A small fir crown reduction

[Gord]

This is at a local golf course, they wanted us just to reduce the heavy top a little.

The tree
http://www.gianttree.ca/images/olf_fir.jpg

Ascending
http://www.gianttree.ca/images/oldfir2.jpg

Just hanging out
http://www.gianttree.ca/images/oldfir1.jpg

Nice sound top piece
http://www.gianttree.ca/images/oldfir3.jpg

Sky and Me
http://www.gianttree.ca/images/oldfir4.jpg

Crater
http://www.gianttree.ca/images/oldfir5.jpg

Jobsite
http://www.gianttree.ca/images/oldfir6.jpg

http://www.gianttree.ca/video/Old_Fir_2008.avi 'right click, save as...'

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lW-_IO08NdI (click on 'watch in high quality')

[Paul B]

Awesome Gord!

[MasterBlaster]

Nice!

[sotc]

SWEET PICS!! gonna watch the vid now8)

[Skwerl]

The proper term for that indent in the turf is a "divot". :P

[sotc]

haha, theres got to be a better way!:rockhard:

[CurSedVoyce]

Do you have to replace all divots??:lol::lol::lol::lol::lol::lol:
Reduce top.. was that all that was left of the top?:lol::lol::lol:

JK... really cool shots man!

[Newfie]

Cool, did ya run that all through the chipper?:D

[FJR]

That is sooo cool!

[KGmyrek]

great shots Gord!!!

[Drella]

I can't believe you spurred a live tree for a few small cuts...

[JIML]

So left coasters, whats the trick to spurring up those big trees like that? I notice Gord gave up shortly after getting off the ground.
2 Lanyards?

I would have gave up too I think..

[Burnham]

You have to give the flipline loads of slack, the pull all of it to one side, then roll it around and up like getting the kink out of a garden hose, then raise the opposite end just as the roll gets around to that side to capture the upward movement.

[Paul B]

is that the 'Western Roll' Burnham? I think its in Gerry's book.

[stehansen]

Shoulda used foam.:) That's a big tree. Nothing saps your energy like swinging a big saw around on spurs.

[Gord]

So left coasters, whats the trick to spurring up those big trees like that? I notice Gord gave up shortly after getting off the ground.
2 Lanyards?

I would have gave up too I think..

The bigness isn't so much the problem, the bark is. It's really thick with deep furrows (4-6 inches easy) so you really have look and see where you're placing each gaff. Also it often breaks off in big pieces when you spur into it, or is too spongy to even hold your spur, especially on the lower trunk. So you end up gaffing out a lot. At any rate rope ascension is the way to go. I've sport climbed some old growth in Vancouver that old climbers told me about- the one fella said it too him 2 hours to get to the first limb in this one tree that took about 15min for me and a friend to get up on a set rope.

[sotc]

its hard on the arms as you need enough slack on a tree that size that you cant really lean back and are always holding your self with your arms

[squisher]

Nice! Awesome pics.

[rbtree]

There's nary a fir anywhere in the Puget Sound lowlands around Seattle anyhow that even come close to that monster. What was once the tallest was 220 feet and just across Lake Wa from Seattle. I've seen the remaining 40 feet of it, but think it was smaller, maybe 7 feet dbh.

Impressive, Gord....you tryin' to catch up with Gerry?

[rbtree]

Shoulda used foam.:)


heh...didn't our friend call it "foams"?

[MasterBlaster]

Isn't everyone? 8)

[Gord]

heh...didn't our friend call it "foams"?

Hah I just got this...I remember watching that vid thinking 'hmmm i'm glad i wasn't trained by this dude.'

[No_Bivy]

fatty.......nice job.

[JohnB]

Gord, how much do you charge for a tree that size?

[MasterBlaster]

Five jillion dollars!!!! :lol:

[CurSedVoyce]

Yeah ,,, and after a lil cheese grating .. you hope you charged more.. LOL We wont talk about how heavy the 066 gets ... LOL

[Gord]

It was for a golf course that we work for periodically so we charge them hourly. I spent a short day climbing and then we bucked it up in another half day. We didn't do any cleanup.

[Drella]

We didn't do any cleanup.

That was always my favorite part of doing work for golf clubs,, no clean-up.

