Marc

Wow thats a serious amount of cutting that went into those coronet cuts, I like the look of them. And I enjoy doing that kind of work, I think it has its place to. Not done it much mind, but if I was to do it like that would prefer to do it in a mewp, like in the 3rd pic. Personally when I did it I was a bit lazier, prefering to to do just 4 cuts, 2 in one direction 2 in another, the less cutting I have to do the better, unless I can get in a really comfy position.

Its been a while since I read MB's guide and I can't be bothered to read it again, but I remember I liked it. Just use the information you think is usefull to you, no point picking holes in the wording. And I also think Big A hits the nail on the head ""pay people what they are worth to you. If they make you money, they benefit. If they cost you money, they lose out. If they all gel together as a team, then all will benefit, anyone who doesnt want to play in that team, can leave and play on their own!"" If using groundies on minimum wage works for you then great. Our groundies help do the weekly loler checks, pre start checks on all vehicles in the morning, as well as getting the chippers ready for work i,e filling with diesel and greasing bearings checking lights tyre pressures. They also may do the generic risk assements on some jobs, help set-up chapter 8, trained in first aid, the list goes on. The company I work for the groundies are paid almost as much as the climbers, and I don't begrudge them for it, without good groundies my day would be a bitch. All our groundies can also climb, and get regular chances to climb so they will be useful in rescue situations or on jobs where a second climber is beneficial.

O.k, I truly thought I was onto a winner with that idea . Oh well back to the drawing board to find a good use for my revolver.

Maybe i'm a moron, but I can't see how, maybe if it somehow rotated so that it was loaded against the spine and gate somehow? Or it somehow opens up and and my rope jumps out? I'd be more concerned about loading the gate than the rope coming out by some random act of god. Still i'll take your advice, you've been doing this longer than I have and your still fairly intact, so you must be doing something right.

I was just experimenting today and it worked very well. I know that using a spring gate biner is not good practice, the distance between the redirect and me was small, if it failed I would'nt go far. To me though it looked fine and now after this little experiment would'nt be to concerned about using it again in a situation where greater distances are involved. Still i'd like to know why you don't reccomend using it Steve? Its just as easy to use a small pulley and locking biner instead, it seemed to me a good use for it.

For those of you who don't know what a DMM revolver is here's a pic.

I too tried out the M redirect today I was amazed, it worked perfectly, and is so simple. I could'nt remember exactly Steve set it up in the pics, looking at them again I did it differently slightly, I put the rope through a spring gate DMM "revolver" biner attached to the top hole in my hitchclimber put the the rope over the other limb then connected it to the middle hole of my hitchclimber, was smooth looking and working. I'll be using that more often now. And i've found a good use for my DMM revolver biner.

You missed something out from that qoute Lee I'm all for giving trees a chance, I want to try and balance out my karma, all to often i've felled trees when there was other alternatives to be tried. Its really starting to bother me, don't get me wrong I love to smash a big tree down, but I also love maintaining a tree in its enviroment just as much. I can't help but feel some of the fells i've done were carried out because they could put more money on it, which I feel is a short sighted approach, as once a tree is gone there is no more money to be made from it.

Intresting stuff, I've worked on many mature and ancient Beech trees in my short time as an arborist. And often walk through the Chilterns woodland on my weekends. My observations have been like others, only a month ago did I see a mature Beech blown over infected with merrilpilus, I walked past it often over the year and it always looked healthy apart from the fungi! All the big structle roots were decayed yet there was smaller roots intact I guess this kept the trees crown healthy. I've also seen Beech trees which have failed half way up losing probably 60-80% of there crowns in the past, yet have recovered and are still going strong. So a heavy reduction is possible, just not ideal, losing all that stored energy and energy producing foliage is never going to be. At Painshill we heavily reduced some Beech by 60% in height as an experiment, and alternative to felling, the tree looks ugly but its still a tree and has value! Burnham Beech's is also a good example of how Beech can even respond to pollarding. Reducing Steve's Beech tree job though is probably a bad thing as it needs all the energy it can get. Maybe a light sail reduction followed by verticuler mulching by Lee. I hate to see big trees felled it sucks, surely in this situation if Steve explains the risks and does the best he can for the trees health and the client takes responsability for the tree. Then Steve isn't liable whatsoever? Plus any report Steve makes now is only valid for a year, its up to the client to have the tree checked annually.

