Tree/tree traverse @ 180' up

Oxman

Here's Kreg going from the Bogachiel Spruce to BSII. http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=963225017959795126&hl=en

Eric Frei

Cool!

Come on guys, this is 180' up!

Hey Michael,

Did you get Mario Vaden's OK for that?

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Oxman

No video, but some of the first few photos of climbing this tree are posted over at Lockjack Models

newguy18

Cool,i find when traversing,its easier to either install 2 tie ins drt style,or set a span line at a slight angle and speedline to the other tree.Woohoo.

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old schooler

bigshea13

did ya throw the line across or shoot it across?

Oxman

The throwline was tossed by ITCC Champion Dan Kraus over to the climbers waiting in the top of the neighboring tree.

The whole story is at: Bogachiel Spruce Reclimb

This was a benefit climb for the Tree Research and Education Endowment Fund (TREE Fund).

bobdoesit

OMG. That video on you tube Hung Up. Is that legal??????. I presume the power was off. Could that not have been done with a crane or hoist (bucket truck)?? That looked very dodgey one arm over the top wire and standing on the 2 bottom wires that scared the s**t out of me. Well with HSE over here i wonder??. Trapped the saw a few times( i know it was one handed too but an MS 020 top handle saw with a 14 inch bar looks as though it would have coped) anyway not trying to critise but be well getting a right seeing to from HSE here. (UK).

newguy18

Omg Omg,i know power was off but damn.

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old schooler

bigshea13

i dont want to steal from oxmans thread. i just saw the traversing and remembered a storm video i had. power wasd off. no way to get equipmnet into back yard. it was the ghetto so the work needed to be done fast. the day before they pulled a gun on one of the other crews. i hate stihls so i use a 346. the one hand thing goes against the grain but it is was it is.

Jeff Darby

..Wow..I know you were taking care of buiseness, mate they dont pay enought to do things like that..when it broke away and you fell back, I think it was pure luck you didn't get cut.

Dont get me wrong, I think what you did was gutsy(foolish to a point) I would not have done it for no one.

Your life is worth more than your rep!...after all is said and done if you kill yourself you instantly turn into "that idiot".

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Oxman

The chin action was cool.

rbtree

what Jay said...and


Could you have had a lifeline/tight line on your other side as well, or was there no appropriate line angle available?


How about a 338-- just a tad bit less reach, but way more control for one handed use like that.

Definitely one ballsey bit of work! Good on ya.

Also, did ya wrap the upper line with a prussic to keep your lateral position?

edit, I just watched the vids again.....Regarding the line that you pulled yourself out on, was it tied off on the broken part? It musta been, or it wouldn't have been tight. First time I watched, I thought you were pulling yourself out on the primary....

bigshea13

, I think it was pure luck you didn't get cut.

definately not. that show went on for three weeks. i was offered multiple jobs bby various contractors. hurricanes are hell on trees and power structures and when every house is surrounded by fences and too tight to fit equipment threw your have to be creative. beleive me....the last thing i want to be injured or killed. ive been at this for a long time and have had only 1 small accident. im very comfortable doing what i do the way i do it. topping saws dont have the power i need to perform most of my work. the 346 is the perfect size. and i feel very comfortable one handing it. that video was shot 2/3 of the way threw the day. i remember being exhausted.

ive got a few more similar videos ill post if you guys dont beat me up too bad about em

bigshea13

yeah the line was attached to the broken leader. one of the otehr foremen started the tree and screwed it up. he notched it and it was still wrapped on the secondary. it pulled the transformer poleaover a couple feet. there was no way to get over to it so i shimmeyed across the line he placed threw a block htat he was going to use to pull it up off the line with. i dont think he ever figured in that the line was already under enormous tension. good practice.

Eric Frei

If you can fit through then so can one of these.

HINOWA UNDER CARRIAGES

Any company or boss that allows that on their job site is looking for court action and a law suit.

