Dilz

still cheaper than Sweden.

i think thats an international phenomenon. Worked for a council, they pay graded climbers the same as those who sat on mowers - because its parks maintenance, and lads back in my home stomping grounds climb employed for whats around $12-15 NZ per hour and they are half decent to say the least. I'm happy with what im being offered, not as much as earn in Sweden but Scandinavian winters are really getting to me. and its my last chance to get on the WHS visa so its time to get that bucket ticked off the list. I leave in one week, going to catch up with relatives for the first month and try do some surfing before working in Auckland. I just hope the beer is cheaper than Sweden, coz climbing gear aint!!

all my sets of spikes have come with a guide for filing them. I generaly dont use them as they get lost after a week. i use a large flat file but it depends on what sort of gaffs you have, on my bashlins i just do strokes on the underside heading away from the bar, do it even left and right. Some folks like i really nice point so they dont have to kick so hard (my knees agree with this) but others prefer a slightly rounded point, you can gaff out a bit more but you dont get stuck and can make moving up and down a lot quicker i sharpened a guys spike he lent me and he went ape as he had quite an aggressive climbing style so booted the tree really hard to get his gaffs in which meant they kept getting stuck after i had sharpened them. Its important to get the angle right on the tips as i find this makes the difference between sitting comfy or slipping out alot I use Bashlins with the twisted shank, steel and heavy but its what they had and i need the twisted shank to take the pressure of my knackered feet (Plantar fasciitis)I highly recommend the twisted shanks, velcro shin pads, leather ankle straps. Carbon fibre spikes are ok nice and light but they arent up to abuse.

well in case anyone else was wondering i found this Arborist,

how are the airstreams for fit? im a size 11.5 for most boots and it looks like no one stocks saw boots in that size (EU46.5) but people have told me to go up in a size if i get the airstreams. but do people reckon i will find a 12 too tight? i know i should go a try some on, but im in sweden, and fly to nz in two weeks. i've just weighed my haix pps and they weigh in at 2kg each!

hello! wondering if anyone has any info on the going hourly rate for a employed climber in Auckland NZ. im heading over there in a couple of weeks, and have an offer of work but want to make sure i'm not getting mugged off. i got fists fulls of tickets and be doing this long enough to know better. cheers.

i live in sweden and have to ask what on earth is a squeezy yoghurt???

i need a new retrieval ball as mine cracked in half. its for the thimble saver anyone know what size mm this is, and where i can get one. ta

also need a new kit bag for dragging my stuff on flights, had a gelert in the past... fine till the zips bust.

its that time, my haix pp's are disintegrating.... wondering what feedback folk have on the other boots out there before i order a new pair....in a mind to try something a bit lighter.

scariest climbs....probably some of my earliest / not really the most dangerous trees but the ones where i was well out of my comfort zone. I recall taking the top of a 110ft pop, cocked it up and it rattled me on the way down #slashcuts. It smacked me pritty good and i looked at my hands and through the new holes on my gloves all i could see was blood....thought i'd busted my hand up real good..... (funny thing is i did the same thing about 2 years later....#slashcutsyouwillneverlearn) Other one where I thought i was in real going to get killed trouble...big frozen oak, stem split in two about 10 meters up (not a split in the trunk but the crown broke) felled out one half, stropped into the second stem and gobbed it and did my back cut - it had too much forward weight and ripped the stem in half pulling me onto the top of the stump, luckily my vt on my strop was frozen up and it ended up not holding and it ran out. My famous last words would have been 'Oh B*****D' A completely ripped to pieces pop over live rail lines had me giggling like a maniac it was so stupid, probably one of the most knackered trees i've ever done and it was being climbed in a snow storm and i was wearing a t-shirt and had the onset of hypothermia by the time id finished. But i wouldnt say i was scared...more crazed....

Would any company in NZ consider paying into a UK company? - that way i can write the flights and things off against me tax bill

hello! any one got any feedback on the company TreeKing in Auckland?

what are the rates out there? and what kit would a climber have to bring with them? or what would be advised to bring?

contacted stihl via email but they havent replied

Im in Sweden - but my mate Little John is Stafford area ish (or some place not quite Brum) - He's really keen but not a member of arbtalk so i'm more asking on his behalf - hes a big chap and i reckon he'd be good at it. And if you know any folk/ contacts in Sweden / Denmark that would be cool as well.

