Tips for walking back to the cutting point?

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Skye401

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Hey everyone! I am having a heck of a time with the search function so I figured I would start a fresh post.

So I've recently gone with a company that does a lot of crane work. This has been an odd transition for me since it's just so different from regular climbing and I'm trying to figure out ways to improve and speed myself up.

I think I lose the most time through setting the sling and then trying to get through that high angle limb walk back to the trunk to make the cut. Any tips to make this easier or faster?

For some extra info, we are using an Alltec load line crane. We have 2 12-foot webbing slings and 2 20-foot webbing slings that we use to secure the load. Many times when we're hinging a piece straight up, there isn't much sling left to bring me back to the trunk.

Would love some tips on walking back or just general crane-climbing tips as well. Thank you!
 
Skye401 said:
Hey everyone! I am having a heck of a time with the search function so I figured I would start a fresh post.

So I've recently gone with a company that does a lot of crane work. This has been an odd transition for me since it's just so different from regular climbing and I'm trying to figure out ways to improve and speed myself up.

I think I lose the most time through setting the sling and then trying to get through that high angle limb walk back to the trunk to make the cut. Any tips to make this easier or faster?

For some extra info, we are using an Alltec load line crane. We have 2 12-foot webbing slings and 2 20-foot webbing slings that we use to secure the load. Many times when we're hinging a piece straight up, there isn't much sling left to bring me back to the trunk.

Would love some tips on walking back or just general crane-climbing tips as well. Thank you!
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Welcome to The Buzz, @Skye401, and great first post. I'm an infrequent crane climber so I'll be paying attention to this thread. I had the same thing happen to me last month on a leggy oak limb - set my slings then realized what was ahead of me and had to hump the branch for 20 feet, lol.

I like @rope-a-dope 's suggestion but he's a fancy 2-climber company and I'm usually a 1-climber company. It seems like either a higher ball or a ball that is closer to the cut are simple ways to solve the issue, but might not be practical. Another tie-in at the cut site set prior to setting slings might help - you could haul yourself over, possibly with ma if you set it up right...
 
One time I rode the hook with my lanyard out to tie slings to the next limb, so I could keep a good TIP up high. Boom was short and the white oak was spread out. Didn't have a second rope and the other climber wasn't ready to help yet. It worked fine, just not best practice to be riding around without escape system ready to go.
 
I’d get longer rope slings. That being said, I’ve only done a handful of crane jobs. The last one was with a 130 ton at a 150’ radius. Wouldn’t allow me to use my ropes for slings. Had to adjust my plan for their 12’ chokers. Made a few tiny picks to clean off the central leader for them to reach the backside without obstruction. The operator and Oiler had enough trust in me for the last few picks to let me use my slings. Cut three in a row that I had to signal them that they were free and good to fly away. I love using rope slings.
 
rope-a-dope said:
Longer rope slings will keep the ball higher up and allow you to balance the load.
We use a second climber in this situation just to tie slings on, then bomb out so you can stay comfy on the trunck and make the cut as soon as they pull their rope.
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Yep we do that also, 2 20’s or 25’s and a 30’ er are the best set up for balancing brush picks. Makes life easier for getting to where your going to cut from. You can get the @Mark Chisholm teufelberger slings from gap arborist supply or Treestuff, and Wesspur sells some nice ones as well.
 
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Here are a few recent ones, don’t be afraid to add a sling to make them longer as well. See how high the ball sits, very easy to get back to where the cuts being made at


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Alot of good tips in here. I will also add that alot of deciduous trees (like the oak pictured above) you will be cutting leads and branches all in a similar area on the trunk. Hang your saw somewhere accessible before you ride out to sling the pic. Makes it a hell of a lot easier to balance when your walking back in, especially with a bigger saw.
Probably the number one thing for me was getting away from a single choker and standing things up. The rope crane slings make it so simple to balance pics and keep the ball a bit higher and more centered. Much much easier to walk back in.
 
SO as far as the return to the cut area. I worked for a company with a 17t so getting longer slings wasn't an option because it was only 90' with the jib on. So what I did on those long limb returns when the head space was minimal is have him fly me to where I wanna tie in on the tree. Tie in on my primary system. I would then use the tail of my climbing line as a second system and tie in on the hook with that. Making sure I kept good slack and the operator paying attention to me and me only...rode out to set the slings. Once I set the slings he would slew as close to the tree as he could and I would use both systems to get back to the cut spot. Then of course come off the ball and do your thing.
 
Two climbers is a much better option vs one climber trying to do this by himself. We regularly use two climbers. We set the first one in place to the the cutting with then crane. Then once they are tied into the tree, we pick the second climber up and take them to where the sling/slings will be connected.

I have thought about trying to tie a line from the crane to the tree to basically zip line back on when done. I would definitely be tied into the crane as well doing this. The downside is the crane would be dragging a length of rope after you untied it from the trunk.
 
IF crane operator allows..
tag line prusicked up on crane cable can be helpful when enough height clearance to boom/jib.
.
Note: if you move faster and crane paid by hr. they make less money..
 
Magnum783 said:
One thing no one makes mention of when legging our the slings you get lesser slings angles which gives you full strength of slings. The greater the sling angle the more strain on sling
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Good point, that’s why I like the wesspur quantum X slings, for their length and strength, Shorter ones on large balanced picks will give you too great of angles and the quantum x slings are higher rated then some as well.
 
I've been trying to get my head around this subject too long.

I guess my crane removal techniques are considerably different than most you guys.

My crane removals are very similar to non crane removals, in that the very first move is having the CO place me at an optimum TIP, when dealing with decurrent trees.

So all this talk about walking back to a cut point without an overhead TIP, must be a result of your removal techniques excluding them.

I've done many thousands of crane removals, and the only times I set chokers without an overhead TIP is on an excurrent stick.

I know I'm an old school dinosaur but.........

Jemco
 
Fivepoints said:
Two climbers is a much better option vs one climber trying to do this by himself. We regularly use two climbers. We set the first one in place to the the cutting with then crane. Then once they are tied into the tree, we pick the second climber up and take them to where the sling/slings will be connected.

I have thought about trying to tie a line from the crane to the tree to basically zip line back on when done. I would definitely be tied into the crane as well doing this. The downside is the crane would be dragging a length of rope after you untied it from the trunk.
Click to expand...
I don't know much about crane work and how you tie in other than a couple of youtube vids I've seen. But I think it should be possible to use a doubled rope as the zipline, just tying both ends to the tree. Then you can pull your rope when bach at your cutting point.
 
One of the most dangerous aspects of performing crane removals is being locked into a cutting point while your pick tries to kill you flailing about.

Having an escape route's crucial, even on an excurrent stick.

I even find myself doing big trunk pick snap cuts, letting the crane snap them off, after I've bailed down far enough to avoid getting pasted.

Jemco
 
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