West Coast Maple

[RC0]

These are not very good pictures, and are even more washed out after uploading on the Forum. Often big trees do make for the worst pics.....but I still thought they might be worth showing.

 

So this big wobbly maple was at lake cowichan, near 2 hours drive from Victoria.

 

This is the second visit. First time we didn't get there till 3pm so put in about 2 hours blasting (free-falling) stuff down....2 climbers. Took the home owners 3 days clean up. Bear in mind this is a rural community where people don't mind so much at having having their yards modified by falling limbs and logs.

 

So what you see in that first pic is about half the tree that was originally there on the first visit.

 

Today we went back intending to finish only to find nesting birds at about 70ft in a hole on a rotton/dead leader. Dont ask me what kind of birds they were, just that they had wings and that's enough. I dont kill birds.

 

I was still able to get the remainder of the limbs off, mostly rigging but some free-falling too. So we'll have to go back a 3rd time to hopefully get the big wood down without any more complications.

 

Thankfully there was a 4 hour job on the way back we were able to do to make up the rest of the day.

 

Anyway, just to make a point that there are lots of good sized hardwoods out here too, as well as conifers. Thanks

[Stubby]

Once again Reg . Interesting pics . Thank you .

[High Scale]

Pictures make the tree look enormous!

[Pete Mctree]

That tree is pretty humongous looking. Is the timber as hard as our maples here in the UK?

[mistahbenn]

Thats a bigun Reg! How old would you say it is?

[RC0]

Thanks

 

The photos are a little clearer on Treebuzz: TreeBuzz Board: West Coast Maple

 

Yeah the pictures actually 'dont' do it justice Carl....they were more an after thought on the second visit. Just wanted to get the limbs off before the wind got up. Big maple alright.

 

Pete, maybe not as heavy because they grow so fast. What you do notice right away is what an unfriendly form they take....as far as climbing the tree is concerned i.e lotsa long and bending limbs/tops reaching for the sky....disproportionately so. Full of big cavities and defects. You look at around and think, 'how are they able to support them selves?'....many dont of course. Natural crotch rigging was the safest option by far.

 

Benn I'll find out when we go back. Be less than 100 years Id say.

[Mark Bolam]

I've done some calculations Reg.

 

If you are about 5'8" or 5'9" I've worked that tree out to be just under a mile high.

 

They are crap pics, but that is an absolute monster!

 

Nice work yet again, love seeing all this.

 

I'll pop up a pic of what we found at the base of this weeks connies to show you what you're missing.

[High Scale]

Classy Mark, proper classy, reminds me of a job in central Bristol from a few years back, a sea of used needles, condoms and sticky mattresses, junkies jacking up in front of us and another taking a dump.

 

Living the dream.

[Stephen Blair]

Took me a while to find you inthe first pics, big old tree!!

[Rob D]

Great sized tree - would love to mill that! Do they do much mobile saw milling out there or is it all picked up off site?