Tree failure, while I was climbing it.

Bango Skank said:
When shit goes wrong, it can seem to happen really fast.
Maybe you’d be able to drop whatever is in your hands and release your lanyard before you get stretched or squished or struck by something or pulled to the ground. Maybe not.
Curious what the quick release looks like though, got a pic?

My takeaway from this thread is there’s some silver maples and other trees out there that cannot safely be climbed. Inspect and plan and reserve the right to walk away. Make use of adjacent trees for TIPs if you can, but sometimes you can’t and if there’s heavy enough decay, or hollow, it might not support a climber’s weight. You can always say no if unsure, and if boss has a problem with it then you needed a new boss anyway. ;)
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My close call I would have been pushed to get a hand operated quick release triggered. But if had a bite tether to release may have been something could have used...
Also a chest anchored tether May have worked - anywhere a tether is tied that a deliberate hand/arm movement is used to trigger that also won’t be easily mistakenly triggered would work...
 
Having worked for a power company for 41+ years i have seen multible huge and small live trees fail on a sunny still day or most often a clear still nite. You may never see that hairline or internal crack that happened from a heavy windstorm months before.i was bowhunting in a treestand in November 2003 after hurricane isabel hit here in va sept18 2003,and watched the top half of two 100'+ bald cypress trees break out one gusty day.one was 25 yards from me and the other was less than 100 yards away. Luckily i was upwind of the closer one or i wouldn't be posting this.that was a shitload of wood hitting the ground.today the big stems are still standing. Sometimes you never know.
 
dmonn said:
There are lots of different QR designs. We've got plenty of creative people on this forum that could come up with something very specific to working in trees.
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If this wasn’t a silly idea, check back to post #50 of this thread.
 

Web bridge and Limb fail

Just finished the gear work a few days ago and collected my 2% bonus. It's about time to start knocking out some tree work. When are we going to climb some giants? Our GIS guy says he has several big ones that are about 300' based on the LIDAR data. If you want to run up here and help measure...
www.treebuzz.com
Worth the read and along the same paths to serious injury to avoid.
Had an Ash uproot this week, didn't intend to climb but set a line, had the neighbour move trailers and in the end the tree was like a wiggly loose tooth and managed to pull it away from targets.
Another bunch of old dead Ash to quote, lady looking for the cheapest price, fired her immediately after trying to reason with her that if things go south we will need to dissassemble fence and crash tree into neighbour yard away from homes.
Really unreasonable homeowners who don't realize the danger in the work. Some owners think they are going to tell the arborist how to do the work, so it will save them money and have no knowledge of the complexity of the work. I don't waste much time with these folks anymore. I get out quick when I can see the kind of person I'm talking to.
They can fix their house, not a life! Sometimes it is necessary to be blunt and boldy tell them they can find someone else and to be thoughful and considerate of their neighbours and neighbours friends and families and related workers.
People forget what it means to be a neighbour. Just remind them politely if you can.
 
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evo said:
The guy who adopted me into the industry died while taking the top, tree failed at the root crown. Small dead little thing, tip at 30’
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Seems like it's often the simple-looking jobs that are often the death of the highly experienced. Whether its complacency or just a matter of the odds of some freak thing catching up with you.

I had that very thought today in the bucket. First thought was " those branches are dead and kinda small"... the second thought was ya but they are attached to a chunk of wood that is big enough to kill ya, so cut them off. Just remembering how fragile the human body is when it comes to taking a hit.
 
There was a report of an 8" TIP failure today on IG. Euc limb in Phoenix that had some modest decay that I'm guessing was hard to see... Keep your options open, gents!
 
colb said:
I dont know much else. Kind of the guy's business if he wants to talk about it. He's fine, he was srt and took a decent tumble. I presume a lower branch picked up slack as the new TIP.
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Gotcha. Sorry, definitely don't want anyone talking about something they aren't comfortable talking about. I thought the details of the story were out in the public already.

Sounds like a base tie then...
 
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LordFarkwad said:
Gotcha. Sorry, definitely don't want anyone talking about something they aren't comfortable talking about. I thought the details of the story were out in the public already.

Sounds like a base tie then...
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But a base tie that caught after an anchor that couldn't handle a working load of 2kn broke.... at least that is my guess from what we know.
 
Daniel said:
Seems like it's often the simple-looking jobs that are often the death of the highly experienced. Whether its complacency or just a matter of the odds of some freak thing catching up with you.

I had that very thought today in the bucket. First thought was " those branches are dead and kinda small"... the second thought was ya but they are attached to a chunk of wood that is big enough to kill ya, so cut them off. Just remembering how fragile the human body is when it comes to taking a hit.
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Yea I almost died today when I was stupid enough to tear cut a little top and leave it hung up in the tree, then go down below and try another top cut with the old top cut hanging over my head.
Thing almost killed me. Not really sure where I got such a dumbass idea? Oh Yea!

