krummholz

Almost as if something like a twig or chest ascender biner could get stuck in it and cause an uncontrolled descent?

Unless you're a bona fide subcontractor then you don't need your own professional insurances. If they want you to act as one, then that's a very different arrangement altogether and will cost them a lot more money.

Jeezy peeps, things are getting bad when people have to buy clones of Botch kit. @africanarborist I'd just keep an eye out on eBay and FB marketplace for a decent second hand pair. No, they're not Category III PPE, but you don't want some shonky pair from Amazon failing at a crucial moment. Klein Tree Climbing Spikes, Spurs, Irons Pole Climbing Accessories | eBay UK EBAY.US Klein Tree Climbing Spikes, Spurs, Irons Pole Climbing. Collection only. Re-Profiling / sharpening. https://www.facebook.com/share/1KnUYAzX9u/

Do you have a pair of these?

If you really want to make as sure as you can be that the decay is as bad as it looks find a consultant with some decay detection equipment such as a Resistograph or even better sonic tomography such as a Picus. The consultant can then write a tree report and recommend a course of action which may involve felling, or pollarding or retention of a spar for habitat, neither of which look "ugly" imho. From the photos you've posted it doesn't look great, but if you're willing to spend ~£500 for a detailed report you will have the best information available. The last thing you want is to condemn it only to find with the last few cuts that it was viable for a good few years more.

OP should consider using burner accounts if they're going to ask variations of the same question again and again.

Bitte

I'm saying teach the basics of rigging along with the basics of aerial chainsaw use. Of course you'd have your tree climbing and aerial Rescue before doing the others, it's a prequisite. Whether or not candidates pass the assessments is down to them and their assessor on the day. The bar is pretty low, but that's where it's been put by the awarding bodies.

Not an assessment schedule but a fairly detailed course schedule https://www.landesforsten.de/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/skt-b-lehrgangsunterlagen-anmeldung-programm.pdf

For the German SKT-B?

The Chainsaw From a rope and harness ticket should really incorporate some basic rigging into it, as in the German SKT-B ticket - if you're using a chainsaw in the tree it's not long before you'll be needing to do basic rigging, and not having the rigging ticket is a can of worms waiting to be opened as soon as something goes wrong as far as insurances and liabilities go. Yes, as long as a competent person is on site and has the rigging ticket and the climber is working under their instruction you'll be fine, but how often is that actually the case? The Aerial Rigging ticket is so basic (as is the use of chainsaw from rope and harness IMHO) that they could easily be combined, with a more advanced rigging ticket to cover all the other techniques that everyone uses week in week out.

+1 for a hitchclimber. Some people even prefer it to a zigzag! Also a good affordable stepping stone to SRT when you're ready with the addition of a rope wrench or similar. Watch the Hitchclimbers Guide to the Canopy

Loads of benefits beyond functionality to paying a little extra for manufactured, sewn e2e hitch cord, not least that hand tied e2e aren't CE marked and there's issues with traceability.

Yeah personally I could do without the right to life, freedom from torture and inhuman or degrading treatment, freedom from slavery and forced labour, the right to liberty and security, the right to a fair trial, respect for private and family life, home, and correspondence, freedom of thought, conscience, and religion, freedom of expression, freedom of assembly and association and, worst of all, protection from discrimination.

Fun fact of the day - There is no general right to the freedom of speech in the UK. Since 1998, limited freedom of expression is guaranteed according to Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights, as applied in British law through the Human Rights Act 1998. It never existed, so what are you complaining about?