softbankhawks

The bridge recall was because of a failure on the European Black and Red model not the Black and Green Safety Technology model. It was a PR move to replace all bridges. I changed my bridge so long ago that I had forgotten about the ring cross loading the shackles. What a pain that was. I am a gear junkie and I own a few lifetimes of saddles already and they are all so different when you get down to details. I too would definately try as many as possible first. Or buy em all!

Why do you think that the TreeFlex is 'rubbish'? It's not polite to poo-poo a design so easily....and besides, you are wrong.

You can get a bosun style clip-on for the TreeFlex now. You may have a point about a climbers size, I couldn't get on with my Treemotion and went back to the TreeFlex. The hexafoam padding is so comfy and incredibly hard wearing. The shape of the back pad is awesome and if worn correctly does not nip at all and lets you breath on those stretchy pruning jobs. The waist straps do slip from time to time, but there are minor fixings that can sort this out. The shackle terminations are interchangeable and you can get creative with your bridge. The d's are floppy but again this can be easily remedied. SRT READY! If you have a smaller frame you might like the petzl sequoia.

Those cheap rubber buckets from the garden centre are brilliant and come in a massive range of colours. Colour coding is ace when you want something quick.

:001_smile:

It is flat on the upper side. Quite misleading actually.

Hi Dave, yes it is. I've started another contract at Hatfield, with Essex Arb this time. It's great to be back. Did you hear owt about the recordings?

Targettrees, there are so many ways of setting up an SRT system and a dozen more of tieing off the rope. If your single line is not choked off at the tie-in-point with a running bowline it will be anchored at the base to form a trunk belay. The attachment shows a line tied off on a figure eight. I don't like this as the line can slop and tighten and there is a chance of cross loading the hardware. It is the only photo that I have. The standard caving system that is sometimes called the 'frog walker', consists of an upper ascender with footloop, a chest ascender and a foot clamp, but like I say you can set it up in many ways. If you are using an open shelled ascender you MUST back it up. My Unicender does not need a back-up but the croll is useful for climbing up and around limbs. Single Rope Technique has an obvious advantage for long ascents and I am finding out more and more that using a trunk belay helps alot on awkward and more fragile trees and some would say that this is a contradiction in terms as a trunk belay loads the tie-in-point with up to twice your body weight. With careful forethought it can be used as an advantage though, like I tried to explain in my first post.

My Unicender, that I use for single line work positioning, was in America so I was back to work positioning on a doubled rope system. For nostalgia I decided to access my tree off ladders and then advance limb to limb up to my tie-in-point. The tree was a mature English oak with a squat and wide-ish form and it needed to be crown reduced by 20%. The climb up was great. I got to stand in the lovely and massive bole for a minute or so while I advanced my climbing system. I did a couple of limb roll-overs. I scored with a longish advancement when throwing my ‘handbag’. This tree needed two ropes or a decent doubled rope re-direct (which I do not have). I only carried one rope that day and so on the second half of the tree I decided to remove my tie-in-point and place it closer to me as I was flatlining over a considerable span. My new tie-in-point began to give me the heebies as it was on a longish diagonal and I balked from one section of a limb walk in the upper crown. It is the first time that I had to have a polesaw sent up to me. My pride was hurt. I needed extra climbing equipment. Doubled rope climbers do it the hard way I thought. Two days ago I had to crown reduce a mature Ash that had become unbalanced on one side and had regressed on the main leader. I had my Unicender back and my climb was very different. Like the second tie-in-point on the Oak I had to use a diagonal limb for my tie-in-point. For those who do not use a throw line or single line access I will run through the set-up Throw line to tie-in-point and rope pulled through. Rope anchored below, I decided to use a nearby tree at a 45 degree angle and against the lean of my tie-in-point. I then accessed the canopy and set a webbing sling and threeway krab on a second tie-in-point lower than the first as a back-up to the initial point. This set-up made me feel secure on those higher limb walks. It is very lightweight in terms of gear. The uniceder has built in descending mode. When I needed to climb over to the lower central portion I decided to get my groundie to hold fast the tail of my climb line and I speedlined myself straight there right over the masses of ivy that was creeping up, set another webbing sling and finished off the second part of the tree. The job was was finished safely and early and I rejoiced back at the yard about single line work positioning to cries of “yeah yeah … whatevah”.

With the rain thrumming down on this glum night in essex I am beginning to feel slightly jealous after seeing your great pictures DrewB. Have you tried the arm-rocket launchers yet (catapults)? NewTribe sell little throw bags to go on the mono-filiment and they are cool. More gadgets, more trees, MORE FUN!

I'll call them first thing tomorra.

yup, jools n gordon.

Its a link to the treehouse.....enjoy.....I think its pretty damn dreamy nice one J. Jason Gairn - Page 2 - The #1 HARDCORE arborist forum, bar, and grill - Enjoy the buffet and libations!

Helical is the best hitch, never strangles beyond the force of humanity and always bites, I love it.

They don't work when it rains. The strap is great and robust but the googles aint the comfiest things you'll ever wear. I give em 5 / 10.

It was for the Mayors annual charity event so all council paper trails were obliterated! I hold public and products liability. It has been a fairly slow road, non-profitable and very rewarding.

Thanks for the kind words. It is a different world to contracting for sure, I trained with Tree Climbers International this spring. There are a couple more companies doing this...I guess it will grow.

This is Marc rigging Lee. We had to make sure that Lee's body did not 'fall away' as he came out of his chair as his muscles were fully accustomed. The chap in the blue shirt is Simon and we learnt that autistic people like to be high up. There was no communication but his ma sensitively guided us through the hoist.

Last Saturday I ran a recreational climbing event for a local charity with the help of Marc, Phillip, Jason and Guns. This is a little shout out for those guys as they gave incredible support, hard work and good vibes. Thank you. We run systems for all ages and abilities, even the disabled. Tom, Lee and Ben braved it into the big oak canopy and all remerked at how the normal leaden feeling in their legs disappered as they were hoisted up. Thanks everyone, it was a day to remember!!

Phenom, this is facetious, I don't mean to derail a great thread, but this mime thing struck me as funny today. How To Knock The Top Out Of A Tree. [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qOtrji1t5oM]YouTube - Tips for Beginners[/ame]

As I often climb off a trunk belay I have used it on a stem too. Rescuer need only to cut my strop and away I go. There are a million and one ways to choke a stem it seems. I dont know about the crash and burn that Tim Craig spoke about, it's not a bleedin aluminium pole, although I have a different perspective (perhaps) being a soley single line climber.

Who is your friend Gibbon?