Revolutionary new gear for the arborist

Aerial

Hooked up with four attach points:



Hanging from one axe (looks like I'm cheating with my left leg, but there is no contact):



I know they are lame shots, I'll do better next time, I promise.

Aerial

Attached Images

	aerial_iceaxeclimbdemo-1.jpg (124.1 KB, 26 views)
	aerial_iceaxedemo2-1.jpg (131.6 KB, 27 views)

Aerial

If you could define the terms in your quote that I bolded it would be very helpful. (Never mind see edit)

I have bought a couple of climbing ropes that I plan to use for tying off while in the tree to hang the retracting lifeline. I also bought a throwing line and weight to cast up into a crotch to secure them.

I have a Miller safety lanyard (flip line?) and Miller climbing belt coming to replace the starter kit items. I'm hoping they will help me climb traditionally.

I have several questions about my planned usage of these items, and I will be putting them forward for the expert advice I so desperately need.

Aerial

Aerial

Yes I have a pair of Swiss made Jumar ascenders, but I still need to get the foot straps for them.

Right now I am dealing with take downs, complete tree removals, so spiking them up is not a consideration.

I want to study and become a certified arborist so I can save trees as well as topple them. I'm actually a tree lover and hate to kill a tree. I will be much more fulfilled when I can take less money to prune and aerate a tree than to take it down.

Aerial

newguy18

the tautline and prusik are friction hitchs that allow the climber to climb up a tree in the body thrust and foot lock climbing techniques[see the tree climbers companion],Climbing with the tail tied is also a climbing technique so you can tie the friction hitch[see the tree climbers companion],The hitch is slang for friction hitch,tds is slang for take down or removal of a tree,and setting your flip line with a wrap is before clipping your flipline to your harness you take another complete wrap around the trunk so if you would slip it will arrest the fall these videos should show it well enough,

Spikeless DRT access, trunk walk etc. Featuring Brother Colin.
Tree work videos

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Aerial

Thank you New Guy. I watched that video a couple of times and I think I get what they are doing. I do have the Climber's Companion and I think it covers the knots involved.

I have to say all of those methods seemed like hard work, until the very last when he pointed out that you could have ground people haul you up!

Are using ascenders and stirrups considered free climbing? I suppose a manned belay with a separate rope would be considered prudent.

Aerial

sawsong

i dont want this to be taken the wrong way, and i have no right to judge since i'm so green to climbing, but,

what's so wrong with doing it 'by the book'?

i'm all for innovation, when it is innovation, but if im honest friend, I think you've got a solution there and you're looking for a problem.

personally, I climb DRT with a split tail and blakes. Ive just been trying out different friction hitches. I quite like the distel but im unsure if it suits me any better than the blakes. My only modification to the way I climb is to emply Eric (EKKA)'s suggestion of an automatic knot advancing micropulley on a prussik cord of its own (the method in the tree climbers companion I find inefficient as the pulley always begins a distance away from the knot)

Now ive finally bought a cambium saver, I do not find bodythrusting difficult at all. Ive got it to the point now where I can concentrate more on my learning positioning within the canopy. Ive just learnt to footlock as well, another energy saving exercise when done properly.

It's clear to me that youve done your share of tree work with whatever amount of success (obviously im not aware of your background).

What I've recently been doing is swapping out my sport climbing stuff for tree specific gear. just bought a Kolibri harness, triple lock biners, new split tails, two fliplines, one wirecore, one not. I could climb happily on my sport harness, and screwgates, but theyre NOT designed for tree work.

What I'm getting at is MY PERSONAL OPINION is that you would be making life a lot easier, and more importantly SAFER, by using tried and tested, and approved, methods. I just cant stop myself from saying that I can personally see you having a nasty accident with those axes in a WHEN scenario, not an IF one.

sorry if that came across in a way I didnt mean it, but as a newbie, it's my perogative to be a safety freak. Limb walking still SCARES me, but not half as much as those axes

Stay safe!

Jim

Aerial

Nothing wrong with doing it by the book, it's just that the book came a day too late for my first tree. Fortunately the retracting lifeline came in time for my first climb and first takedown.

I have not heard much comment on that item, and browsing through the threads does not indicate that this type of device is used much in tree climbing. It is not as radical as using the Ice Axes to be sure, but it seems to me that it enhances the whole process, while adding additional safety.

You mentioned limb walking, the retractable cable plays out, and then reels in without any tending during a limb walk. It allowed me to focus on keeping my balance while doing it.

Here is a photo of my first tree and it's obvious what limb I had to go out on:



My biggest hassle throughout the process was clipping and unclipping the climbing lanyard around limbs and forks, using the axes may make that easier and faster, and it may not. A lot of testing needs to be done.

We are both newbees here, but you are an old pro compared to me, taking the by the book approach and three years of ground work is the method that suited you and I can't find fault in that.

My method was that there was a job to be done, and I did it the best way I could figure out on short notice, with the equipment and limited skills I had.

Another thing, you just turned 21, I'm going to be 61 in June, so this is a bit tiring for an old man like me, I need all the mechanical advantage I can get.