Any one know any one to get in touch with about getting into the timber sports? Axe racing?

when i first came over to sweden i was on £20 an hour and thought it was the tits as it as double what i was on in the uk - i had all my kit provided and digs (of a sort actually they were rather gash) and the use of company van, phone etc. Once i stopped getting pissed all the time i started saving money. Self employed over here you need to charge a minimum of 400sek and hour to company but now there are so many desperate climbers that has been pushed as low as 320 which yeah sounds alot but the work season is retarded - work usually starts to come in around March but you may as well right of July and most of August as every one is on holiday, then you work Sep to novemberish and then your lucky to get much till next spring, and if you are legit you are as well as halving anything you earn as it goes to the tax man. Now as employed with all the perks of a reqgular contract (if you get one now they offer an hours as required contracts) you get sick pay after 6 months holiday pay and kit provided etc. but then even in stockholm you will be hard pressed to be on much more tha 160sek - guys i know are employed on 145 an hour - so yeah you still earn a bit more than in the uk but it isnt a cheep country. I do alright but then i've been lucky, and i live a relatively modes life style - i rarely go out on the piss proper and have no need to show off by buying fancy crap i dont need - instead during quite times i bugger off to some place cheep and get 6 months worth of drinking done - cheep flights to poland anyone??? There are more and more swedish wannabees and pleanty of young uk chaps trying to get out here but work is competative and often hard to find out side of the bigger cities, it helps if you have other skills so you can do more than one thing as myself and some other long termers i know out here have already reached to conclusion that it would be folly to rely purely on tree work to get you buy - though folk do manage it and have been very successful out here. But if you are young and single with out a mortgage then dont worry too much about the pennies you earn, get over here for the experience. If people have a strong work ethic matched with ability then evetually they land on their feet - or so i can say from my own experiences.

cut off limit for climbing for me is -27C but been out in - 39C - tis grim - yeah you can get 30 + an hour but its rare and hard - starting rate for a trial in with some of the bigger firms is about 150 sek so 14£ an hour - take into account a pint is ofet £7 - a casual few is £50 - and a saturday night is more the £200 so its all relative - get out here - live like i saint then go to portugal and live like king!!

i thing you get to keep what you pick up as payment - stuff it in your sleeping bag to keep you warm whilst chewing on the undigested fish bones. All the brain and body needs.

height is no probelm its what you are on thats the issue - i can feel comfortable at 100ft plus if im on something solid. but be half that and be having a twitchy bum if my only real working anchor point is sketchy. I here ya all on the wobbly tooth pick once the top is off. But there is being a bit nervous and being scared witless, a bit of fear keeps you in check. - but always remember the ground will stop you if you fall and if you dont kill your self doing something stupid, old age will.

wood wasp - had a bloke crap his pants when one flew in the truck - harmless to humans

the technical extreems are a mint work trouser i loved my last pair - though i went for the SIP innovation 2 this time round, in my mind the Tech extreems beat them on weight and manoeuvrability and i really liked the velcro waist bands meaning i didnt need to wear braces or a belt. I have to wear a belt with the SIPs they are heavier and a bit more restrictive and not as cool or water proof - but they are a hell of a lot cheaper. I found the pockets of the Tech extreems bust after too short a time but really liked the knee pads. I think if i were to buy another pair i would probably choose the Tech extreems over the SIP's tough it is still early days (only been out in em a couple of weeks) but then i'd have to stop being such a penny pinching sod.

or if you want the snow - you can get work up in lapland over winter picking up dog poop for the sled teams.

winter is crap - little work, no light - bloody cold - good skiing though - might get work shoveling snow from a roof. But get in touch with the firms so they have your name for when work would pick up - Dont expect great money, alot of firms now will pay a you a little more than in the uk but you could earn more if your good in the uk - prices of uk climbers can be as low as 140sek an hour - which may sound a bit to some but cost of living is high - if you are good and get in with the right people and supply kit you can earn a lot better. But it takes time and luck - ive been out here for 4 years in September so i know a bit and the market is getting tougher and tougher so prices are getting lower. but there is always work for the willing and able.