Hey,
Me personally I hate bloody ladders but sometimes there's no other way,having said that, You could securely attach the ladder to the trunk to gain access to the canopy, Then you could put your TIP above the "The Hairy Leg" as they crushed their fair share of people around the world,Then before you remove the ladder from the picture you cut your access in and deal with the dead fronds, From the top down so if the hairy leg part fails its not going to take you with it,Using spurs, steel cored flip line and a running bowline technigue then you would cut all the off the top and chunk it down in managable pieces,That's only if your pre climb assessement concludes it's safe to climb.
If you can not climb, Tie a rope using a running bowline as high as you can and fell it on the full,as you said there's no where to tie off to use a ground anchor and a mechanical advantage to pull it over,Or a couple of big strong blokes After you scarf& back cut, I would make sure youe escape route is clear, once it starts to go get the hell out of there.
Above all use good judgement, Only undertake this if your sure it's with in your ability
I just spoke to John and he's going to put a post up in our thread A-Onetrees at work as we just removed one in close quarters,not much smaller than the one's you plan to tackle.
Hope This Helps
JayD