Aerial

Attached Images

aerial_tree-1.jpg (267.7 KB, 35 views)

sawsong

nah that's fair enough mate. I can understand your reasons completely.

what people have meant about the fliplines being passive (i apologise if im emphasising something you already took onboard) is that once they are around the tree, they require little input. if you 'gaff out' (climbing spikes disengage from tree), then the flipline will stop you falling away from the tree, and if you wrap it a full turn about the trunk, it will choke the trunk and stop you from falling. I appreciate you have this nifty fall arresting lanyard thingy so I can only really play the 'hands free' when stationary card.

not to mention they give you another means of attaching yourself when limb walking. it's just added security all the time.

I would still be inclined to think that once you try climbing with two suitably stiff fliplines, and use 'alternating lanyard technique (where you approach a limb, and clip one flipline above it and one below so that you are never detatched from the trunk) you would be hard pressed to regard the axes as easier (far easier this way on your arms, with the leg muscles being the biggest and most powerful in our bodies), and if you find it easier with the axes, fair enough again, but is it 'safe'. a little bit more effort is a fine trade-off for wellbeing in my book, but anyway, i'll stop rambling and leave this to your testing period.

I can indeed see the merits of your cammed lifeline. I really can. I think the problem is, traditionally, tree guys dont trust mechanical rope access doohickeys because there is a very specific way that they climb and move within a tree. as microcenders et al become more popular, who knows, its day may come, but it probably wont

quercus

Mate, seriously... If you wanna do this, the thing with the axes that is... then that's fine by me...but do it on a glacier...
And if you wanna do it safe... hire an aerial platform... forget that ice-axe thing your into at the moment. Do some recreational climbing to get to know the hang of it, but forget those axes and sell em on the same site where they come from.
Personally I've never ever seen some-one who started off the wrong foot as bad as you did... I've seen lots of things so far, hell I've even seen a guy who tried the ice-axe thing on a dead tree too... but that was an experiment.
Tree work is not one of those things you go do for a hour or two with some gear you buy on ebay. That approach will get you killed. There are only a few jobs on the planet whom are more dangerous then tree-work... The way I see it there are a few options for you...

-get some serious training
-get some serious gear
-learn the "treeclimber's companion" by heart and try everything what's in there untill you find "your" knot and "your" gear, and above all... "your technique"
-hire an aerial platform (the biggest mechanical advantage that you can have, although even I am faster then guys with platforms...)
-let a certified arborist do it

And eh....About that retracting fall arrestor... You won't find it anywhere in threads because you are probably the only one using it. It is the knowledge and previous assessment of the trees, the dynamics of the trees and treeclimbing and the love for the trees that keep arborists alive... not some fall arrestor or something like it. We depend on skills that take years to hone and to learn. Don't think all safety comes with a pricetag though... because you can buy gear for 100.000.000 dollars if you want, but if you attach it to the wrong branch in the wrong tree, your as dead as a doorknob...
think about that... especially if there are other people, like your wife and kids maybe, who are depending on you to come home every night...

allmarktree

A good reason to chuck the axes and learn some easier ways to climb. Holding the axes requires much more strength than using rope/pulleys etc. If I see it right you are using a retractable lanyard, which is for fall protection. You need equipment for work positioning.

DBS

Compliments to Ekka...

How to install Cambium saver

Air humping should be a thing of the past after this video

You will find MANY videos to benefit from here.. Tree work videos


Ekka i hope i did not step on your toes by linking to one of your other sites

-Daryl

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playfordtree

Great instructional vid on the cambium/friction saver Ekka.

I remember the first time i used mine, i put my rope through the big hole first as i had forgotten about the retrieval process.

Tree was a pine, about 15m tall, came time to retrieve the saver and deck the spar, pulled on the rope (no throwline attached either) and "hey presto" saver stuck at the top of the tree with the terminal end swinging in the breeze.

I then spent the next 15min perched on top of my extension ladder trying to hook it down with my Jamieson pole, all to no avail.

So i had to climb all the way back up on just one flipline (only had one at the time), by then the tree was bleeding like a mofo.

Moral of the story, brandnew work shirt ruined, but valuable lesson learned.

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Aerial

Thanks to all who responded with what is obviously good advice. I'll address specific elements in turn. That was a lot of information to assimilate.

The video about the Cambrian saver was great timing, mine just came in today. I was wondering how to retrieve it, because I plan to use it to rig my new fangled retracting lifeline. The axes will have to prove themselves to me, but the lifeline already has.

It won't replace the time tested tools of the trade anytime soon I suppose, but for those who use one I'm sure their work will be faster and safer.

Aerial

Aerial

If you don't, or aren't able, to wrap the flipline around the trunk are you not likely to do a face slide down the trunk at least until the lifeline stops you?

The two flipline method sounds like a good way to solve the obstruction problem I was having with just one. I do have a quality (Miller) flipline coming and that will give me two. I will definitely try using both of them.

In my limited testing so far the axes worked great at holding my weight, the biggest problem so far is getting them out of the tree. I think that striking a balance between a hard setting swing and a softer climbing swing will be the technique that can make them work.

We will see ...

Aerial

JayD

Hi Aeriel,
I have had input to this already so I will keep it short and sweat, Master the basic climbing skill first,Stay with what is being said and displayed here and illustrated in books,