 
I'm b
RBJtree said:
Well, I just had this happen. Hollow silver maple, broke at the base while I was climbing. I knew it was hollow, but I thought it would hold. One of my guys suggested I tie into the tree behind it so I threw my rope into a crotch I deemed worthy. By the time I was high enough to start cutting my rope was at too high of an angle and slid down the branch to a y. When the tension came off my climbing line putting my full weigh onto the tree, it broke. By the time the tree hit the chimney, most of the weight was on my rope, cushioning the blow to the chimney enough to cause no damage. My lanyard was around the tree too, so my climbing system was now the rigging holding up the tree. My guys got ropes to me which I was able to throw into the other tree and they tied it off so I could climb down. We were then able to rig the tree off of the house. No damage, no injuries, but a hell of a close call. Next time, I will take the time to set my climbing line better and set a rope or ropes from the ground to stabilise the tree. Too many years of climbing trees like this without incident definitly made me a little complacent. Complacency gets experienced climbers killed. I know that, but I guess I needed this to bring it to a point of action.View attachment 61400View attachment 61401
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I'm better in big trees. I get shaky in smaller" 50-100ft " trees. But I'll do them. You have to have your mind right before you go up.whT I do is think about my kids, what they need and if I can pay the crew. No energy drinks and definitely no smoke before I climb... I don't even drink more than 2 beers the night before I climb. Be safe and know your limits.
 
Alcoley said:
I'm b
I'm better in big trees. I get shaky in smaller" 50-100ft " trees. But I'll do them. You have to have your mind right before you go up.whT I do is think about my kids, what they need and if I can pay the crew. No energy drinks and definitely no smoke before I climb... I don't even drink more than 2 beers the night before I climb. Be safe and know your limits.
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You have big enough trees where you are at that 100ft is small? I mean, sure you can have a skinny little 100 ft locust or evergreen growing in a stand where they are all reaching for light, but the big trees around here are mostly oaks and maples where a 90 ft tall tree can have an equal spread and a 4 - 6 foot diameter trunk.
Anyway, I haven't had alcohol in over 9 years and I am virtually immune to energy drinks, therefore rarely drink them. Nerves have nothing to do with it for me. I'm honestly not scared of trees or death for that matter, but I don't WANT to die, don't WANT to get hurt. I DO want to have a successful business, live to raise my kids, live to be there for my wife... but I have to resort to logic, knowledge, and experience to accomplish my goals. Your strategy of thinking about your kids before you climb sounds like psyching yourself out to me, but everyone is different.
The reason I had this tree fail on me was because I ignored a warning sign that I had not experienced before, which was the hollow, drum like sound of the trunk when my spikes hit it. In my career, I had seriously never climbed something so hollow. Now that I have had that experience, I will be able to better identify that type of situation in the future, and I will be doubly looking out for other hazards, not because I have lost any nerve, but because I am statistically at a high risk do to the volume of trees I have climbed and the number of close calls I have had. This is why I shared this experience, so that others may learn from it as I have had, and so others can teach me though critique of my mistake. It's kind of funny, 17 years climbing trees and I am studying climbing and trees now more than ever. I never had any formal training, just on the job training from people who also had on the job training, and self training through experience and study on my own. At this point in my career, I am looking to bring myself to a higher level. A level which I have never been exposed to. I am driven to be the best I can be. Education is key.
 
RBJtree said:
You have big enough trees where you are at that 100ft is small? I mean, sure you can have a skinny little 100 ft locust or evergreen growing in a stand where they are all reaching for light, but the big trees around here are mostly oaks and maples where a 90 ft tall tree can have an equal spread and a 4 - 6 foot diameter trunk.
Anyway, I haven't had alcohol in over 9 years and I am virtually immune to energy drinks, therefore rarely drink them. Nerves have nothing to do with it for me. I'm honestly not scared of trees or death for that matter, but I don't WANT to die, don't WANT to get hurt. I DO want to have a successful business, live to raise my kids, live to be there for my wife... but I have to resort to logic, knowledge, and experience to accomplish my goals. Your strategy of thinking about your kids before you climb sounds like psyching yourself out to me, but everyone is different.
The reason I had this tree fail on me was because I ignored a warning sign that I had not experienced before, which was the hollow, drum like sound of the trunk when my spikes hit it. In my career, I had seriously never climbed something so hollow. Now that I have had that experience, I will be able to better identify that type of situation in the future, and I will be doubly looking out for other hazards, not because I have lost any nerve, but because I am statistically at a high risk do to the volume of trees I have climbed and the number of close calls I have had. This is why I shared this experience, so that others may learn from it as I have had, and so others can teach me though critique of my mistake. It's kind of funny, 17 years climbing trees and I am studying climbing and trees now more than ever. I never had any formal training, just on the job training from people who also had on the job training, and self training through experience and study on my own. At this point in my career, I am looking to bring myself to a higher level. A level which I have never been exposed to. I am driven to be the best I can be. Education is key.
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I'm sorry. I was reply to another thead. It was my fault.
 
dmonn said:
I picture a situation where two high TIPs in adjacent trees are used to get you close to where you want to cut a tree that isn't safe to climb. You pull yourself over to the tree you want to cut, use a breakaway or QR'd lanyard to hold you there to make the cut. If things start to go south, QR the lanyard and swing out of the way. You might not want to use the lanyard for climbing, just for work positioning.

There are lots of different QR designs. We've got plenty of creative people on this forum that could come up with something very specific to working in trees.
Click to expand...

This is a little breakaway lanyard I had put together for super sketchy trees. I had to flip one of the neodynemium magnets and countersink for them to attract properly. Breakaway at about 170lbs. Only use when tied into another healthy tree and clean up stubs if you ever swing back. The goal is to never have these magnets seperate for the rest of their life, and hopefully I never have to use them to be honest. They are strong so you can pretty much climb how you normally do without fear of separation. Still, must use great caution and be safe.
UNADJUSTEDNONRAW_thumb_4b6.webp


UNADJUSTEDNONRAW_thumb_4ba.webpUNADJUSTEDNONRAW_thumb_4b7.webpUNADJUSTEDNONRAW_thumb_4b9.webp
 
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