will.morris

Welcome

Heaps of information on this site mate (you can use the search bar) and it's full of very knowledgeable and helpful people.

You can learn a lot in this industry from the comfort of you own home. Spend time on the sofa getting yourself familiar with knots and arbtalk/YouTube to get a feel for it.

In terms of getting out doing it, do you have access to trees in your garden (I.e with somebody in the house) or could you persuade a friend/family member to perhaps sit in a park/woodland whilst you climb for an hour or 2? I wouldn't have said this for a complete beginner but as you have your ticket I'm guessing that you are at a safe enough level.

Different for everyone so I'd say it's best to try a few first if you can. I've had the Petzl Vertex and the Stein. I prefer the Stein option for what it's worth

I'd rather be inked up and non-judgemental then have no tattoos and be critical of others. A good personality & attitude is surly most important and if you still get judged on the tattoos then that's the employers loss IMO . I'm pretty covered now and the vast majority of comments I receive are positive

Cheers Paul for being such a great host in Durham City, you were essentially my tour guide and I enjoyed seeing the city for the first time. Was great to finally put a face to the name as I've lost count of how many years we've been speaking online but never actually met [emoji23]. Flying back to NZ tomorrow evening but this trip has been awesome and a great insight into what life is really all about - friendships, stories and alcohol [emoji23]. Great to meet you mate and thanks for having me, stay safe [emoji41]

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I work for a company that run a council contract so it makes no odds to me whether the tree stands or ends up as chip . Always feel like saying "on what arboricultural knowledge are you deeming the tree to be dangerous?" ... whereas the reality is they think it's dangerous purely because it's a big tree.

"I'll give you 20 bucks/box of beers if you put my stuff through your machine" - Whilst pointing to a garden full of green waste

"Can you just take the top off"

"Do you have to train to do your job?" Got asked that today, found it quite insulting!

"Can you come and have a look at the tree in my back garden, I started cutting it myself..."

"The tree is dangerous/it's going to fall over/it could kill someone!" .... always have to bite my lip with those people!!

On the subject of excess hi-vis and OTT health and safety at work we were discussing this yesterday (construction company) and the general consensus is that it is getting to the point where people are becoming blind to it for two reasons....

 

a) There is only so much blaze orange, dayglo yellow, beeping reversing alarms etc that the human brain can take and once it becomes the norm it gets tuned out and you don't see it or hear it.

 

They are even fitting operatives with transponders now so it sounds an alarm or disables a machine if they get too near.

 

b) If you have to fight health and safety measures in order to accomplish a job or you are working in discomfort then shortcuts get taken. A 100% safe guard on a machine is one which prevents you from getting anywhere near, let alone using the machine...

 

 

More personal responsibility/common sense is the only cure, but how does one legislate for that?....

Great post

I guess the short answer is that you can't, so companies are forced to have so many policies just to cover their own backsides.

Vests/singlets are fantastic in summer, especially out here where it's very humid. I don't think they are a bad thing at all. You can have the smartest uniform ever but if your site is a mess and your gear is chucked everywhere then that's what makes you look dodgy. Keep brash under control and neatly laid out cones make a site look far more professional instantly imo.

Hi viz clothing I find often makes me overheat so I would personally only wear it on road jobs or larger trees if I called the shots.

don't whistle cheesy pop songs - its infectious

:lol:

The radio in our truck is broken at the moment so we have definately broken this rule a fair amount recently! I see it as educating my mates about Megadeth and the metal scene in general, time to whistle some of Mustaine's classics! Should hopefully get rid of Christina Agremalarraraas "you are beautiful" song from our heads....

Would be very unfair to expect petzl to contact every purchaser of a zigzag 2 IF they did a recall...

In this case I think I would have to disagree Drew. The first ZZ would obviously have gone through a lot of testing and so would the second one, so pre-release Petzl had no more idea of how the ZZ2 would really behave in the real world then they did with the first. So to bring out a mk2, in my opinion Petzl should be in a position where they could contact every single customer should they have to. More work for Petzl obviously, but if you are in the business of manufacturing equipment that people put their lives in and are insistent on making a second version then they should put the extra effort in.