Kinda pointless me taking part in the poll as I don't even know what 3 strand is. I started climbing on a VT, scared the **** out of me too. Only recently have I seen the benefits of using a blakes in some trees. I did work with one guy who climbed on old XTC which was advanced rope for him, he did'nt even own a lanyard just used both ends of his rope. He never used slings either just tied a knot on everything. But by god he was fast and effcient!!!! So I respect old school.

And thats for all 4 frames including plastic hinges? I kinda like the fletcher stewart ones, but find the popper buttons holding mesh together keep coming open, and there not great on uneven ground, plus they cost a lot. Cost is a big negative as it only takes one mishap with the stump grinder head to produce a mangled mess! Not that I know as I don't have my stump grinder tickets so I'm not even allowed to touch one

I've always found footlocking/pantin with an advanced hitch not as effcient as using a prussik/blakes. the sit back is wastefull of energy/movement. To avoid this I find myself holding above the hitch for longer before taking a rest/sitting back in my harnss to avoid the sitback effect of the hitch grabbing. So when I do have a long accent (over 30ft) I use a blakes and pantin which I find more effcient and easier. I sometimes even attach a micro pulley to the static side of my line with a small prussik loop made of starter cord and set this below my blakes. For shorter accents (under 30ft) I just climb hand over hand above my VT whislt body thrusting, with good technic this is fairly effcient. I usually go for 3-5 big pulls then hold myself in position with my left arm locked straight! to tend the slack. Where as body thrusting with a blakes/prussik your pulling below the hitch and holding your weight below the hitch which I find uses more energy and puts more pressure on my elbows. I have'nt really used a extender yet with my VT might play around with that 2moro

Locktight Blue is best as far as I know, not that i've ever bothered to use any, I just do them up tight and check them often, never had any come loose on me yet. As for my bridge mod, I just used a piece of yale XTC and tied barrel knots in the ends to stop it going through the shackles. That way you can adjust the bridge to any length.

That sucks renta-chimp, when I ground for people I always try to be considerate, but don't expect that others will do the same for me. Here are some suggestions on how to be an excellent climber just to keep this thread going and on track: (not in any order) 1: Have a good temperament, I always enjoy grounding for a cool climber, it makes the day much easier and enjoyable and even more effcient. 2: Don't expect that those down below will know exactly want you want or how you work, so make sure you give precise instructions. 3: (like 2) Go through the kit you will need and organise it ready for the climb, even show the crew how you use your kit if they don't know. 4: If a job starts going wrong don't lose you cool, and don't take it out on the crew, it may even be you fault! Instead take a step back, motivate your crew give advice in a friendly way, I know its tempting to chuck a peg and abuse at the ground crew but resist the urge! 5: Try your best to make the ground crews job easier, even if it makes your life a little harder, obviously within reason. 6: Be progressive, try to learn new tricks, techniques and kit in a bid to stay ahead of the game. 7: Most of all have fun! A happy crew is an effecient crew

So why was it felled? ha ha only kidding, nice little loader in the pics, sure makes life easy.

This was Mondays job, we work in 2-3 man teams- 2 climbers or 2 climbers plus groundie. On this job we had a 3rd apprentice groundie due to the road, he has no experience and isn't able to use a saw. It was my turn to ground on this one. We set the work site up. Put in place a work plan, i.e me on the ropes the other on traffic duty and feeding chipper (under supervision from me). The tree had a cavity at the base and an old cable brace wrapped round each stem (reason for fell) Virtually everything was lowered off, as each piece came down it was processed and chipped keeping a clear work area. We started at 9 the crown was stripped chipped and chogged down to a 12ft pole by 1pm, (we even had a tea break at 10:30) 1:30 we started to process the cord some left as firewood the rest loaded, then felled the butt (with 88 and 42" bar!!!) and dealt with that. We cleaned the site and packed up and gone at 3:30 all in all about 5 hours. I hardly broke a sweat and neither did the climber.

