will.morris

Try to keep fairly upright leaning against your strop, lots of people stick their arse out too much when on spikes and that affects how the spikes sit in the wood. You should have you strop/flipline at about waist height when cutting and cutting well above it (not so high your cutting inline with your head though obviously ). People may say differently but I always cut at about chest height when chogging, I used to cut down lower but an old boss said not to because I'd be at more risk of falling onto the saw if I gaffed out. People have different opinions when it comes to spiking, I personally only wear them when I have to as to me they get in the way a lot .... other people love being out to spike on the limbs, each to their own

Compared to a ring to ring friction saver I should add! LJ without a friction saver would be horrendous

Can see why you've said that but it is pretty bad practice not to use one for the trees sake. Maybe just for the initial session to get used to it as you say . I know exactly where your coming from though as I've just got a made up adjustable pulley cambium saver (cheap ropeguide basically ) and it does make ascending a bit trickier I found. Smoothness on the lj as a result though more than makes up for it.

What didn't you like about the hitchclimber mate? In response to the OP I'd say the distel is a good knot to go for next, plus you now have some good pics of it. I have my lockjack on my 45m line and switch between a VT/Distel with a hitch climber on my short rope for the smaller trees. If your a confident climber than by all means try the vt, just be very careful with it and get into the habit of making sure the knot is set before you sit back into it or jump off branches.

:laugh1: Great find!

I'll replace my stein with another stein when its had it, awesome helmet. The protos sounds really nice to wear but I won't be buying one unless they change the colour schemes

I'll put my hands up and admit to having had a few 'woahh' moments when I've anchored in on the way up at what near the stem looks like a decent branch but when you actually look you see its knackered. Plain old trying to climb against the clock at work rushing to finish a job, no excuse really

A VT or distel can vary massively in performance in the way that it is tied Matt. The fast boys run very few wraps which makes the knot very quick and easy to tend the slack one handed. The downside is this means they can be very temperamental and not grip when you need them to without setting the knot. It would be dangerous to send a new climber up on a 'sporty' VT and IMO the vt is pretty pointless unless you do have it sporty. People move away from standard prusik because your very limited for moving around, as they won't release fast enough to take on jumps/swings.

I can't comment on srt work climbing because I've never done it ... but honestly dude once you use srt to access a tree for the first time you will never want to do a long ascent any other way

Can you add a bit more about what scenario it is that is making your arms hurt? Maybe your not getting the body thrust technique quite right, you should be getting your legs up high on the stem and pushing upwards with your hips, its a very physical technique anyway but it does sound like you could be doing it all on your arms. Use the tree as much as you can to save energy, as you meet limbs climb up on them if its easier and then immediately tighten your slack. A petzl pantin will make your life soooo much easier when your out from the stem as well. How long have you been climbing? When I first started it used to totally drain me, its still very hard on your body but as you get more efficient it will become a bit (just a bit ) easier on the body.

A mate had a good one on sunday up a 55m gum ... got to the top of the srt line and looked down at his drt line on the deck

Chainsaws can take chunks out of you when they're not even running lol so 100% definately get the PPE. For the usuage you've described I'd say training would be beneficial but not necessarily essential. Familarise yourself with what kickback is and learn how to avoid it and look up target pruning for the branches that you said you might do sometimes as well as tension and compression within limbs otherwise you'll be trapping the saw every 30secs. Get half decent at sharpening, basic maintenance and you should be sweet. I've noticed a lot of new users try to push the saw through the wood, no need at all, keep it biting in well and let the saw do the work and if its blunt stop cutting and sharpen. Ms260 all the way with a 14/15" bar ... you'll get sick of firewooding with an underpowered saw very quickly.