No wonder things are getting worse not better.
OSHA| USA| Tree Care Operations | Asking Your Input

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rbtree

Allows what? a spider lift or what bigshea did?

bigshea13

looks a little wider than 3 feet but im sure it wont jump fences. plus i like the fact that i can do it. its a rush. id be a liar if i gave any other reason other than because....i can. im sure somewhere along the line ive turned down a tree.....but it was probably because i was pissed at employer and trying to prove a point. i love what i do. i dont make a ton of money but its not about that.. id do what i do for half the cash. the challange and the thrill are what drive me. i take all teh necessary precautions needed to get the job done safely without injury to my co workers. yes a take a few chances here and there on myself but nothing that i dont have a 95% sucess rate on. actually my odds are better than that. like i said ive had only one mishap worth even speaking of in 12 years. considering the astrononical number of trees ive been in and the situations they brought to the table, id say thats pretty damn good. i catch alot of shit from other foremen about my methods but usually in the end i end up doing a tree just like that for them{ which just so happened to be the case in the video}
if everytime i came across a tree like that i asked for a piece of equipment, theyd find someone else to do it. there is always someone out there to do what you wont. if i can do it the quickest and safest and without incident then it should be me doing it. residential guys usually do only several trees a day and they arent constantly avoiding the wire. we do this all year long. some days my brother and i may do 60- 80 trees a day. swing from one to the next, removing leaders and taking down the dead. over time you learn how to minimize the dangers involved in the risks and sooner or later it just becomes second nature.

ps...ekka.. on the jobsite i am the boss. and usually the ones who have a problem with my work are the ones who could never in a billion year begin to do it. say what you will but im sure my track record is far better than yours and im SURE ive done far nastier and technical trees than youve part even been a part of. but thanks for your opinion.

Eric Frei

Allow the sort of work practices exhibited in the video by Bigshea13

If you read the specs you'd have seen it is 31" wide, it will fit through a std doorway. Fences in many cases can be removed, most houses have side access through gates. After owning a miniloader for years I can say it is not often I cannot get that machine in, you tend to bring about what you think about.

Even if you are really the boss not employed by some-one then you are in the firing line.

Often the ones who make assessment of your work method never do the job, they're called OHS investigators, they dont have to do the job to assess it.

As far as this comment
I can tell by your posts that you think you're Superman, but every day the kryptonite is getting closer.

Was a cocky climber we knew. When asked if he'd like to formalize his experience and become an arborist the reply was "fugg that, dont need that shit". The guy was fast but old school and there'd be lots of minor damage all the time. You know, rather than rope a limb "she'll be right" and smash goes the fence etc. Rather than install a pulley and rig off it he'd natural crotch limbs off on the way up ... getting stuck on stuff, cant pull the limb back up as no block installed.

Anyway, he too thought he was ants pants, no-one was as good or as fast as him. Wasn't a tree he couldn't do.

He's not a tree worker anymore.

He fell, lucky to be alive, he'd be around 30yo with kids.

The story is only one more of the many that occur.

What I can say is not many other "trades" would do stuff like that. They'd get the right gear in regardless of cost however this industry seems to be in a race to the bottom.

Another guy I knew, also fast. Climbs with a 026 and one hands it, all the time. Boasted how in 11years never been cut. Then the Kryptonite came one day, got him good, 30 plus stitches in the left arm.

After he recovered from that and got his confidence back he went back to the old practices, thought he might get another 11 years and he was being more careful .... didn't last another year, got him again ... only 10 stitches the second time around.

To a degree here WC adjusts it's premiums per client, they do have base rates and general risk categories for occupations. I pay 1.8% WC, never had a claim in 11 years, and neither have had P/L claim. I like them odds too, and make money.

For those interested I have made a slow motion video of that piece of action here.