Their boys stood await with a tractor and giant flat steel skidder than they would pull the debris onto and then burn- all in one shot. In fact, it was at a golf course that I first joined my employer. And if that constant work of up and down and back up again all day doesn't detour you from tree-work, then nothing will.

[Burnham]

is that the 'Western Roll' Burnham? I think its in Gerry's book.

Yup. Don't recall whether Jer refers to it that way, but some spur climbers around these parts do.

[Bounce]

VERY nice work! I don't bother to spur climb big trees anymore either. It's just too hard and takes too long. I like to rope climb at least the bottom 40-60 feet, if not the whole thing.

It sounds so wierd to hear myself say that rope climbing is faster than spur climbing.

[Burnham]

VERY nice work! I don't bother to spur climb big trees anymore either. It's just too hard and takes too long. I like to rope climb at least the bottom 40-60 feet, if not the whole thing.

It sounds so wierd to hear myself say that rope climbing is faster than spur climbing.

It really comes down to how long it takes to set the climbing line. Out in that golf fairway...if you have a decent target limb then it's a no-brainer.

Walk into a natural stand and consider the challenge setting an ascent line can be...it can literally take hours in a big oldgrowth like Gord showed. In that case it becomes an interesting case of choosing the more time consuming method versus the less physically taxing one...trying to figure out which is going to be which.

And in some situations you might think "no problem, an easy tree to set the line in" only to be proven badly mistaken...but you don't know that from the getgo, only in hindsight.

[rbtree]

Burn, Scotty Altenhoff's (arborist for city of Eugene, and canopy researcher)wrist rocket is just the ticket....it fires fishing line and about a 2-4 ounce weight. Too bad it's no longer made. Oxman has one too...but he also uses a crossbow..

[wiley_p]

It really comes down to how long it takes to set the climbing line. Out in that golf fairway...if you have a decent target limb then it's a no-brainer.

Walk into a natural stand and consider the challenge setting an ascent line can be...it can literally take hours in a big oldgrowth like Gord showed. In that case it becomes an interesting case of choosing the more time consuming method versus the less physically taxing one...trying to figure out which is going to be which.

And in some situations you might think "no problem, an easy tree to set the line in" only to be proven badly mistaken...but you don't know that from the getgo, only in hindsight.

It took me just over 5 hours to get a line set in a 190'-200' Fir near Mt. Baker. That same limb, the first limb on the trunk, broke off a couple of weeks later. With the understory, shooting angles, it was a bear. Eric Schatz hooked me up with some arrows that help. (if they make it to the ground) The tree was not to be removed, was just using it as a rigging point, hence the suckfest. I could have gone up in hooks in less than 2 hrs.

[Burnham]

Burn, Scotty Altenhoff's (arborist for city of Eugene, and canopy researcher)wrist rocket is just the ticket....it fires fishing line and about a 2-4 ounce weight. Too bad it's no longer made. Oxman has one too...but he also uses a crossbow..

I have one that I built myself...and it is a good tool. I call it my Little Shot. The Bigshot set up with fishing reel is a good one for this task, too.



It took me just over 5 hours to get a line set in a 190'-200' Fir near Mt. Baker. That same limb, the first limb on the trunk, broke off a couple of weeks later. With the understory, shooting angles, it was a bear. Eric Schatz hooked me up with some arrows that help. (if they make it to the ground) The tree was not to be removed, was just using it as a rigging point, hence the suckfest. I could have gone up in hooks in less than 2 hrs.

Even with the Little or Big Shots, this stuff still can give you fits.

[High Scale]

That sky and me shot is great, you look tiny.:)

Nice vid.

[Gord]

Even with the Little or Big Shots, this stuff still can give you fits.


I've almost thrown fits trying to set lines in old redcedars, some of them have nothing but really droopy limbs, can be really difficult to set a line even 40' up.

I remember this one being a big big pain, but still a lot easier than trying to gaff up.

[misterTee]

Great pics and video Gord, what a whopper of a tree. You looked very smooth indeed up there. I hope you won't mind if I share this with the guys on a UK forum (arbtalk) as well?

[Gord]

Nope go ahead misterTee

[Old Monkey]

Your tie in point looks like a dead branch in the pictures and on the video. I am supposing that that was just the way looked and you had a good branch?