Convertible garaged for the winter, sad times Had a cool session with an 88 crosscutting the lump in my profile pic

I think the short answer is that many arborists are always experimenting with different ways to do what we do The main thing is mechanical or prusik and srt or drt. Get yourself to an arb shop to get your paws on some different kit, ask your mates to have a jam on their systems, get experimenting Be aware that a lot of the gear out there is far less forgiving than a basic prusik so play smart and stay safe. Apart from that its what works best for you VT/distel with a hitchclimber is a nice step up and if you decide you like it then check out the zig zag that is coming out soon

Haha cheers dude! No point in trying to blag it, there will always be a time when your in the spotlight whether it be at a comp, working with someone thats seen you brag or even just meeting new people rec climbing. Gums are very alien to me at the moment, was totally comfortable in the huge redwoods we climbed but have found that big gums are a different ball game. Our srt line was about 40m high about 2m out from the stem and not a single branch on the side we went up until you reached the top of the srt line to change onto drt. It was definately the exposure that frightened me rather than just the height, it was a new sort of climbing experience for me and in all honesty it freaked me out big time. We've got a cool little group at the moment of 6/7 people and we're doing weekend trips to climb the well known big trees in nz as a way of seeing a bit more of the country and of course push our climbing. Some of the guys I'm climbing with have 10/15years experience but 2.5 monthes ago the biggest tree I'd climbed was about 80ft ... our next gum planned is 85 METRES so its a massive massive challenge of nerve for me but I feel privileged to be out with these guys and climb these giants in a fantastic country. Ideally I wish I had another 5yrs experience before I was doing this but it could be an opportunity I'll not get again for a very long time if at all, thats what makes me fight the elvis leg, get some real stories to tell later in life, actually get out there and do something that is pretty special and not be afraid to tell the story as it is, which included being scared pooless Life is a ride and right now I'm holding on tight

Na sorry dude.

Absolutely loved it in the first tree today what a great system, has made the lj so user friendly but quick when you want it to be. Drew - Thats the most scared I've ever been up a tree today, I'm not a fan of gums just yet even the medium sized ones, was proper freaked out hence I wouldn't even speak back when you guys were trying to talk to me Glad I got up it though, have to push yourself to get better and honestly today I was borderline just totally freezing. ...I'm not always like that though I swear haha!

Ah cool mate! Up at 8am on a sunday to go climb lol I'm real excited to use it...don't want to get it dirty though it looks so cool at the moment . I nearly went for the 11mm velocity but my friend talked me out of it as he said its a tad extreme with his sj.

Sweet as bro see you there Haha I know most of the girls from blue velvet in Newcastle so I'm not used to having to pay full prices lol

Just cornwall park I think mate. I'm too skint for cambridge ... I'm too scared to go in kiwibank.co.nz after treetools yesterday and getting in from town at 7am this morning knowing that the plastic had been out of the wallet in showgirls lol

Yep Will be a comfort pushing climb for sure for me as big gums still freak me out a bit

Just wondered if people have any tips on what the not so obvious things to look for about gear checking are. Obviously I can tell when a rope is damaged, harness thread going, krabs sticking etc but would be good to know a bit more, such as how do you know when to retire a krab or say a cambium saver ... how many times will you let it drop from a tree before you deem it maybe a bit damaged etc. Have just bought a link cambium saver so I know the importance of retrieving it with a throwbag rather than dropping it straight out of the tree. There is nothing about my kit that concerns me but over here we don't have loler inspections so really its more important to know a bit more about gear life.

Just splashed out on 45m's of 11.7mm yale blue tongue and a made up adjustable cambium saver with an ART link pulley and spliced ring. I found 13mm rope on a standard ring to ring cambium saver was making the lj run a bit rough so I'm super excited to feel how it runs with this set up Almost a weeks wages with nz gear prices lol uk arb prices almost seem cheap now...

HotRox Hand Warmer - Home of the worlds best electronic rechargeable hand warmer Maybe some of you guys should get something like this. You can get less flashy ones that you light what I think is a bit of coal or something similar, close it up and it keeps burning inside. Keep it on your harness . I get really painful hands in the cold, makes working with rope and krabs horrible. The first time I went paintballing it was in the low minus's and in the first round I got hit across the knuckles on my left hand... that stung like a bitch lol.

I don't think I'd like the idea of using a mechanical device, smooth metal trying to grip onto ice sounds terrifying! Respect to you guys, that is hardcore!