Oak removal

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  • #26
True that. And when Im not sawing I can take them off altogether. In the fall Ill go back to saw pants.
 
Reg, I just showed this video to my ground guy and he was blown away. There's something just so sweet about watching a true artist at work. It flowed like poetry in motion.
 
The only thing that interrupted the visual poetry for me was seeing the rigging lines run against your chest a couple of times. Was your positioning intentional, to get an overhead view and direct the ground crew with hand signals, since you don't use a SENA? Our climber is generally to the side or back when most rigging operations are running. Maybe a bit harder on horizontal oak growth, though!
 
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  • #29
Reg, I just showed this video to my ground guy and he was blown away. There's something just so sweet about watching a true artist at work. It flowed like poetry in motion.

Thanks Brian. I should say that the guys on the ground here are both self employed and payed by the day, not the hour....so its also in their interests to keep things moving and flowing as easy and quick as possible so we can all get home faster. They seasoned guys too, ones a 12 year arborist, the other was a faller for decades before changing direction and becoming a heli pilot. Anyway, cedit to them, itd be a different job with the wrong ground crew.

GP, without looking back over the footage it was as uneventful climb as tens of thousands of others ive been involved in. In general everything is deliberate and I know exactly what I can get away with. I think with having many crane removals under my belt in the past too, Im rarely moved or unnerved having limbs, logs and lines swinging around me. I move only when I have too. Thats my best answer.
 
Great having guys you can trust on the ropes. Impossible to excel without that. It's one of those love/hate things where I miss the interaction and trust with a great rope man but I spent so many years without it that I avoided roping if I could.

These days I always get a kick when I have the chance to rope for a climber. Got a couple talented locals that I've worked with and some of the new gear they use is crazy.
 
If you say so, I believe it brother. I guess I could try to calculate all the individual climbs I did as a climber on a ROW crew... I got outta that fast to fly a bucket doing the same line clearance.

I'd guess at least a thousand! But, no tens of... I may have done that later, but it was in a lift! :beer:
 
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  • #37
Never thought about it until now, lol. For arguments sake, if i only averaged at 5 trees a day through 300 days per year, its still 1500 trees. X 30, its a lot.
 
On right of way trims a dozen trees a day was about normal. In the canyons not quite so many, but on ridge tops, short trees, we could do 15-20 side trims apiece. Figure, half of those were accomplished by traverse. Get as many as you can while youre aloft, and don't come down unless you have to. I like the best traversing to tree, to tree down the line.
 
Back when I was doing all that traversing down the line I was also writing the Fundamentals of General Tree Work. Every inch hardcore, dedicated flag-waving, tree tramp. Old school, and yet progressive.
 
Back when I was doing all that traversing down the line I was also writing the Fundamentals of General Tree Work. Every inch hardcore, dedicated flag-waving, tree tramp. Old school, and yet progressive.

I think I see that in my mirror...well, my mirror 25 years ago :D.
 
Reg, do you retire a lot of ropes in a year? You have pro ropers (subs) nowadays to work with, from the sounds of it. Does that help a lot compared to contract climbing days?
 
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  • #50
Reg, do you retire a lot of ropes in a year? You have pro ropers (subs) nowadays to work with, from the sounds of it. Does that help a lot compared to contract climbing days?

That pic was 2010, Sean. That same hardware looks every bit as good today, still get used. I really look after the gear. A couple my 3/4 lines are looking a little worn around where Id be tying hitches and knots for catching big logs etc. Not much you can do about that. Whether i was contracting or more recently using contractors for help, the guys generally catch on pretty fast and get the hang of things. Many of them seem to enjoy playing a key role in fact, if you give them a chance

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