ecolojim

I'll have mine with me. you're welcome to give it a try. Im no big lad but i find it comfy.

fancy some ergot with that?

another little bullman?

end of the day, it'll spend less time in the garage if you push for or seek out more jobs that require it. I suppose if you have two jobs that wont quite pay for it outright, then the two or three following it surely will?

that's the plan thanks mate. next job, learn good pruning technique To say that i had climbed would only be a partial truth. Id been up and down a few considerably smaller and much denser canopied trees just around the farm. These awesome oaks were very open canopied and very large (to me, probably not to a lot of you). I had done no branch walking, definitely no jumping around the canopy, never used supplementary tie in points. Only sizeable tree id ever been up was on spikes when my boss gave me a trial by fire on a pine. one of the biggest challenges which was the first i had to overcome was to climb the tree not the rope. When in smaller trees i had always climbed the tree, because everything was always close together. In this case it was getting used to hauling myself up over branches, and getting into all kinds of contorted positions to climb from one branch to another. Feels less 'safe' to begin with, but it's definitely quicker, definitely less effort required, and certainly the only way at some points. but swinging about is by far the most fun part! There is a heck of a lot of thinking involved, using your rope as a tool as well as a lifeline. considering which way to route your rope before your next move, finding natural redirects, setting a second tie in point before a long branch walk etc etc. and the most important thing i found out... Yale XTC 12 when set in the top of the tree, if you try and bodythrust back up from the ground, it's like climbing a baby bouncer. Not fun:scared1:

I hope so... im a very cautious person though so Im going to spend some time getting my climbing up to scratch and my positioning spot on, get more comfortable in the canopy before I think about doing that. Watch this space Thanks mate. Yeah doesnt it just. I certainly plan to be at the get together at Dean's wood. I may or may not climb. Probably will, but Im going to enjoy watching you lot swinging about at any rate!

well, the boy done good! even though it was peeing it down with rain and slippery as sin, i got my head on right and it all came together on the day

thanks guys. the trees have been climbed so much over the years that theyre like glass even when dry. the first branch walk i did was out onto a branch with no foot holds, no nearby hand holds, no forks, nothing. really freaked me out. I think looking for crotches when selecting my branches is going to be the best thing, but I just cant get my feet to gain any purchase when im up there when the branches are wet, and I cant express in words how much it messes me up when I slip up there. Im gonna do my very best, but if I bottle it I bottle it im afraid.

tbh, I dont know if climbing is going to be for me. It's been a tough old week. Branch walking has been by far the most difficult thing, and I really dont like doing it, especially on wet slippery branches like weve had all week. today I hit a psychological wall with it all and couldnt bring myself to do more than set a high anchor point. with some encouragement from the instructor i moved round the tree, did some branch walking and swung myself out to some hard to reach areas. I was fairly confident that I could achieve the required tomorrow, but it's absolutely throwing it down and thunder and lightning at the moment which isnt helping my resolve. Just going to have to get in the zone and see how it goes I think you guys who do this day in day out for a living have my utmost respect! I really wanted to be like you lot, but perhaps im just not cut out for it

ooh i take it back, looks like i might be able to join! dammit, no longer in full time education

unfortunately not being a member of the fca, im no better off. would have liked to go for two days but id save nothing, would save 3 quid on a one day ticket. good news for some though im sure

first day was excellent. my instructor, a lot of you will know. A guy called Jim Phillpot. With where he works and knowing a lot of the same people I'm suprised we've never crossed paths before, but he's a phenomenal climber and ive learnt so many ways of looking at things already. This morning will be my first proper climb of the course and my biggest climb to date, heading up a giant turkey oak with Jim alongside watching us stropping in and advancing. then I believe this afternoon if memory serves it's all about getting out to the tips.

