top anker diameter?

flying_kiwiman

flying_kiwiman

Location
Utrecht, Holland sometimes Dunedin NZ
In a month our arb club ( kpb-isa chapter ) is giving a theme day on top ankers and braking of wood. Wood anatomie will be covered and they have asked me to take part and give my opion on what is safe to anker in, and why or why not.

I think it is quite a complex thing to tackle, experiance, knowledge of wood and tree sorts, defects....and gut feeling?? some things that come to mind....

what are your ideas about where or not to place a top anker?? do you have a rule of thumb....or whrist :) or be it leg :)??

I'm going to take photo's of my top ankers this coming month and see what the reactions are.

Where is the balance of an as high possiable topanker for a good angle on your rope and a safe diameter if you take a fall??

so lets see some top ankers guys!

Jelte
 

Attachments

  • 32480-DSC00514small.webp
    32480-DSC00514small.webp
    85.3 KB · Views: 189
Well you're both right....rotten as willow:) these trees had been topped a number of years ago (not by us) and this is the second time they have been pruned. To be able to get to the tops of these trees you had to tie in high. In this top I only put force on this side of the wood....just to prune the top, after that i placed my TIP lower in the tree to prune the rest of the tree and to swing over to the next one. It was a very calculated risk and i would never have hang on the other side of this piece of wood! I guess it's like hanging in an inverted forlk/top....you would only climb off it to one side...that is if you had no other option.

I think depending on how health the tree/wood is determines how far you can go....this is a perfect beach tree.

jelte
 

Attachments

  • 32518-smallDSC00766.webp
    32518-smallDSC00766.webp
    95.6 KB · Views: 99
Was that snow in on the tree? If so..TOO SOON! What have the people in your area done to deserve the wretched white-plague this early? /forum/images/graemlins/aaa.gif /forum/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Anyhow, I've had two TIP's bust out on me this summer. First was a white oak, 4" diameter very green limb that was attached to a storm-topped stub that, from the ground, appeared OK. The other was a crotch of a storm topped maple that also appeared OK.

Both were clearly full of decay once I got into them to look.

BTW, I was fortunate in that they both broke during my Test Set while on the ground. The oak started sagging as I was testing before failing and the maple just flat out failed.

Any visible damage or decay now have me a bit nervous and extremely cautious.

I'll set lower and work my way up to the bad area now.

As for willows, they are the only tree I have fallen from due to failure of wood. Granted I was a kid without gear, but brittle wood, susceptibility to major decay both make willows my most "feared/respected" climb to this day.

For rule of thumb, it seems we like to have a good crotch of at least 3 inches diam each side on a vertical leader. anything more horizontal than 30 degrees and I'm looking at 6" or more before I'm comfortable.
 
That is a very difficult discussion Jelte. There are so many variables. Types of wood, angle, branch union, angle of your climbing attack... where do we start? The biggest thing I really look at(after visual inspection) is growth pattern. If I need to tie in high to reach an awkward top (like you mentioned) I will try to tie into something that is opposing my climbing angle. Then I will change the tie in before I climb under that half of the tree. I also do this when I have to reach a very high and extending limb. I will choose a neighboring lead that opposes the angle and also seperate myself in the event of a breakout of the limb I'm on. Then I may retie to a new place. It all depends on the scenario at hand.
 
[ QUOTE ]
Was that snow in on the tree? If so..TOO SOON! What have the people in your area done to deserve the wretched white-plague this early? /forum/images/graemlins/aaa.gif /forum/images/graemlins/grin.gif


For rule of thumb, it seems we like to have a good crotch of at least 3 inches diam each side on a vertical leader. anything more horizontal than 30 degrees and I'm looking at 6" or more before I'm comfortable.

[/ QUOTE ]

To start with, the sun is shining here at the moment...that tree was pruned in the begining of this year:)

Some interseting ideas on branch diam. there Rick, i think increasing diam. on more horizontal branches is a fair statment. But i think it is very difficult to say at least.....inches diam. as Mark says there are so many things to take into consideration like rope angles and growing patterns. You said you had a couple of TIP brake out on you....i take it these where footlock anker points?? I would be interseted if anyone has had there top anker brake out while climbing?

This pic is of an old oak tree we pruned this year, even though our ankers were on decent diam. limbs i would'nt have felt very comfortable going much higher....the tree had storm damge in some of the bigger limbs. I find that the wood can get quite brittle in these older oaks.

Something else to think about is the newer friction savers, it is much easier to place them outside of a crotch(choked on a limb) then the ringed savers, this does give you many more opions on where to anker which can be good....but with more opions come more dangers???

jelte
 

Attachments

  • 32530-smallDSC00422.webp
    32530-smallDSC00422.webp
    95.7 KB · Views: 94
[ QUOTE ]
Something else to think about is the newer friction savers, it is much easier to place them outside of a crotch(choked on a limb) then the ringed savers, this does give you many more opions on where to anker which can be good..

[/ QUOTE ]

I agree.Plus you can use multiple crotches if need be. I did a Silver maple the other day where I decided to use two crotches near one another to gain strength. It's nice to have more options.
 
Good posts guys. That is some good info. Can you guys tell me more or tell me where I can see one of those new friction savers you are talking about I currently use one of the doubled ringed ones. I would be interested to know more about the newer ones. Thanks.
 
I'm not in the same league as you guys so all I'll say is that some good glass like from Leica, Zeiss, or Swarovski (something with phenomenal resolving power -- better than Nikon or any of the other more familiar box-store type of names for sure!) is a good investment. I don't have at the moment, but prefer the binoculars which have individual eyepiece focusing which is set-and-forget for all distances as opposed to the center-focus-wheel type. It won't get you a view of the top of the attachment point and you don't want your groundies playing with $700 binoculars, but it really is the next best thing to "being there".

By the way, Jelte, we all know what you're talking about, but the English word is "anchor" (phonetically the same as what you used).

Glen
 
[ QUOTE ]

By the way, Jelte, we all know what you're talking about, but the English word is "anchor" (phonetically the same as what you used).

Glen

[/ QUOTE ]

/forum/images/graemlins/grin.gif i've been living over here to long.... /forum/images/graemlins/blush.gif my english is getting worse by the month, mind you it was'nt great when i was living in NZ either.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

New threads New posts

Back
Top Bottom