STAYING ALIVE

For me, its all about visualization. I look at the situation (rigging, environment, tree, etc...) and visualize exactly what will happen when i cut. If I can't say with a reasonable degree of certainty what is going to happen, I stop, rethink the plan, ask for help, whatever, until I know whats going to happen. at that point, its a final systems check of my gear, a final chat with my crew and off we go.

I said this many years ago - treeclimbing is a game of chess, not checkers. Plan your work, then work your plan.

Ayuh, I agree 100%, chess not checkers.

mastermind7864 said:

You have to know someone that does these things. If you have to pay.....it's total bullshit. The people I know that do them......if you offer them tobacco, and ask them to pour a sweat, they have to do it. Most lodges are kept sorta low key. Around here the "normal" religions say we are all gonna burn in hell.

Click to expand...

Just curious...why would a religion have an issue with a sweat lodge...sorry if I am missing something basic. Greg

You might ask that question about a lot of things in regards to a lot of different religions.

Great article in Pop Sci on sleep!
I have the pillow that is filled with water.
Works pretty well for me but can warm up a bit to much,
is a bit of a dead weight and funny how it sloshes around.
I would still recommend it for the comfort and coolness.
Nitey nite!

ps The new article I wrote for Arbclimber touches on sleep and fatigue.

I had to google that water pillow - never knew such a critter existed. Do you like like yours?

Buckwheat hull pillows are my favorite. You can push them around to get the exact shape you want and they offer excellent support. If you have any kind of neck problems I recommend giving them a try.

Are Buckwheat pillows a Hong Kong thing? They are an old thing to use here, soba wheat, I think the same as Buckwheat. They are nice. Some people with allergies can't use them, though, and they say to replace after one year as the inside turns to powder and possibly not so good to breathe. Interesting about pillows, keeping your head cool is supposed to help keep your feet warm.

I'm still amazed at a water pillow.

Jay, I get the buckwheat pillows in the States. I haven't seen them in Hong Kong. If you get high quality sifted hulls they'll last a couple years before needing replacement.

we used to leave big bad problem trees for last. Work around them. Trees behave differently from one site to the next. When contracting you don't really have a choice if given the job by a timber company, You just try to do it the safest way you can and have an escape plan. Doing Arborist work for homeowners you can always just turn the job down, if you feel that it is too risky.

Yep Butch probabley as much as you like your cool vest and that is every nite.
Might not be for you? We have a/c for summer but i bet if I placed cool pack under the pillow
it could work well for cooling to.

Thanks to all who contributed to this thread it has helped with the article written for http://www.arbclimber.com/
Issue 5
Here is a sample of "Staying Alive"
OPENING “It is better to be careful 100 times than to get killed once." (Mark Twain)
Staying alive and the hate of pain are at the forefront of this article. Hate of pain in reference to what we endure as arbclimbers and as has happened so many times in the past to those who suffered at the hands of death. How do we avoid accidents? We avoid them by managing fatigue, distraction, performance and applying sound techniques, tools or a system to ensure optimal performance. We have all suffered and survived moderate to severe physical trauma including; contusions, abrasions, lacerations, and bone fractures as well as the more common soft tissue injury to ligaments, muscles, tendons from sprain, strain and over use of specific body parts. Our scars should not be a badge of honour for our efforts but more a motivator to positively address performance. The following article is one arbclimbers study in preventing accidents through systematic method of anticipating failures, evaluating and pretesting practices and plans, controlling out comes, transitioning and applying solutions to recover/rest, to recognize stress and life threatening accidents. Pain is the symptom of a deficiency or excess in our routine, life and work.
Anticipate, Evaluate and Pretest, Control Outcomes, Practice and Plan and finally Transition for failure as well as success. I say failure in the way that knowing what can go wrong is as crucial as to knowing what can go right.