Taupotreeman

Had my airstreams around 3 years now. Waxed em twice and they're still waterproof, still comfy, nice and warm in winter and the sole is still fine. Definately the dogs danglies.

Using a set of Carbon Geckos now. Super light after my steel buckinghams. Straps are a little fiddly to get tight but any way i can lighten my load up the tree has to help. I think the buckingham alis were even more expensive though.

David, the footpath is solid concrete. I'll get some photos when I remember. Hama, cheers for the idea. I'm not to crash hot on the root thing I'm afraid. It's definately something I can put forward though and not having to replace the concrete every few years should win some browny points cost wise. Just wonder if we get any little gits knicking them.

I think I'm correct in saying that the Mujahedeen aren't actually fighting against the allied troops as such. I think that various tribes have split into factions, some of which fight with or harbour the Taliban, some fight or side with the Allies and some just don't care. It's all a little more complicated than simply saying that the Mujahadeen are fighting against "us". Sometimes I wonder if there's any point in pile driving into some of these countries and trying to change an ingrained mind set. Terrorism is a whole different beast to your stereotypical warfare.

Sorry mate, probably hard to hear but your man caused the wall to fail so it's up to you to put it right. Regardless of whther the wall was manky in the first place it WAS standing. As part of the hazard ID it should have been pointed out that the wall was at tipping point. You'll just have to suck it up and wear the cost.

I also climb on a hitch climber with VT which I find better than the last hitch I used with it(the standard one that came with the instructions). It can be unerving waiting for the hitch to bite though, especially if you haven't dressed it properly or it's loosened itself on decent ascent. I also got shown how to double up the rope through a roller carabina which makes things a heap easier hauling my backside up a tree. Now I've been looking at the spiderjack and lockjack but opinions seem to be varied as to their efficiency. Got talking yesterday on a job with a guy I worked with donkey's years ago. We couldn't believe how far advanced the gear had become from when we used to issue the guys with 3 strand climbing line and a 3 strand prussic that you could never undo once it had tightened up in the rain. Hip thrusting up a tree on one of those was an experience.

Not a bad idea. We had a similar issue with a large Totara recently that I refuced to allow root pruning on as it was well within the drip line of the tree. The suggestions were that either we put in a floating walkway or we reroute the footpath. The only issue I can see with block paving is the cost and whether Council would be willing to splash out on doing this on the hundreds of trees around the district. In most places the root lift is significant so would block paving be OK for this kind of lifting?

Just some advice needed here guys please. Around my neighbourhood we had a heap of red Oaks, Scarlet Ash, Pin Oak etc planted on the council berms about 40 years ago. The berms themselves are only about 1-2m wide, the oaks are getting on for 0.75 to 1m diameter. In most places the trees are now butt up to the footpath and the roots are lifting the footpaths in many places. Fortunately the trees are not to be removed but past action has been to rip up the fottpath, rip up the roots and then lay down new concrete. Even I know this isn't good for the trees but then Council has an obligation to keep the footpaths safe for pedestrians because apparently, in this day and age, people can't use either their eyes or common sense. My question is; how do we solve the issue of lifting footpaths without detrement to the tree? Is it actually possible to root prune this close to the stem? Personally I wouldn't have thought so but I'm looking for the input of those with more experience in these matters. No pictures yet but if you need some examples I can get the easily.

Whereabouts were the Gums Drew?

Photos will go down a storm. Maybe next time you should think about NOT posing in the fire suit....maybe?

Just water. we had about 6 feet of lake shore then it was into the drink. The guy at the bottom doing the training was wearing waders to hook up some of the stuff. We really only had to worry about upsetting the local iwi by dropping stuff in to the lake but safety comes first and the whole lot actually tidied up really good. Just a bit of leaf litter and the odd bit of dead twig. Managed to do several lumps in the one lift as well. we reckon there were about 20 trees with 40 odd lifts which took around 6 hours. This included all the training as all of us on site were new to crane work.

Poor old Laurence had to get his waders on. It's those cheap boots the scape buy. Tried to talk him into Meindles cos his feet were frozen. Pity we didn't do it a couple of days before because the weather was crash hot.

Not sure if you can make it out in the photos but the Gums were on the edge of and down a sheer pumice cliff. The drop to the bottom was between 20 and 50 feet. Pumice is not very good at holding and they had one large Gum that just fell over into the lake. No wind, no warning. That's one of the reasons why the tops were dropped into the lake. We weren't keen to risk anyone up the tree with all the movement going on breaking out the tops. The guys spent a day with an EPV or MEWP, plucking out the side and then dropping the tops. The stems were then all taken out by direct lift.

Few more.

Drew, not sure that fire suit is really your look awesome photos though. Looks hotter than hell.

As we still haven't quite got the arb unit set up for council, and as this job was too big forme and just one other guy to tackle we called in the contractors. The job was to remove some decent sized gums of the bank along with weed species from down the bottom on the lake shore. The job also ended up being a training day for not just the contractors but for me as well. 41 and my first crane job. was well chuffed to get a play and might even see if I can do a bit more sometime with these same guys.

Sorry guys, didn't mean to send this thread off on a tangent and I sure as heck didn't want to get this old argument up and running again. It was more in jest. I'm of the belief you carry on climbing until you don't want to anymore. If you can't cut it in the commercial world you can always do a bit here and bit there to get your thrills, even if you're 60. Anyway, whose the oldest person to climb everest and how old were they? You stop when the body, mind or both give up.

Can I rub salt in the wounds by telling you that my insurance for a V8 Disco, fully comp, any driver, is less than half that price for the year.

"I'm far too old and knackered to be on the tools these days" I got told once that you're only as old as the woman you feel (at least in my case) so I'm younger than I actually am I'm 41 and still climbing, in a fashion. Hope you're not stereotyping against us older climbers there Janey. You wouldn't be applying that we're past it once we hit 35 surely?

Not sure Drew. Had a look around at the field days because someone told me it was good for bargains. What an absolute rip off that was. Reckon I might try the army surplus up on K road or one of the uK surplus stores. Will have to try swazi. Apparently the guy was in at the wife's place the other day. Shoulda got her to ask him.

Sorry Bro, I'm a skinflint at heart. I just wait for Taupo District Council to buy mine though to be fair I have been on the look out for a decent waterproof for when I take off up the mountains. Kathmandu had a 60% off sale the other day but I've heard a few things about the quality of some of the gear. I'm liking the sound of some of this ex military stuff though.

Don't think I'd be too keen on using one of those for work at that price Drew.

Ginja, if that post and, more to the point, way of thinking, doesn't inspire more women to get into the industry I don't know what will. Nice to see someone with the balls, gumption and attitude to just go and do it.

Bunch of saddos

For goodness sake, go out and enjoy what's left of your life. Fine, if you enjoy it now and the money won't get spent, divvy it up among charities or whatever but don't give me this rubbish about maybe a new car. With 160m quid? Really? OK, I'm annoyed again now.