mine neither, and it's white, and i see no point in having the vents closted

a little birdie who happens to be part of afag told me today that theres new legislation coming in within 6 months on climbing helmets loads of people it would seem are still climbing in linesmans helmets or other non-climbing specific helmets that have been factory adapted for the job with the addition of an elasticated chinstrap. I think husqvarna do one like this The new legislation I think requires a helmet that protects from side impacts as well as top impacts as eg a vertex does, and definitely requires chin straps with a 3 point anchoring I think he said. essentially the style used by kong, petzl, edelrid etc. just a bit of food for thought

not to mention if you're very quick off the mark defra/forestry commission have some grants in application stage for costs involved in developing management plans, and costs involved in the actual practical operation of managing a broadleafed woodland

thanks man, spent most of this evening swotting up on the assessment schedule, as i'll probably be doing every evening from now on

well, the time has come around and I start the course tomorrow at long last!

the big posch liebnitz 30t horizontal jobbie I used to use probably once or twice a week even had to be operated 2 handed. one lever controlled extension of the splitting ram, another controlled speed/power applied to the ram. with the second lever left at rest, the ram would not move. a little bit annoying, but didnt often wish to be able to hold the log on the table. I can appreciate it's very different in the vertical domain

errm..... oh That said, I really need to get some caliper overhaul kits and do mine one weekend. I did find I was having trouble with one becuase of a kinked hard brake line just as it went into the back caliper (it had kinked when id had (evidently not carefully enough) lifted the caliper out the way to do the hub bearings. Ive also on a previous vehicle suffered on one front caliper due to a delaminated and collapsed flexi hose. both things to check, but If it's that bad, it probably points to either master cylinder or lack of vacuum. if you 'pump' the brakes up until hard with the engine off, and keep your foot down while you start the engine, your foot should fall if theres a good vacuum.

not sure ive ever driven one that did stand on its nose. from experience of the 4 ive had/driven, the only one that does is the freelander 2

these few chestnuts wont win any prizes here but... had a bobcat minidigger across my legs after thinking it would be easier to get up to a treehouse sat in a sling under the bucket, mate swung it off axis at full revs, no broken bones, just a me shaped imprint in his lawn, theres a video of me lifting the roof off his garage and dropping it back through the garage with same digger, video taken by his dad... UNDER the falling roof quite a worrying number of occurences involving fire, fire extinguishers, bowsers of water, body parts on fire, (i think that one was petrol filled coke can football), exploding bonfires (that one was fun, especially the getting blown off my feet part! . only [problem was collecting the bonfire back up to actually burn it), a few incidents of banger racing round the field turning into complete carnage, and possibly my personal favourite, forgetting we'd put a ditch up the middle of one of our bigger fields to make it into 2, and hooning up the headland in the tractor, spotting the ditch, grabbing the steering wheel VERY F TIGHTLY and opening my eyes front wheels one side, rear wheels the other. dad 'did not look appy' there must be more, I'll go ask the parents. actually, starting to realise why they hate me oh yeah remembered another one. mate lives on a farm too, his dad had been given a merc on permanent loan while this bloke went to live in saudi, so it sat in the shed a couple years, and one day we wanted to take it for a rag round the field. I devised a devillishly cunning plan that the locks could be undone with an electric screwdriver (no idea where id heard or seen this) so inserted drill driver flat bit into the lock, and pulled the trigger. 'pop' there we go, handed it to my mate, grrrrrrrrrr ****, had he half made a mess of the drivers side lock! so I quickly relocked mine, and a few years later when this bloke incidently came back from saudi to find the car had been, well, errm... damaged, my mate's dad told him someone must have tried to nick it. we kept particularly quiet for a while

and me please

Peter, if you were talking in terms of this M system, I get ya now, I was thinking in terms of standard use of a secondary TIP

why is that? surely both primary and secondary anchors should have all slack taken out of their respective systems thus no shock loading at all. bit of a nasty swing, inconvenience at best, for sure extra loading, but I cant see a case for shock loading

problem for me is, everyone's told me how theres easily 2 or even 3 days of stuff to see, plus a number of us were using it as an impromptu arbtalk social with a bit of camping as well. that makes the ticket price 24-37 quid!! which on top of the fuel to drive there, feeding myself, plus anything that took my fancy at the show itself, adds up to a number Im not sure I can justify. I might have to miss out on the show part, and just enjoy the social element to the fun climbing day at Dean's wood.