Do you think you might like THIS climbing job???

[MasterBlaster]

Remember, I've climbed two TV transmission towers. It was the highest I've ever been.

It was amazing, to me.

 

[CurSedVoyce]

I have known more than one climber that was a magician within the crown, but was stuttering, shaking, and next to frozen with fear on a clear stem 100 feet off the ground with nothing for limbs around them.

I am not bad, but I can sense the early feelings of what they may be going through. 100 feet or so does not feel bad after a bit. Big Jack helped that a bit

 

[MasterBlaster]

I'm loving it...

But getting older...

 

[rskybiz]

Not sure recent tv antenna removal had my knees quiver a few times. In part due to 15 yrs standing and two guy wires not attached when I arrived. Lot of work on the dis mantle as the tubes get crushed where they bolt together. I used a bottle jack and 2x's. Despite guying it with rope it moved worse than Any tree I've been in.

 

[treesmith]

We were trimming a ROW next to a tower back in 1988. During our break, one of the guys told me he'd give me $5 to climb up and touch the top. It was just the excuse I needed, as I was wanting to climb it anyway. I'm not even sure what kind of tower it was, but it was 250' tall. What surprised me was that it was shirt-sleeve weather on the ground, but the wind was whipping and it was cold up there. I was wishing by the time I'd gotten about halfway up that I'd at least worn my saddle so I could safety in and rest. As it was, I just had to hold on and tough it out.

 

[ClimbingFool]

Go get IRATA certified. There are plenty of companies that will train for that sort of work. Just looker up online. Fact, I'm going to a facility in Reno in a couple of weeks called Rope Works who train folks and offer jobs for high angle work. Not looking for a job, but I want to check out their operation for future stuff.

The only draw back I found, is there's a three step level. Once you have completed one, you then have to put in around six months of time to keep up your certification before you can take the level two test and so on for number three. Most folks cant leave their job for that long. The cost was around 1500. per level.I don't remember the starting pay at level one, somewhere around 25.00 per hour plus perdiem.

If I was younger and known about this, I would have done it in a hot flash.

 

[Tucker943]

I'm gonna be straight forward. I wouldn't do it. I'm afraid of heights to begin with, and being several hundred feet up would cause me a lot of stress. I can follow through with horrible tasks that bring fear out of me, but it causes me a lot of stress. Trees don't really bother me at all, but I understand trees and climbing them. But exposed at over a hundred feet with no limbs or structure would make me a stress bomb. Exposure gets to me. Put a few limbs around me and 200 feet is the same as fifty feet to me. Take those limbs away and ill be lighting Marlboros one off the other.

 

[woodworkingboy]

Chris, what about riding the hook? It's a kick in the pants. You can smoke while doing it too, just don't burn your rope attachment.

 

[MasterBlaster]

Hahahaha.

I can't get high enough.

I need to skydive!

 

[woodworkingboy]

MB, some of your climbing has been inspirational, but i still wouldn't do it.

 

[MasterBlaster]

Yo, it's getting harder every day...

 

[MasterBlaster]

But I'm loving it!

 

[Tucker943]

I won't get on a roof. That shit is dangerous and freaks me out. I'll climb the deadest, most hollow, compromised piece of garbage tree that no other climber in town will touch. But walking on a roof, no siree, not for me.

 

[woodworkingboy]

Odd, but we all have our idiosyncrasies . After one bad experience, crossing any railroad tracks gives me the willies, even ones covered in weeds where I know the train hasn't run in many years.

 

[MasterBlaster]

As a finishing touch, taking a blower to the roof is SOP on any job I do.

So, I guess you delegate that stuff to someone?

 

[Tucker943]

I will get on a roof, but despise it. Yes, more often than not, I delegate it out. It's just one of my quirks. My dad fell 2.5 stories off of a roof in front of me and I hurt my arms trying to catch him. He landed on his feet on a concrete pool patio. I clearly remember the sound of 13 bones breaking at once when he landed. It was a horrible experience that I wouldn't wish on anyone. I remember the exact sound of all those bones breaking at once and knowing I couldn't stop it. I have hated roofs since.

 

[MasterBlaster]

Damn!

 

[Tucker943]

I was laboring for him briefly back in the day and he took on an enormous roof job. He got away from roofing many years ago and does remodeling and additions mostly. He took this particular job and had a huge bid on it and was set to make a pile of money. His workers ran kickers across the roof but for a reason I don't remember, left a 16" gap between 2 sets. My dad lost his footing while carrying a sheet of plywood and skid on his side right between the only gap in the kickers on the roof. He spent 4 months in a hospitol bed. He did return to the job after a long stay in the hospitol and had his men buggy him up, with no use of his legs, up the ladavator, and catch him when he reaches the roof so he could supervise some work being done. My mother actually got wind of that and considered leaving him over that.

 

[woodworkingboy]

Wow, heck of a bad story to picture.

 

[Burnham]

With that baggage, no wonder roofs give you the willies, Chris. No wonder at all.

It took me a good three years of regular exposure to spurs on stems like that, 100+ feet of nothing but bole under you, to get my current ease with it fully inside my skin. So don't take it to mean you couldn't ever...it might just be the rarity of the situation that makes it a bit of a worry.

Being aware that gravity will kill you given half a chance, is a very healthy way to approach tree work of all kinds. Or roof work, for that matter .

 

[treesmith]

As a finishing touch, taking a blower to the roof is SOP on any job I do.

So, I guess you delegate that stuff to someone?

Having 17+ years of roofing behind me, I don't like using a blower on a roof any more than necessary. I have seen lots of shingles blown up by a blower, when blowing against the lay of the shingles, and they will never reseal, thereby leaving them vulnerable to wind damage in the future. If/when I do, I make sure to always blow DOWN the roof, not side-to-side, and NEVER upward.

 

[Shanexv]

I grew up in a family of carpenters and have been on hundreds of roofs..not saying that I like it at all, but it sure as hell beats crawling around under the house! I do alot of independent roof jobs, I've never had to turn one down because I didn't want to get up there...although I have turned around to go get my rope lol.
If it's too steep or wet or pollen covered to believe that I can stay where I want to, I will anchor a 1/2" manilla bull rope to something on the opposite side I want to work on and toss it over. It's cheap, plenty strong to hold you and you don't have to worry about nails or sharp wood or edge metal ruining your climbing line. I go to the edge holding onto my line, and tie a figure 8 around my waist, wrapping it around my belt a few times so that it doesn't move up or down, and with the leftover tail put a prusik to the line. I don't use my saddle or fall harness because that stuff gets in the way of tool belts. I can get to where I need to be and snug my prusik up and still lean against the rope to access that entire side of the roof, even to hang over the edge. We use the same method when we have to have a guy on the roof when we're taking limbs down over houses. Not super comfortable but it will keep you up there, especially if having to do heavy lifting or something that could cause you to loose your balance

 

[treesmith]

I have used a rope a couple of times, but if it's too steep for foam to hold me there, I'll take roof jacks over rope any day. I don't like being "tied down".

I hope I never have to roof again, (though I'll do mine in a few weeks, and my dad's sometime this year), but when in tune with it, I can get around on the foam pretty well. I have roofed on 9/12, 2-story, with nothing but the foam, from eave to top. Much faster than rope, jacks, or any other system I know of.

 

[MasterBlaster]

Foam?

And welcome to the TreeHouse, Shanexv! Four years in treework? You must be an Expert, like I was, back then!

 

[woodworkingboy]

In four years I think I will be an expert, but I've already worked about sixteen.