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oldschool

nice bid. It'd be better with some crankin background music. I do utility wool work too. I've got some similar bids I'll throw them up if I can get them off the camera

treevet

I think that vid was chopped for utube. I think the camera angle could make this misleading in the danger involved. Sometimes you can see a breakaway cut cannot possibly get to you no matter what happens. It is like the old joke of putting your opened hand in front of a girl's boob and take a pict.....looks like it is on it but it is not.

I do not agree that line clearing is more dangerous in general than city tree work. 60 to 80 tree removals in one day....I doubt it. Toothpicks maybe. What do you think oldschool?

oldschool

60-80 trees is high but it's dooanle and no they re prob not all giants. Line clearence is far more dangerous than residential. Not only do you have to avoid house vehicals people ECt bit you also have to factor in the line with thousands of volts cranking threw em. If you've never done it it's hard to fathem the risk involved. The first time you experience an arc blast it would become clear that it's nothing like residential

treevet

I have experienced what you call an arc blast, twice. It just makes you more careful not to have it happen again.

But in this video.....no electric was on. Probably not a day to day thing to have the camera on the job so this is why I think this video was staged for effect for the forums. Camera angle and all you know.

As for line clearance being more dangerous than city (not residential)....I don't buy it. Everything is relative. Some line clear. is more dangerous than others and some city tree work is more dangerous than others therefore....sometimes one is higher risk to life and property on different days.

Some guys go out of the lot with a work order every day with the tallest, deadest trees over multiple buildings, wires, etc, etc. They do the hardest riskiest stuff because they are the best climbers in the lot.

For this poster to say that he is the best that ever lived and does the most dangerous work every day and tell somebody (ekka) that he has done much more dangerous removals when he has never met him let alone witnessed his work well,.......that sounds like just ego and maybe an inferiority complex talking.

Afterall all what he does every day (in his words) is line clearing, and what does he have to compare it to anyway? It seemed to me that the days of somebody with a huge ego getting on these forums and declaring "I am the greatest" was a thing of the past as they can somewhat witness what all these other top of the trade arbs are doing in print, vids, and picts.

I am not talking out of ignorance as I cleared all the wires for a township for about 5 years in Hunterdon County New Jersey after the Three Mile Incident and had no bucket truck. I have also been through 3 major ice storms in my 40 years and a hurricane with thousands of trees laying all over wires and we got trees off them.

newguy18

Well said Dave,cracks me up when someone says they are the best climber,just tells me they got off thier learning curve and have a world full of confidence.I'm a good climber,but i wouldn't be dumb enough to say i'm the best and i do do the most dangerous trees,although i've done quite a few i probabley shouldn't have.Live and learn,also look for climbers that have done it for 30-40 years and talk to them,you'll probabley learn somethingOh and oldschool,i've worked along all types of wires,from service drops right up to working beneath the wires on a steel tower,i take great care to not hit the wires,even if it means taking smaller pieces.

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old schooler

oldschool

I'm not going to argue with you. Judging from your posts I'd say both you and newguy18 are far more experienced than I. I could learn an enormous ammount from both of you. I'm just say the guys I work wiith are very good at what they do and I've seen them do things like that many times without incident. I've got some videos of them I'll try to upload. They are on vidoe camera( tape ) so I'll have to figure how to put to utube. Oh and newguy. I've read your post. Very impressive. I think you've gott some great ideas for s rt. Keep up the great posts. Where r u from treevet?

treevet

Cinci...about 30 years and NJ for about 10 years.

Where are you from Oldschool and who do you work for? Do you have any connection to that video?

oldschool

I work for davey tree. I don't have any connection to the video but I do know those guys. I've worked with several of them before. I'm trying to get a few of them online to have a look at this thread

rbtree

both???

The SRT book is in need of rewriting???!!

oldschool

If you can judge a person by their posts yes. They both sound very experienced

newguy18

yep my trick,which i might add hasn't been used since i took those pics is a cause for rewriting,i should post a disclaimer.

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old schooler

rbtree

Reminds me of what some said of me in my younger days,

" A legend......



..in his own....












mind"