tree splits below climber while climber tops tree

Did the spar itself have a slight lean, or did the crown lean heavily as well. Looks like it might have been under another cottonwood(??, if I saw it correctly), so might have had a heavily weighted crown to one side (with the lean of the spar??). Was this so?

A large change in the overall, internal stresses on the wood of the spar after a lot of leverage had been relieved by the crown and any upper spar having been removed????
 
exactly.
This cottonwood was the 'subdominant' in the group and leaning (growing) heavy over the roof of house. A real tough rigging job - swung out some long, skinny wings. With the climber (me!) in the bight of the rigging lines the whole time.
By the time I got to the spar chunking, I was worn out from death-defying crown rigging. Just aware enough to recognize that the spar was going to put up a fight too... I took the time to tie into the neighboring CWood tree - swing over with the big saw and nibble away.
 
here are two pics showing how to attach and not attach lanyards in case the bole or spar splits. One confusing aspect of the Z is that I believe it says to never attach lanyards to one side. This can be interpreted to mean that attaching one end on each side D ring can be safe, and obviously it is not.
 
hey unatool,I used to say the same thing that if I had to I would cut my flip line.The one thing that I remember about my encounter is that it all took approx.1 sec or less and like you I had a steel core flip line witch wouldn't cut through anyway.Like your cottonwood I think it makes a huge impact on the situation if there is a lean in the tree. That changes the dynamics because of the greater gravitational pull.It makes the piece want to fall to earth faster.when its subjected to any type of negative integrity(the saw curf)on the supporting edge witch is the back or top side. Gravity works faster than our brains can react.I wish I would have been set up on the center d ring instead of the sides.I tried several times to get used to it but found it very unstable if I had to lean around the tree.
 
fireman,
I started thinkning the same thoughts just after I posted earlier. The idea of cutting the (rope) lanyard is only for the guy that rescues me. I figure to be knocked unconscience at the least, severely injured, probably.
I also shy away from clipping my lanyard into center ring. Mobility and balance would be weird - not to mention diffulcult to get all those carabiners onto one ring (ergovation saddle).
I guess I am counting on my Friction Saver and climb line to save my butt. By leaving my (positioning) lanyard as loose as possible, it would not crush me.

Anyone with a better set up?
 
Most splits are casued by improper cutting technique.. specifically the lack of a notch or the bypass of the two face cuts, which is a far too common site in examining the logs left by other arbs in my area..
 
You would be talking about felling trees (or large sections)?
The incident I was describing was the careful dismantling of a leaning tree - in small sections. The small sections being neccessary due to the proximity of the building. Crane would have been the only other answer... but that opens up another set of issues.
The debate would then become... is 'chunking' out 16 inch sections of the spar (with a straight cut thru tree) always safe? Obviously not. Any way to relieve this tension in wood? How do you know this leaning tree is 'the one'?
 
Great observation Daniel,after looking at all the pics from my incident, their was a significant amount of rot in the heart wood of the tree BUT what was more obvious was my back cut was not parallel to the back of the notch causing the greater pressure wanting to split instead of breaking at a proper hinge.What I'VE come to terms with is that it really comes down to a little pride and getting away with it in the past and an IMPROPER cut.My prayers go out to the family of survivers. But as I've said before and will always say UNDERSTAND tree integrity and the dynamics of gravity!
 
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Most splits are casued by improper cutting technique.. specifically the lack of a notch or the bypass of the two face cuts, which is a far too common site in examining the logs left by other arbs in my area..

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How so? Please explain.
 
Just me thinking. By using the treeMOTION harness and tying into the lower d's prevent you from getting caught in the "circle of death"? Because the lower d's are attached to the bridge and would be one continuous circle that would not get you caught in the pressure?

When I work on a spar I use both because I find it is very comfortable and distributes your weight in two spots.

Is my thinking correct? Other treeMOTION owners see the same thing?
 
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Just me thinking. By using the treeMOTION harness and tying into the lower d's prevent you from getting caught in the "circle of death"? Because the lower d's are attached to the bridge and would be one continuous circle that would not get you caught in the pressure?

When I work on a spar I use both because I find it is very comfortable and distributes your weight in two spots.

Is my thinking correct? Other treeMOTION owners see the same thing?

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In theory I guess you are right but you would still get crushed. The bridge is to long.
 
Casey, your thinking is incorrect. lower D's or or not you're still being pulled into the circle by being an "arc section" of the circle. Where attaching to you're bridge at the single point means you're single point of contact with the outside of the circle.
 
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no he is correct draw the pic and you will see why.

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I climb a Sequoia and Ergovation both with a floating bridge and both with the ability to attach at the lower D's as mentioned by Casey and here are my thoughts.

This is assuming good practice and using two points of attachment, lets say your primary safety line is attached to your bridge via ring or biner and goes to a TIP located elswhere in the tree or another one and your lanyard is around the stem or leader below or around the area or branch being removed could fail and say peel down or split:

option one- your lanyard is attached to your lateral D's and you are in the CD (Circle of Death). I believe this is the worst case and potentially most dangerous to be crushed or injured.

option two, Casey's point- your lanyard is attached to your lower D's and assuming your bridge is short enough you would be pulled in the tree until the bridges full length is used up and at a minimum greatly restricting your movement possibilities. Or worse the bridge, D's, and or attaching points fails you are now in the CD and pulled into the tree to be crushed. in addition now that the bridge failed your primary safety line is no longer attached to you via your bridge. Not a promising outcome either, if you dont get crushed you may fall to your death or sustain severe injury.

option three- Your lanyard, both sides are attached to your bridge or saddle via a seperate single ring or biner, one other than your primary safety line is attached to. first you are not in the CD, second although you will be pulled close to the tree you will have a greater amount of mobility dependant on length of bride. also in the event the lanyard and or attachement device (ring or biner) fails you are free from the tree but your bridge and or saddle have not been compromised and you are still connected to your TIP via your primary safety line. This sounds like the best option to me. Please feel free to comment or question this since I feel this is a very important safety subject that all of us could benefit through sharing experience and discussion. Again these are my opinions and thoughts.
Scrat
 
That seems right on to me Scrat. The challenge now is to implement it into an everyday work practice. And having an alternate means to attach the primary Tie-in seperate from the lanyard on saddle.
 
an actual "barber chair" is intensified by lean TO the lay, or when people pull a top over with say a pickup and put too much pressure

STRESSING and breaking the fibers away from the hinge we set up
the more lean or pressure towards the lay makes the barber chairs run much higher up the spar

guys standing behind these trees while cutting are killed instantly when they kick,
and thats in a healthy green tree storm damaged trees are multiplied even more sometimes

keep em high and tight
God Bless
 
scrat,
It will work but not if you topping,you wont have no other choice but to use both flip lines (if you use 2 flip lines)around the trunk of tree.
The only solution that I found is to connect both beners to your center d ring.But most harness are not designed for this function.You have VERY poor stability If you go to lean over to the side, your body tends to want to roll around because of a single clip in point on the harness.The other issue is you can not put a second flip line because the center d is not designed to handle 4 beners.That makes your climbing system unsafe(just a single line)no redundancy system (back up line).I think God was with me and I survived with a purpose,maybe to design a solution.
 
If you need to have more than two clips to your front d consider using a bear paw or rigging plate. Even taking a short webbing or cord loop, girth or basket hitched to the fromt d/d's would work too.
 
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