache athletes commonly experience during and after intense effort. After all, acid burns, right?

What more recent studies have determined fairly conclusively is that while lactate — not lactic acid — coincides with “acidosis” in muscles, it’s not the cause.
 
Chaplain242 said:
From memory this didn’t work out well for the ‘counselor’ or private Pile
Click to expand...
Hey, that man is a national treasure!

And so was this man:

“Don't neglect life by worrying about Death. - I don't know what is the meaning of death, but I am not afraid to die - and I go on, non-stop, going forward [with life]. Even though, I, Bruce Lee, may die some day without fulfilling all of my ambitions, I will have no regrets. I did what I wanted to do and what I've done, I've done with sincerity and to the best of my ability. You can't expect much more from life.”​

-Bruce Lee
 
Dan Cobb said:
I was curious about lactose or lactic acid in your GI tract affecting skeletal muscles. I found several sources contradicting what most of us have been told for ages. It seems odd given all the advancements in science that there's still not consensus on the biochemistry of muscle activity. Here's one excerpt:

How Lactate Got Confused with Lactic Acid​

The whole misunderstanding dates back to a study published in 1923 by two British scientists, Otto Meyerhoff and Archibald V. Hill. In their Nobel-Prize winning research investigating the energy capabilities of carbohydrate metabolism in skeletal muscle, they suggested that lactic acid is produced in humans as a side reaction to glycolysis (the breakdown of glucose to fuel muscle activity).

And that’s essentially how it’s been explained ever since: Lactic acid is a sort of residue from your muscles burning fuel, and its buildup is what causes the burn and ache athletes commonly experience during and after intense effort. After all, acid burns, right?

What more recent studies have determined fairly conclusively is that while lactate — not lactic acid — coincides with “acidosis” in muscles, it’s not the cause.
Click to expand...
Agree it’s a different mechanism but found it does have an effect - probably due extra inflammation or something, it’s something I now avoid pre-climbing…
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

New threads New posts

Kask Stihl NORTHEASTERN Arborists Wesspur TreeStuff.com Teufelberger Westminster X-Rigging Teufelberger
Back
Top Bottom