David Goss

never heard of the soaking it method but i will sometimes put on a prussic and pull the entire rope through, if it bunches up at the end then cut off the heat sealed end and then the extra sheath will slip off the end. All you do now it just cut it and reseal it. One milked rope. I only do this though if there is excessive bunching up of the sheath otherwise its not necessary.

looks like its got a good grip there, yes i would climb it

i used the prussic for most of my climbing life and i was stuck on it, i couldnt see past its simplicity and ease of use. Now i have been using other things like the spiderjack and also other friction hitches such as the distel. Even though i still think you cant beat the simplicity of my old setup and the fact that there is so little gear and cost involved in it, i would have to say i am glad i pulled myself out of the stone age and started experimenting with other ways. As much as i am sure you like your blakes hitch and you are probably so used to it that you think nothing else will ever beat it (as i did with the prussic) I would suggest you put the blakes away for a month and try everything else you can get your hands on. Dont just try for an hour and say "nah i prefer my old setup" force yourself to give the other methods a try for a few days each or more if you can. Then you will be free.... I am now a spiderjack junkie and cant believe i have missed out for so long. I do like some other hitches as well but i still think the simplicity of the prussic wins over most of them and still use one on my flipline. Gone are my days of body thrusting up 20 meters and hello srt and spiderjackery for drt. Go on you know you want to...

real scary stuff that! I am surprised nobody caught any of those limbs in the face the way they shot passed them. If that was a training day then i truly am at a loss for words...

I am thinking of getting the big plastic storage boxes for my climbing kit. The ones with wheels are what i am looking for so i can easily move it around. Does anyone use them and if so which ones are best? Here is a link to what i guess would be perfect Big Storage Boxes / Large Plastic Trunks the third set of boxes from the top called "discover mobile plastic storage trunk" What say the mob?

its only a flesh wound:001_tt2:

Oh man that sounds real sore. I got hawthorned yesterday a few times but just the usual annoying punctures, yours wins for hawthorn stories so far that i have heard.

A few shots on top of my favourite volcano Stromboli. If you ever get a chance to go there, dont even think about it, just go its fantastic!

I am not knocking first aid in any way at all, in fact its an essential part to be prepared for the worst. Just the HSE regs getting in the way of our living is what is my big gripe. As for your joke on the manager yes i would have been the same with a giggle but the problem is that could so easily have become a claim if you were that type of person, which in turn would make life even harder... and these things happen unfortunately.

I almost never posted either but i have a big gob and cant help myself I think we all do what we have to do but its getting to the point of being so expensive to keep up that its also killing us off because we still get paid the same and get shat on from greater heights at every turn. Catch 22 is a term that is fast becoming very common in our job.

Cheers mate:thumbup: it was difficult to get because i was running out of light and my camera couldnt focus so i had to do it by torchlight and flash. haha yea i have a habit of doing that but this time it wasnt me

Whew i really was expecting crucifiction

with the things in the first pic you can make a lovely mess like the second pic.... dontya just love it:thumbup: I love trees but i also love destruction whats a guy to do?

Some more wildlife... the last pic with the maggots or whatever they are was a weird find, it was just a pile of them on the pavement but i didnt get a chance to inspect them any more than just this picture, before being dragged away by the wife telling me that i was much more weird than they were:lol:

1) Why? to me this is completely stupid and a waste of time. The only thing this does is inform the HSE that we get bumps, bruises and scratches daily and the next thing you know some desk jockey will come up with the idea that we should all be wrapped in cotton wool and kevlar. 2) adjustments? (see my first point) e.g. "ok guys before we start i want you all to wear the chainmail overalls because you might scratch yourself on a twig" 3) Why? (see my first and second points) 4) Yes they are. We have a difficult and dangerous job that involves lots of physical ability and strength on difficult terrain or in the air, slips, trips, small cuts/scratches, bumps and bruises etc ARE inevitable unless like my first point we wrap up completely in body armour, in which case our job becomes physically impossible to move with all the stuff we have to wear. Here is my thoughts on the subject.... When people pass their saw tickets or whatever tickets they have for the jobs they do. It then becomes their responsibility to do what they have been taught. If these people have accidents because of ignorance or just complete stupidity then either they shouldnt have passed the ticket in the first place (which many do, going by some i have seen) or they are just not cut out for the job to begin with. I have seen many people in my time that are just terrible woodcutters and it amazes me how they passed the course in the first place, are the tickets so easy to pass these days that all you need to be able to do is just start the saw???? or did they just have the correct ppe on??? It seems to me that skill and intelligence have been bypassed and now all we are producing is robots that need to be programmed to do every movement. I know we joke a lot about common sense being dead but in truth it is very close to it, and it is getting worse by all these stupid rules and regulations that we have, which stop people thinking for themselves. I am all for health and safety up to the point where it is insulting to my intelligence which it passed a long time ago. Most of the rules and regs we have are in place because someone had an accident, some of which were probably avoidable if the person had just used a bit of common sense and foresight, so we get hit with another bit of programming for the robots. With my experience i can pretty much see all the things that could go wrong before they do and get myself in the correct position to avoid danger but sometimes things can surprise you (every day is a school day) and you learn from these. I have never had a serious accident in all my time just by using common sense, sure i get bumps and bruises but that IS part of the job and for the most part completely unavoidable. If we keep going down the road we are going then bumps and bruises will be a thing of the past but so will humanity and practicality. We will be all dolled up like spacemen with the ability to cut 1 branch per day before collapsing with exhaustion and i bet we will still be paid the same for the WHOLE tree. Anyway i could argue this forever and still get nowhere because we cant go back to the good old days where skilled labour and common sense were all that was needed, now we need a degree in paperwork and an inspector to tuck our shirts into our trousers. Before i get crucified by the HSE lovers i will say that i do agree with keeping us all safe and some of us need a bit more guidance than others but i suppose thats what happens when natural selection was taken from us just like common sense will be taken too. Keep safe people and think first:001_smile:

if i am up in the tree i wont even bother with it till i get the job done and come down, unless i have done myself some serious damage then its only a scratch as far as i am concerned and nothing to be fussed over. Silky cuts bleed a hell of a lot and usually look worse than they are so unless i cant move something or feel something then its business as usual with extra colour:lol:

To be honest i have only used plasters once or twice because of some interfering busy body insisting i put one on to stop the cut getting dirty, hah what a joke that was. I think i wasnt even up to the first branch on the next tree and it was already flapping in the wind. I prefer to leave it as it is and let the air at it, always heals quicker that way imo.

I was expecting something shiny there but that looks the business anyway:thumbup:

can you actually get plasters to stay on for more than 2 seconds? i think they are the most pointless thing in a first aid kit to be honest. I think you only need a bandage to conform to HSE aid kits unless i am mistaken but mine is always in the car unless i am forced to carry extra useless gear with me to please some office worker:sneaky2:

criminal, seems there is a good market for stealing and selling arb equipment and its also an easy one to get away with too it seems:001_rolleyes:

spare crabs and a multi sling as a bog standard:001_rolleyes:

Oh yea just remembered i did have to get a few stitches on a couple of occasions but i only ever went to hospital after i finished work and always took the stitches out myself instead of wasting time going back to get them out.

many many silky cuts on left hand and arm. My first aid is let it bleed till it stops, cry a bit in the shower that night while picking the dirt out of it and repeat each night till its healed enough.... normally around 3 days sometimes more if its a deep one.