If someone was to get hurt on ZZ2 that they bought with the reassurance that problems had been sorted but they had not been informed of multiple problems then I would find that very slack on Petzl's behalf.

Just have fun mate, don't over think it too much. Don't get sucked into it so much that you lose track of what's going on around you, use it as a learning experience and if you time out or get DQ'd for something just have a laugh about it.

Also never try new gear/set ups for a comp, stick to what you are used to and then play around with different options afterwards!

Have fun and learn

P.s Hope you are doing well David, long time no speak!

Great to hear it mate

Be sure to check out woodhill mountain bike park! Woodhill Mountain Bike Park - Auckland's Homeground for Mountain Biking

It has everything from cruise around all day to full on jumps/technical stuff.

or if you are into bmx racing then this club has a pretty mental track in east auckland!

East City BMX Club

You'll never run out of things to do

I've no doubt the srt brigade will be along shortly to clear things up. I can think of 2 occasions where a colleague has been saved by srt, both anchor point failures in healthy trees (gum and poplar) resulting in a slight fall to the next crotch as opposed to the deck if they'd been on DdRT.

Worser... "It's a lot worser then it was before".

Incorrect pronounciation of the word 'harassment', often by news readers.

"I am the first owner, I brought this car from new"

Sexed up......

Not many but there are a few girls out there. There was 2 girls on my course when i was studying, both finished the 2 years.

To be honest I get more pleasure in chipping the branch that slaps you on the way through, some sick joy comes over me as I'm watching it die. Then I find myself thinking I'm a crazy person cuz I'm talking to myself and giving running commentary as it's being fed in. 'Die b!$?c'

This technique is most used on cold mornings when your knuckles are more sensitive.

J:thumbup1:

....and then it whips you one last time going into the chipper lol, pin oak across the back of the neck as you are trying to step away is a mo fo!

Most prankster branches that decide to sit between my helmet and ear defender normally end up descending to earth.

Depends how old you feel on the day . A fit 60yr old would run rings around an overweight 20yr old so really it's just a question of fitness.

I never bother with spliced eye cord, just buy a length and tie fisherman knots. Far cheaper that way and allows you to try different lengths to find what you prefer - leave the tails long until you are 100% sure before cutting them either with a rope cutter or tape where you want to cut and cut through the middle of the tape with a sharp knife.

Pole sticks! So awkward to use and hard to get a good finishing cut, essential when working around powerlines though to break the contact before you climb.

Only half joking really. If I was looking for a foothold into this industry as the op is id happily cycle 25 miles to work.

 

Though if I did I'd be knackered! I'm fit enough for work. I'm nothing spectacular but I'm not slow either. Being a smoker though, cardio hits me hard.

 

 

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250miles cycling and 40+ hours of tree work in 5 days, for that to be realistic i'd say have a shot at the olympics

Let's take a second to appreciate just how much time and effort that these judges/officials put in for these events to happen. I was spectating on the day but have climbed in several of these comps before and they've always been run brilliantly and been a fantastic day with atmosphere and good company. I hope the op has already put his name forward to help out with the next one :

Nice work mate . Often they are not the most comfortable of climbs but you sought advice, listened and went and pushed yourself out of your comfort zone with a good result - well done .

Vt is temperamental if your cord Iis to long.

 

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I second this. The reliability of a hitch often depends on how long it is and how many wraps it has. A vt 1m long with 6 wraps and 6 crosses won't move, 3 wraps, 2 crosses and it will be very slippy. Therefore its unfair to say that a vt is unreliable. Play around with differnt hitch thickness/length/# wraps and see what works best for you, its personal preference

think Cider Vinegar can help a bit, worth a google.

 

I did some looking a few years ago for my dad and he ended up having a spoon of cider vinegar every day and it slowly went away.

Cool will check it out

Yep stubby it is exactly that! Picture a dry wheel bearing grinding away with no lubrication and that's pretty much what the joint in my toe feels like!

I liked the comment about it hurting more than childbirth coming from a doctor . Got some great ammo now to wind my better half up with later, sofa tonight perhaps .

Cool thanks Rob!