Who needs spurs?

i think i'm going to get a helmet cam..... not for me but for ack..... spurs are great in the proper application, but are they for every removal? the obvious answer is no. the verbal felacio has gone on long enough. bad azz climbers with years more experience than me have said that big removals need spurs. although i sit on the fence. i am inclined to disagree. blocking down big wood and big tops can be done efficiently with no spurs. i think that more climb planning has to be done to accomplish it though. hiking up two hundred fifty foot tall dead stubs would require spike for me as well as anyone with a brain. but wrecking a limby 75' tall willow oak, water oak, or hackberry?
 
My thought on this is that I wear spikes on every removal I climb because it gives me more options to stand with good posture and cutting position with less limitations. I also dont think that they get in the way when I want to stand on a branch or limb walk.
 
I agree with Mark, just because you can do the removal with out spikes doesn't make it the best way of doing it. Just because I can remove most trees with out a bucket or crane, that doesn't mean I won't use then If I have access. I try to make work as easy as possible.
 
So you really wear spikes on "every" removal, Mark? I'm kind of surprised by this, seeing as how you are the man and all. I wear them on most, but there are times I am spiked out, i.e., my shins and arches hate me and the tree lends itself to being pretty easy without them. I don't see any point blocking down a spar without them, sounds torturous. All situations are different, I am sure, just as all climbers are as well.
 
[ QUOTE ]
My thought on this is that I wear spikes on every removal I climb because it gives me more options to stand with good posture and cutting position with less limitations. I also dont think that they get in the way when I want to stand on a branch or limb walk.

[/ QUOTE ]

applaudit.gif


Horray for Mark speaking up!

Mark's words actually have more weight because he has proven his agility without spurs in competitions.

....and he still says, "I wear spikes on every removal I climb".

I do too. Every removal that I CLIMB, I do have spikes on. They are on and they are there if I want to use them. With them on, they are not limiting anything i want to do. So, what's the problem with having them on?

those of you that think they are uncomfortable; you must have boots without shanks or something...

Of course, some of you want to act like such a bad azz and say you are such a good climber that you don't need any stinking spikes.

I guess you hammer in nails with your hand too. Who needs a tool to make things easier; such as something as silly as a hammer?
 
Well, they do limit what I want to do from time to time. Last Monday, did two removals without them. Bombing big tops and then flopping remainder. Could've worn spikes but I would've had to clear trunk sprouts up to 40' or so, for really no reason other than making a path to the point at where I was going to top these trees out. Skipped the spikes, SRT to where I wanted to be, dropped tops came down. I know that I did those trees faster than I would've with spikes. Don't do it all the time, but I don't rule it out either.
 
Im all for spikes on every removal.Ive tried to go without to practice right before a comp and I felt like I wasnt being as efficient.The right boots are key,I have a pair with steel shanks I wear just for removals.
 
[ QUOTE ]
Well, they do limit what I want to do from time to time. Last Monday, did two removals without them. Bombing big tops and then flopping remainder. Could've worn spikes but I would've had to clear trunk sprouts up to 40' or so, for really no reason other than making a path to the point at where I was going to top these trees out. Skipped the spikes, SRT to where I wanted to be, dropped tops came down. I know that I did those trees faster than I would've with spikes. Don't do it all the time, but I don't rule it out either.

[/ QUOTE ]

Accessing the tree without spikes is a different story. Absolutely, if I only needed to bomb out the top (and I had a nice set of limbs to stand on while doing so), if tree structure so dictated, I would footlock or single rope ascend in a heartbeat! I will say that about 10% of removals I perform (crane or no), it is faster for me to ascend via throwline and rope technique vs. spikes. 90% of the time, it's gaff city to ascend baby!
 
Another technique (I learned here) I use to evade superfluous trunk crap, is to set a line (SRT) tie in with VT, hitchclimber, rope wrench--I then tie my chainsaw to the line and clip my lanyard in the top hole of the hc (treebing style chest harness). With the saw adding weight at the bottom of the tree I spike up sans lanyard. Basically free climbing with a top rope belay. This way I don't have to worry about lanyarding my way around dead limbs or watersprouts. Its pretty fast and fun too. You can do the same thing without spikes if the tree has limbs close to the ground.
 
I do somewhat as HC30 mentions, though it can be done without a RopeWrench if the climber plans to go DdRT, just without a readily available/ high speed descent mechanism. This can be reasonably safe if I have come to the ground to help out, or have a break, or coming back in the morning. I'll have already been in the tree, maybe a spar at this point, so as to know that there isn't a bee's nest or other hidden danger.
 
Oldirty's little known spikeless secret.....he makes his crane cuts from the ground he is so tall (pict of OD enclosed).
 

Attachments

  • 274197-Minnesota-Akeley-Paul-Bunyan.webp
    274197-Minnesota-Akeley-Paul-Bunyan.webp
    33.8 KB · Views: 131
You must log in or register to reply here.

New threads New posts

Back
Top Bottom