Hardest job - Hand cutter, climber or groundsman?

[Gary Prentice]

Just out of interest, and after reading a post on the number of trees that a decent hand-cutter will/could/should do per hour (30!), what's peoples opinions on the hardest/most physical  job in arb/forestry?

 

To start the debate, being from an arb background I'd rate the order as hardest - hand-cutter, easiest -climber. I'm not talking about the ivy infested dead tree/big rigging jobs in soaring/freezing temperatures, but the general day to day average jobs. (And lets leave all the mechanical/plant assistance out of the equation too! )

[Stubby]

Hand cutter , back in the day . Steep banks were harvester cant get . Knackered back , knees , shoulders etc etc .

[jose]

climber

but all climbers i know climb, then come down and work the ground too so i guess they would be biased

 

[john p]

Hand cutter, climbing s a doodle!

[Steve Bullman]

Entirely job dependant but i'd say in general a hand cutters.  You can get the odd gruelling days climbing though

[Pete Mctree]

Some,of my hardest days have been climbing, but day in and day out cutting is much harder physically- especially if your cutting on a piece rate.

[Gary Prentice]

4 minutes ago, Steve Bullman said:

Entirely job dependant but i'd say in general a hand cutters.  You can get the odd gruelling days climbing though

Without a doubt Steve, but they are odd days IME 

 

There should probably be a fourth category, the S/E climber - I don't remember doing the easy stuff so much when I was S/E.

 

Lets have everyones order though, not just hardest, and what their normal job is. I'd like to see if climbers rank climbing as hardest, groundsman grounding and cutters cutting to see how much bias there may be 

Edited June 26, 2018 by Gary Prentice

[Gary Prentice]

17 minutes ago, jose said:

climber

but all climbers i know climb, then come down and work the ground too so i guess they would be biased

 

Maybe they need better trained groundsmen, or to adapt their methods to make life easy for the lads on the floor so there's little to do when they're done. 

[Baldbloke]

Hand cutter , back in the day . Steep banks were harvester cant get . Knackered back , knees , shoulders etc etc .

And the rest! I’m waiting for hip, and knee replacement ops too. Unfortunately can’t have the new knees as too much metalwork in bones at critical points. Cutting and sheep shearing when you’re young fucks you up[emoji3]

[Stubby]

1 minute ago, Baldbloke said:

And the rest! I’m waiting for hip, and knee replacement ops too. Unfortunately can’t have the new knees as too much metalwork in bones at critical points. Cutting and sheep shearing when you’re young fucks you up

Got a metal knee and a metal shoulder .