Grais

A slack tending pulley is not a luxury, its a neccesity. Theres no point learmning the old hard way, if hes never going to actually climb the old hard way, being as he is into rec climbign, I doubt he be learning the old way. Rec climbing and work climbing are two very different things, but I would say the average rec climber now has a better gasp of basic rope techniques than a lot of 'work' climbers. Id find one of these kind lads who live near bye and can help you determine the system you will learn to climb on, and maybe it will be the 'old hard way', but it doesnt have too, there are many ways to skin the tree climbing cat. Good luck,.

I think its all in how you use it, as shown, I dont think Mike is backed up, but for work climbing anyone with half a brain would be backed up by a prussic, a'la footlocking, no ? It is damn fast no denying that, I think theres something there actually, for them super long ascents into the canopy I never get too do...lol.

Lol.....ya think... I honestly think a big plastic, make that hollow plastic box on the side of my harness would last a day or two in the tree, forget the truck. How many times is the sidewinder going too take my 200 pounds slamming up against it ? I use things that I think are BOMBER, if it does not say bomber to me, it dont go up tree, period. To some the Sidewinder may be plenty bomber, we have differnt opinions, that is OK I hope. Maybe if they made it out of steel??? Truth is I have never really seen a need for a way to quickly stow my lanyard, save for a ditty bag to stuff it, and thats more for on the ground. Up in a tree, to flick 15 ft of lanyard out of my way take me 3-5 seconds ? I guess it just does not fit my climbing style, I use my lanyards, well the one is used like a short climbing line, throw line in one, the other usually a steel core. I will throw the lanyard/line up the tree to advance my TIP, using the rope clip on the end as the throw weight, in a good tree I can advance it ten feet no prob, having to constantly pay out slack to make the toss would be a lot slower and more tedious. I am glad people find the sidwinder useful, Im guessing thats why P.C. has started selling them, but its just not for me I guess.

I would not be surprised if in a short bit the tree gets pollarded, if it was me and I was paying said landscaper to do the job, Id be pissed when I got home and the tree was still standing there in the drive ? Wouldnt you ? The right thing to do for the tree was actually pollarding IMO, its a piece of crap, pollard it down, and at least its a smaller piece of crap. I have no problem with the thinning, the work you did was fine work, just the attitude of I know better then the customer what they want. Thats a poor attitiude and one I see shared by a boat load of climbers, or arborists(sorry). There are cases of the customer wanting the wrong thing, it happens, but this was not one of them.

ummmmm, I dont get what yer saying. If you consider removals brainless work, maybe your in the wrong industry. As is, soon youll be injured with an attitude like that. The customer wanted the tree pollarded like it was the last time. You thought you had a better idea, and you wasteed a bunch of time trying to get a sickly tree to look like a sickly tree, perhaps next time youll have learned from this and possibly give the customer what they asked for, a pollarded tree. Think before you pull the trigger.

If you want to try a poormans version, a stowable lanyard I guess you would call it... a large ditty sak(I like the Buckingham one with elastic top) will take 15 feet of whatever lanyard you like. Not as convenient as the Sidewinder but a whole lot tougher, and faster than a DC. I like the idea of the SW, but for myself I know it would get broken. Not by climbing mind you, space is always at a premium on the trucks and that means climbing gear frequently gets crushed, that would be my prime concern. Kids have no respect for other peoples stuff...lol. My own truck where the saddle always hung in a safe place no problem, Im sold.

I work utility in Canada, you must be secured with two tie in pointss, unless you are secured with single wire core lanyard ? I would guess that is why a lot of guys use one here. I use a WC and a regular prussic set up on a 15 ft piece off XTC as a secondary. As far as non conductive lanyards go, if the tree is close enough to me that I can contact it with my lanyard, generally, it is going to be cold. To worry about non conductive lanyards is counter intuitive when limits of approach must be maintained. Years ago, before someone actually thought it through, they tried the non conductive lines and lanyards thing, but someone realised the dangerous cycle they were setting into motion sending climbers into trees thinking they were essentially insulated from harm, so know we treat everything as if it is conductive whether it is or not. We dont climb hot trees. Period. Its too easy to get the powere switched off for an hour or two while the tree is dealt with. Used to be you could trim a hot tree out of the bucket, even that is a nono now

Take a 10 OZ throwpod(or whatever the freaking thing weighs I no recall) and a ten oz bag, shoot them with the same power, the bag isnt going to fly as high, its a soft object, the solid object would, or should outfly it. Take two solid objects, one being the throwpod, and another a square weighing the same and shoot them straight up with a Bigshot, do that twenty or thirty times, that is one way to tell which flies higher, everything else is just theorizing. In that test IMHO think the difference would be negligible, but only one way to be really sure, and that is do it. Generally a solid object will outly a soft one, there is another sales point for your Throwpod Marcus, no charge for that one, its a freebie. Whats not theorizing is the price,80.00, IMO, is ridonculous and I would not pay half that for it, you can crunch the numbers how ever you like, justify it however you like, for a ten cent piece of plastic a bit of rubbery stuff and an eye hook its overpriced. I think throwbags are overpriced, youll never convince me the throwpod isnt, so stop trying, if you need more convincing yourself by all means go ahead. Id would sooner make four or five of my own than pay that, ohh wait I already did that. Grace. PS: you guys, I laugh hard, is that the best you can do ? If so, dats pretty soft....lol.

