Dilz

thats a point, what is the life expectancy of the RW? are there any parts that will need replacing?

looks nice and slippery

SOLD!!! will have to wait a bit as i just forked out for lots of other shiny gear, though may wait to see if it gets over to the uk to save on import

its illegal to smoke weed, you are out in the public, with customers, contractors etc. every one likes to chill out and has their vices but on the job, na why? is your life so crap you have cant wait till 6pm to blur reality? I dont drink at work, i dont smoke at work, what i do out of work is irrelevant as long as i turn up the next day and i'm in a fit for fight condition.

gimmie gimmie gimmie!!! what a toy! can think of pleanty of jobs where that would have saved, time and my back!

i was going to say why not a mewp? though i would have climbed it, a circle is a strong shape, a pipe is strong, there is some expriment you can do by laying out loads of bog roll inner tubes and standing on them..... good that you didnt need to shock the tree with any rigging, but then again a good groundsman would have prevented that. if there were obvious signs of root heave i would have been a bit twitchy though.

my mate is more a rope access guy than tree bloke but he does do tree climbing, albeit with far too much equipment and over complicated systems. Hes a level 3 tech years of rope experience, has taught me a few tricks about ropes and i him about trees, if he thinks its safet to use then i for something outside of tree work i will take his word on it, regulations where made to be flexed a little.....

hmmmm....its cheaper than a spiderjack.......i'm tempted, going to show it a rope access nut who cant resist shiny new toys, will get him to buy one and then try it out i know a couple of trees i have done recently that this would have been perfect for.

oh yeah... can see how that works......so again how much do these toys cost?

will have a play with the technique myself, but i'll probably use a mailon. though for balancing i aml found of having a seperate rope with a prussik in the middle

i'd also like to see someone carry out a full reduction on a big oak or some such jus to see how they work it using this system.

all food for thought, would it work with a device such as the lock jack? i can see it having its advantages, how much do these bits of kit cost?

but what about anchor point advancement?? surely if the rope is tied off at the bottom of the tree its going to be a right pain having pull all the rope up and through the wrench out from the crotch, and then reinstall in the right place.

i dont use SRT so dont understand what it does...... hows is it different from just using a knot or is it designed to jam if your knot fails? also good for ascents, but i looked at some vids, surley if you havent reached your final anchor point with your throw line and access line then DRT is the way to go once you are in the canopy. Please feel free to enlighten me.

how do they compare to the TM?

where can i find out about the level 4??

using fishing weights to restore the weight stitch the bag up or i prefer to wrap the whole thing in electricians tape. wrap it till its solid.

I completed a ND in forestry and arb over 5 years ago, i got the highest grade you could get and felt very proud, recently i have realized that i have forgotten much, especially the last two years which has seen me mostly doing rail clearance and thus not using my tree knowledge etc, something i noticed alot on a visit to local arboretum today. Though my climbing skills have peaked it has been at a price, now i wish to get back into being a tree head as it were. I'm considering the ISA cert arb, as a refresher as its a lower level than my ND but will cover all the basic biology, brush me up on my learning skills as well as give me a recognised certificate and a funky sticker for my helmet.... I am also looking at the OU to start some distance learning towards a degree of some description though this would be a very long process, I dont wish to go back into full time education just yet, so distance learning is key, or short courses. What courses are out there that would be a good next step up from bothe the ISA cert and my ND? I'm not 100% sure where i want to take this only that i have yet to achieve my full learning potential and that i was noted for having a keen sense for the ecology side of things, and that the brain is a muscle like anything else and mine is currently flabby and wheezing by the time it reaches the top of the stairs. Any help and advice much appreciated

in the famous words of bills hicks ...we just lost a moron lets celevrate, i just felt the world get lighter! seriously before anyone moans, there are cases where some people, who dont work in arb full time, i recall a story about a bloke who worked for the environmental agency had a climbing ticket and saw tickets, hadn't climbed in two years, his boss said, you can fix that willow get your old and unchecked kit on and low and behold bad things happened to him. I recall with the IPAF you get a booklet, keep a record of your MEWP usage and if you have done enough hours you dont need a refresher. I think companies should do in house refreshing, keep a log of these sessions, If some one isnt deemed up to scratch then the company should note this and then send that person or persons on a outside refresher course. I agree areial rescue should be practised at least once every 6 months, Maybe one solution would be once every six months an outside assessor comes in you pay£40 a person minimum of two do a rescue scenario and then the assessor can decided weather or not you should go on a course, at the catch is that assessor isnt allowed to have anything to do with your refresher afterwards to prevent any bias in his decision..... as for felling.... how many people have to refresh their driving licence eh? people die in cars every year, plenty of people with bad habits, and many who should have their licence ripped up. but asny whoo i think an initial assement prior to a refresher is a workable, and more affordable option. we cant raise prices to cover such an expense, as there is a) lots of competition from other firms, and b) we have to deal with the gypo, have a go hero bloke with a chainsaw down the pub element. Why isnt the industry licensed properly? i'd pay a hundred quid to send in copies of my basic certs, inurance to have a thing saying i was approved by the government to carry out tree work...but thats for a different thread.......

i had the same thing with my new haix.....it stopped after a month of use though...or i'm just not tasty

fungus you sure know your stuff! signed up and looking forward to this. great stuff

who do i see to get the contract??? in all seriousness thats going to have quite an impact.

thats what i thought scott, a mixture of compaction, a suprisingly dry spring (in stockholm) and there have been two hard winters over here, on the plus side the customer doesn't have to wait till he can burn it in his sauna.... thanks for the feedback

took down a birch two days ago, apparently the owner said it had looked a little off by the end of last summer, its leaves dropping early, then in spring it attempted to put out some leaves but gave up. When i climbed the tree there wasnt an single drop of sap in it, it was dry as a bone. The client asked me what did i think it was.... There were no wounds, no fungal activity, some slight discolouration of the heart wood at the base, but nothing to raise suspicions. I told the owner that it was probably the roots, as the soil was compacted and it looked like there had been some building work, landscaping done very close to the tree... he couldnt say as he only moved in two years ago but said nothing had been done since he had moved in. It also looked like some turfy had been laid, and the soil level raised. I'm fairly confident in my diagnosis that the cause was a mixture of compaction, level change and possible root damage causing the tree to burn up its reserves over a couple of years and then finally give up. I guess what i'm looking for is if anyone knows any other biological factors that could have caused the tree to die whilst displaying no real evidence which i may have over looked. Sorry no decent photos of the tree or surroundings, only a couple of me climbing which dont really show much apart form its dead..... Any help will be much appreciated

can also be used to by pass a weak point in the line, i.e if your rope has small cut in it then you tie the knot with that cut in the loop as any pulling forces on the rope now by pass the loop, thus meaning you can get the job finished. also good for a foot loop, the mechanical adavntage is great wit hthe alpine but an IRATA tech said to me it can weaken the overall strength of the rope