Making progress(very small) with my locust. Got home a little early, and the weather wasn't too hot considering the time of year, so I debated taking the tree on again. After yesterday's defeat, I wasn't super enthused about dealing with it. I figured I'd try to set a throwline, and see how I feel. Even if I don't climb. throwline practice would be good.
Tried the two hand toss for the first time. Height is much better, but my accuracy is a little worse I think. I stepped on the string three times on my retosses, and two of those SOBs were perfect shots, but got stopped short because of my stupid feet :^S Finally got it set after way too many tries. I still wasn't sure about climbing today, so I figured I'd pull my climbline over, cause why not?
I couldn't get it into the crotch like I wanted due to the gnarly bark on the tree, but I got it good enough to feel secure spurring up to fix it. So... I suited up, and went up the tree again. Felt much better being attached to a line(drt). I climbed up to the crotch. removing little crap on the way. and got my line set the way I wanted, went down to the limb in question, and kind of froze debating on my trip out there. I wasn't feeling comfortable, but after sitting on it for a short while, and busying myself setting up a positioning line, and scootched out on my butt after disconnecting my lanyard. My big plans for lowering the branches easy went away. I didn't feel comfortable enough to try rigging anything, so I said "to hell with the jeep", and just dropped them.
I tried to ease them down, and that actually worked very well. Start the cut, then let them sag plumb, and cut them off. Hit the jeep a little, but not too hard. They held strong til I finished the cut. That gave me an idea for doing the end of the limb. If I cut it a bit back, it should miss the house. I just have to get my scaredy ass out there(too many Skeerios I guess) :^D
I didn't really do much all said and done, but I got about 50# off the limb, and that's 50# off my weight when when I try it again. I left the line in the tree for the time being. It was such a PITA to set, I don't want to do it again. Leaving a rope outside is bad policy, but it'll be ready for me, and that's one less thing to deal with. If you guys bid the job with me as the climber, you'd lose your ass on this one :^D
I need to get comfortable with my gear. I don't do it enough, so it's "Holy Shit, my feet aren't on the ground!" every time. I know my setup's solid, so I need to trust my ropes, and work with them, instead of clinging to the branch like a retarded squirrel. I guess "Groundhog" is a good name for me. Disappointed that it doesn't go like it does in my head, but I'm determined to at least get that stupid branch down. I'm not comfortable being my own agent of defeat...
/blog