I seriously dont see the confusion, are you guys working with peoiple who are fully brain dead or what. Why does it have to change from what it is now, are people dying or so confused they are frozen in fear and unable to work ? No they are not. It really seems some people just like to discuss meaningless ****, like they are a mover and a shaker in the tree climbing world....lol, so they make threads like this to discuss minutia and beat it into the ground until it is seriously dead. It has been going on for months, longer, years, theres threads at every arbo forum , probably all started by the same guy but your still at the ummmmm what should we call it stage....what should we call SRT....... well how about SRT, I mean it makes sense no, Single Rope Technique. These abbreviations matter to so very few, they will not all of the sudden enlighten all through a new and better abbreviation so why bother, it is what it is and it works just fine. Talk about trying to confuse an issue.

nice one.

Spikes are spikes. So long as the pad provides enough support and is comfy to you. Most modern climbing spurs will fulfilll your needs. Ive personaly used Buckingham(several varieties), Kliens(same), and alloy Bashlins. The Distels look great if a little pricey to source over here ? Best I found for reasonable affordability is Buckinghams with the steel wrap 4" velcro, angled shank. Downside of the velcro pads is they will eventualy lose their 'stiffness, and ater couple years of solid use they just dont hold like they do when they are new. If your not a full time production climber, just using them for occasional take downs you can get away with non replaceable buckinghams. Unless your walking over a whole lot of rocky terrain you will never need to replace the actual gaffs. If you treat the spike well, use covers when and if walking in them, they will last a really, realy long time. Ive never known anyone to replace a set, Im sure theere are plentty of guys who need too, but not us... I have a spare set of klein tree gaffs and old logger gave me a couple years ago, happened to be running Kleins at the time, we were climbing trees in the ROW behind his house, as I was walking out he came out for a chat, and handed me a set of klein long spikes, asked if I could use em, damndest thing lol. But so far the spike just doesnt need to be replaced. I carry my spurs to the base of most trees, can ony walk in them if it is safe, that usually means terrain that is easy ib the spurs id I leave them on getting to the next tree, very common on a ROW. Im not one to file my spurs every couple of trees, see above...as long as the edge is still there, and I dont have to pound the spike in, I'm good. Treated well that edge will last a good while, file slow and steady, trying to keep the steel as cool as possible,a cold filed edge lasts longer ! Good luck with your new spurs, Im sure the Distel will be da bomb.

AS much as Im sure Teufleburger would like us all to follow your shining example, I just do not see it. You can split C hairs, and then you can 'split C hairs'. Ill leave you to it. Its not like they are talking about replacing the bridge with some worn out piece of rope they found in the ditch. Do our manufacturer strength ratings mean that little ? As for the beer and pot,....just simply... no !

You using a hitch cord that is very close in size to the climbing line, that and the fact they are both brand new, that adds up to slippery hitches. As far as the eye to eye....I forgot it was Tuttle, he is still a member at TreeBuzz, and the Treehouse, he can be contacted there if you like I am sure he will answer any questions you have. Splices that are 'rated' havent been individually tested, they have been spliced by a splicer who has had splices tested previously no ? And is therefore a rated splicer ? So if he happens to have had a bad day when he spliced your E2E, even though it is 'rated' you might still be SOL. Just saying. Basically if you are going to climb on splices, you need to learn how to tell a good splice from a bad splice. Id advise you buy a rated spliced E2E just so you can compare the two chords that will give you a starting point at least. Good luck bud, and have fun.

Unless of course you sweat so hard that your glasses are constantly soaked and running wet sweat into your eyeys. Sweat mixed with dishsoap, washed inbto the eyes, no thanks Ill pass. Im serious when I wear shades and run saw, its like the shades have a self cleaning system installed I do use the soap and water to wash em up though, helps get that sticky pine and gooey shtuff of em. PS: as for washing the coffee cups, with soap ????? That is a cardinal sin using soap to wash coffee cups. nothing I hate more, having to rinse the soapy taste out of my coffee mug. Me and the missus sorted this out a while ago....lol. Now she just leaves my coffee cups alone and I deal with them myself...lol. At least I dont have to deal with that soapy taste, that drives me batty. Its the little things sometimes that send us over the edge.

So you buy them off Ebay and use them but then some anonomous poster says they are shite and your like oh noes ? Use you heads FFS. If they are Central Services, judging from the work I have seen done by him, and the work he sells on Ebay I would climb on his splices. They look professionally done from what I can tell. I would obvivously conduct a first hand inspection, but If I had to order an Eye to Eye I would try one of those based simply on their appearance, and seeing his/her/their work here on AB before. If you are worried about it ccontact the seller, ask for references to satisfied customers, experience level spliceing etc etc... if you get answers that make you feel good, then go with it, if not, go with an eye to eye from one of the reputable dealers. But me Ive checked out the central-services-user_id, they look good to me,I would trust them.