Will Hinchliffe

Is there a new yale rope for lowering that is more dynamic allowing you to snatch bigger peices with more confidance ? I think Its in there new catalouge. We use 14 and 16 mm double esterlon and a double brade 13mm lowering rope that I think is a marlow. I have no experiance with portland braid.

Cool well done. I passed mine yesterday.

I think thats called the merrist wood ring method. I have tried it but didnt like it. Try out ditching the little white prussik and clipping the blue crab into the eye of your rope. Try this with the eye and the prussik both clipped to the same crab. I used to do this but with a blakes hitch instead of a prussik and quite liked it.

We use whoopie slings girth hitched to the capstan. I would prefer to attach it with a split tale. Dont use a caribeaner to attach the capstan to the sling its crap.

Nice photos Rich. I reckon your at about the limit of that ISC capstan with the last piece. One of the first times I did any rigging I took off a big lump and there was some slack in the rigging system. The capstan crumpled at the top and trapped the lowering rope. It took ages to take the weight off the capstan and finally get it to the ground. I ended up cutting a lump from the suspended peice to make it easier to lift. . It was my fault really but im no longer a fan of that capstain.

Well amended B101uk:thumbup1:

Nice Jamie. Wicked diagram:thumbup1:

That sounds horrible. Hope you recover quickly.

Looks good for the right jobs. Do the wheels drive ?

By pole they mean a utility pole.

Perfectly legal as long as the tree has no legal protection.

Not 100% about the top 2 Bottom one is Piptoporus betulinus You shouldn't really collect brackets from fungi. As they decay they provide habitat for lots of different insects. Some Fungi are home to rare insects. I hope I dont sound to nannyish. I used to collect brackets all the time.

It may be that only a portion of the root system need be decayed to result in windblow on certain trees. Its all a bit irrelevant anyway. If the tree stands next to a busy road. You should take action when the fungi is discovered. It would be negligent to say that you saw the fungi but there was no die back in the crown so the tree was safe.

Thats a slightly different statement to your earlier one. I offer this up as some kind of an explanation: Crowns can show little or know die back because the crown can survive on the stored starches in the tree (see Drew B's "how can this survive thread"). The remaining root system although only a fraction of the size of a healthy root system may be able to provide enough water to the crown. The roots are not directly linked to individual branches and water may pass transversely between xylem vessels allowing a fragmented root system to supply a whole crown. The crown survives but with low vigour.

Why dont you work for someone and build up your skills before freelancing. If a company is paying you as a freelance climber they are not going to expect you to turn up and learn on the job.

http://arbtalk.co.uk/forum/tree-health-care/3877-collybia-fusipes.html If you scroll down there is a picture of some root matereal I believed to have been decayed by Collybia

I think you are correct I also have seen it degrade the outside first. Scrap the last bit from my post. Im just making it up.

Geek:001_tt2:

Transverse flow between xylem vessels allow small strips of living root to supply the whole tree with enough nutrients to survive without showing signs of die back. The tree is existing but running down starch reserves and probably not putting on much growth. The lack of vigour or energy reserves in instances like this probably reduces the trees ability to put on compensation growth. It is probably mostly the Static mass of the root system that is being degraded first. This is not involved in keeping the tree alive but plays some role in supporting the tree.

T arryan Your photos are really nice. The fungi with the moss on is Pseudotrametes gibbosa Im going to be a smart arse now and say its not moss but an algae that grows among the surface hairs and is quite a good way to recognise this mushroom

I have seen a huge oak with a full crown with Collybia fussipies. It was identified in a survey by my boss as a hazardous tree. It blew over within 6 months. The roots were severely decayed. Just before Christmas we cleared up an oak that had blown over into another tree this one was only 50cm dbh. It had failed due to root decay. Collybia fusipies fruiting bodies were present. There was no die back in the crown. The decay caused by Collybia fussipies on Red Oak is not well documented and no assumptions can be made as to the extent of the decay without investigation. Im not saying that all trees with Collybia fruiting bodies present should be felled but if noted by a professional the future of the tree must be carefully considered. Consideration of potential targets and liabilitys in the event of a failure may leave felling as the best option. Also the on going cost of continual root excavation or decay detection often results in the decision to fell. Reduction of the sail area of a tree with root decay fungi may allow it to stand for longer but is likely to result in further dysfunction and decay in the roots. I wouldn't be to quick to condemn the decision of the tree owner to remove the tree or to brand the contractor a money hungry ecovillan. Trees get taken down for much sillier reasons than this.

The blakes doesnt spread the friction very evenly and places it mostly on one section of the hitch. I would advise you are very carefull if you are descending using a 8mm blakes on a 13mm rope.

Get some spikes and leave a fatter hinge.

You should have driven her to the cash machine:lol:

Thats cool drew. You could also use it to walk a dog or skip with. If I could splice I would make myself a 4m lanyard from velocity with a back splice as a stopper knot, a tight eye for a DMM sentinal, and an end for end splice about 50cm from the first eye. THis would allow me to clip the lanyard back on its self for single line use without having to tie a knot or have a little prussik. It would cost a fortune to get someone to do it and might just be rubbish.