Tree failure whilst dismantling?

[Mark Bolam]

Out with the dog up the woods this evening and came across a large twin stemmed ash I have noticed before. This tree is a fair size, maybe 70', each stem 2' dia. The crown on each stem is formed pretty much by 4 or 5 big limbs.

 

Each stem is shot, with cavities forming probably 2/3 of the trunk area.

 

Now, theoretically, if this tree was dismantled, and all the crown weight was removed from one side, this could change the forces within the compromised trunk so much that it could induce failure.

 

Has anyone ever heard of this happening? I can't imagine it has happened to many climbers who are still with us!

 

Just a bit of Friday night discussion, any opinions or theories welcomed.

[will.morris]

Sounds like a mewp job but obviously hard to judge without seeing it

[Robert_S]

STUNT FELL

 

Or two climbers with synchronised cutting on each stem so as the forces are equall.

 

If it was that bad mate you would not be in the canopy with the chance of it failing.

[born2trot]

A tree failure of that size would be unsurvivable for the climber i reckon , curious if anyone knows any different

[slack ma girdle]

Whilst doing power line work many years ago, having pruned an ash to get clearance. Went back 6 weeks later to finnish the span, to find half the tree lying on the ground.

It did give me the hebe gebees for while.

[Pat Ferrett]

I heard of a guy that was killed dismantling a tree when the lenght of timber he caught puctured the trunk and caused it to hosepipe.

[Tony Croft aka hamadryad]

I heard of a guy that was killed dismantling a tree when the lenght of timber he caught puctured the trunk and caused it to hosepipe.

 

thats a freak incedent if I ever heard one, poor luck crikey

[Mark Bolam]

Should have said, this tree is in a woodland environment and you could crash both stems in a oner (separately), which admittedly would cause some collateral damage to other trees. It would still be a gnarly fell though, with so little decent timber to work with.

 

I'd be happy to climb either stem, but knocking big lumps off would get the old ricker twitching wondering about what was happening at the base.

[scottythepinetree]

I have exactly that thought every time I climb a tall skinny one, especially if they're covered in ivy.

[Tom D]

Its crossed my mind before, when I did this one I took some big lumps off, but I did move around a bit to keep it reasonably balanced. It wasn't as bad as yours sounds though...

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6VUx_GLpwS8]Middleton beech dismantle - YouTube[/ame]