In my brief time as a arborist I have seen 2 groundies burnt out in less than 2 years usually from bad back, and tendonitis from stuffing the chipper. I'm yet to work with any climbers who've burnt themselves out so quickly. This is down to how the work is carried out. For instance the company I work for now has a type of mini-loader which saves the old back and speeds things up. Also I've seen and heard of far more accidents happen on the ground, wether its being struck by something, or painfull encounters with machines. An article I read in an ISA publication put being struck by falling objects as the highest cause of injury and fatalities in arborculture, as high as 40%. Climbing only made for a small percentage. I'm not saying Climbing is easy by any stretch or free of hazards! Just try to appreciate how hard some groundies can have it! They are the unsung hero's at times,,,,, o.k Please enlighten me if you feel my observation are wrong. I've been fortunate to work with some amazing climbers, who have 10 plus years experience at the highest level in the UK and outside, usually even the trickest jobs are performed safley and effciently and in good time. Again equipment and team effort play a big role in this.

Nicely put! Do climbers forget how hard groundwork can be? those bitch of a drags and humping logs, stuffing limbs in chippers allday, controling the ropes and keeping on top of the site. All can lead to rsi's and msd's just as quickly as bad climbing. Not only that the most dangerous place to be in any treework operation is on the ground! Dare I say it,,,, climbers have the safest job. A classic qoute that one climber said to me that has always stuck "when your as good as me you will not want to wear yourself out working on the ground" needless to say he was a tosser and not as good as he thought he was.

Nice pics as usual Matty. How did you tie off that limb in the first rigging shot, is that one piece of rope? If so how did you attach the karab back onto the line? I usually use a strop with two biners and a prussik loop in the middle, its not getting used much these days.

I have all intentions of doing my 40/41, I justed wanted to wait until I was comfortable rigging a tree down. Now I feel when I do the units I will be a able to learn some more new tricks rather than spend the time learning the basics, and iron out those bad habits (maybe).

I love that little cracking noise Willow and others trees make when chogging down. Anyone know exactly what causes it, I always imagine tension in fibers being released.

I think thats the plan, i,e do poor shoddy work there by creating more work in continuing maintenance, genius me thinks Personally I hope its dead by next year and is put out of its misery poor thing.

Intresting Edenarb and Bob. First off i'd like to make clear i'm all for training, and continuing professional development, so please don't misunderstand me. And I forgot to point out all claims I pointed out were made on employees liability, i'd imagine PLI would be a different kettle of fish. I get it ok, I may more than able to do the work, but the insurance company does'nt know that, having 40/41 would prove to them that I have reached a level of competence. 40/41 does'nt make someone experienced or truly competent, it all comes down to good on the job training. To often i've seen in-experienced climbers go out on dismantles, they get into bad habits make mistakes and never learn as they do not have the guidance or experience to guide them or realise they are doing it wrong. O.k my rant over, i'm out as I don't have a clue what i'm talking about

Nah there is more to that pic, it was a badly topped Walnut before that work, I did'nt get b4 pics, forgot I had a camera on my phone. The tree was in decline with extensive heartwood rot and cavities throughout the crown, as well as an old cable brace that had failed. And a big cavity in the base. The client did'nt want to lose the tree completly as she liked the birds nesting in the cavities, so we topped it!

I like the way you specifically mention a "long" wheel base land rover Bob! sounds like you have experience I agree that its more of a general fear of climbing that is the cause, but I do remember being paranoid my knots would come undone, or my prussik would somehow slacken off and send me plumeting to the ground etc! So confidence in kit does have some role. As soon as you can relax and forget about the irrational fears, the better. I did teach myself to climb with no instruction from, so I always had fear in my mind that I was doing something wrong, so I can sympathise.