What skillset makes for a good Groundie?

[htb]

My wife who groundies for me and other climbers, reckons being psychic is essential as the climber always says there going to do one thing and does something compeletly different with little warning, spose comes down to communication

[stihlmadasever]

Climbers make the best groundies.

They know what you need before you have to ask to get it sent up.

They have the experience to see what your doing and apply themselves to do what you need them to do on the deck.

Ive seen a couple of really top notch groundies that are not climbers but decades of experience got them to that point.

[TIMON]

In a nutshell...The ability to keep the drop zone moving quickly and safely.

That means:
Good anticipation of what is happening and is about to happen.
Good rope skills.
Good saw skills.
Good work ethic.

[Mesterh]

The first thing a good groundie should do is look up.

 

There are plenty of other things that follow on from the above but don't look up and be cursed for the rest of your life.

 

A good groundie has lots of skills, they don't just drag brash and logs. Being able to make a proper latte and tie a nail file onto a climbing line is a must in my book.

 

 

 

 

[J&M]

Thank you all for helpful contributions so far.

 

Happily, it sounds like the people I have who want the work, and can be flexible and deploy at short notice, are just the right sort of people . Most of the folk I work with are responsible professionals in other industries anyway who do this as a top up (weekdays or weekends make no odds).

 

So now I seek input on financial viability. If I sent one person with a couple of saws (standard is an 18" and a 24" bar), all of the appropriate PPE, fuel, manual handling aids etc and qualified for saws, chipper and first aid only (no rescue) I would need to charge about £120 for the day. Some variability there for length of working day and proximity to home.

 

Thoughts? 

 

 

 

[Steve Bullman]

34 minutes ago, Mesterh said:

The first thing a good groundie should do is look up

i'm yet to get my head round the mentality of any one who would walk under a tree being worked on without first looking up

[Mark J]

I've been on site with people who had Bluetooth headsets but still walked underneath a 'Live' tree.  I had to chuck a stick at him as he 'Couldn't hear'. Accident waiting to happen. 

 

Spatial Awarenesss is the most important trait in tree work.  That and a capacity to change the plan for the better when things go wonky.

[rasluka]

Not sure if this is any good, cant even remember where i found it, and unfortunately wrote in American, but we give it out to new starters to give them an idea of what to expected/is expected....had a few people not turn up after reading it though!!

Edit: couldn't add as a pdf(??) But managed to find the link https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=http://treebuzz.com/pdf/0505_handbook.pdf&ved=2ahUKEwjH0Z6696_ZAhXGJ1AKHRdmAYUQFjABegQICRAB&usg=AOvVaw0Y-7Mm2R0Pqd075wo-dwcd

[kimtree]

someone who just gets on with it and does'nt need telling

[Gary Prentice]

On 2/18/2018 at 00:43, Steve Bullman said:

i'm yet to get my head round the mentality of any one who would walk under a tree being worked on without first looking up

How are you expected to be viewing twatbook, twatter etc and look up at the same time? Some people are just so unreasonable in their expectations of others.