peds
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Everything posted by peds
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Yeah I know, knot exactly a tree, but you guys are just so bloody clever I know you can help with this. I've just inherited the use of a polytunnel which has lain dormant for a couple of years, and a nearby clump of Japanese Knotweed has started to poke through the ground in places. It's not too bad, but the problem will only get worse, obviously. I'll try and get a couple of photos tomorrow. I've got plans to move the tunnel in the future, maybe next season, maybe the year after... but for this year, what can I do to minimise the problem? I'm wary of cutting the stems out, but I'd much rather keep the ground that I have available instead of putting in raised beds or benches after putting down sheets or slabs or something, as I hope to move the tunnel in the future. How much of an extra problem am I creating by just cutting the stems now and pretending they don't exist for the rest of the season? Thanks for any advice dudes.
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Man, I love this thread. Such beautiful boards on display. It really is stuff I'd love to get into in the future.
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In the mountains, carrying the weight of twice as much rope has the possibility of slowing you down so much that you don't achieve your objective, keeps you out longer than you intended, and exposes you to all sorts of risks. It seems counter-intuitive, but leaving behind all of the usual safety gear can actually make your outing quite a lot safer, if the ethos of "fast-and-light" is used appropriately. The fact is, the longer you spend up a mountain, the greater your chances of dying... it's simple maths. Anything you can do to shorten the length of time spent in the mountains, whilst still keeping the same goal, will increase your chances of coming home alive. Reducing the weight you carry, and thus reducing fatigue, can help with this. That said, fast-and-light is not a substitute for good old-fashioned experience, which can only be gained by spending lots of (dangerous) time in the mountains.
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Like all gadgets for ropework and climbing and everything, if used improperly then you might die. But use them correctly, as the designer intended, and you'll probably live.
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No, but I have mange tout and broad beans in one of my raised beds, bordered by a handful of onion seeds and cos lettuce seeds. I have kale seedlings and leek seedlings waiting to go out into another bed once the cold frame is available for it (currently giving the beans a boost), and a variety of courgettes waiting to sprout before going out into a third bed. I have a handful of potatoes ready to go into a tub, not the ground. I also took advantage of that Lidl three fruit trees for twenty quid and have a cherry, a peach, and a plum in big pots now.
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Beginners climbing guide, hints, tips and general climbing techniques
peds replied to Adam Bourne's topic in Climbers talk
^^ Yep, that kind of thing, but I've only ever used skinny little mountaineering slings that really bite into your buttocks. Wildly uncomfortable. A decent quick fix for abseiling over rocky ground, but I wouldn't want to be hanging around in a tree all day in one. You'd probably want some nice fat webbing as above. Or, you know... don't forget to pack your harness. edit I've also used an ultra-basic sit harness of just a 60cm sling crossed over, a leg through each loop, and a belay 'biner clipped to where they cross in the middle, above your crotch. Can't recommend. -
Beginners climbing guide, hints, tips and general climbing techniques
peds replied to Adam Bourne's topic in Climbers talk
I've used a sling as a harness quite a bit. Around the arse and each end back over your hips, grab a bight between your legs, tie the three bights together with your knot of choice... simple, lightweight, sturdy, and accentuates your package nicely if you are wearing tight trousers. -
Beginners climbing guide, hints, tips and general climbing techniques
peds replied to Adam Bourne's topic in Climbers talk
Yo, If you plan on sticking with knots for a while before upgrading to any hardware (like I am doing, a fellow new climber), I'd recommend switching to a prusik instead of a klemheist. Coming from a rock climbing and mountaineering background I'd always favoured klemheists and started using them in trees just because I could tie them quicker. But after trying a prusik for a few times instead I found them loads better. You might find different. I still prefer klemheists for mountaineering purposes, though. -
At a guess, she is talking about the Mer de Glace in Chamonix, where I spent over a decade of my life, and the difference that I personally have observed in the health of the glaciers, not just during the span of a decade but between each and every winter, is astounding, and absolutely terrifying. Human-accelerated climate change is not only affecting, but destroying people's way of life all across the Alps as ski resorts close, mountains disintegrate, and lives are lost, and it is all happening at an increasing rate year by year. I have to say, I'm really glad that I'm mostly here on the forum to look for advice on arb work, and not to help inform my opinion on important matters like climate change, because a whole bunch of you are absolute fruit loops. Some of the things I've read in this thread have left me stunned, my mouth hanging open like a goldfish on a patio.
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Sure it's a nice toy, makes for unbelievably quick work, and why climb a tree if you don't have to? But as it adds something to the job, it also takes something away. Anyway, I'm happy doing it all, whatever the weather... dragging brash, trimming hedges, splitting timber, playing woodpile Jenga... because it's all better than some days I've had in the past. As long as I'm not dying on a mountain in a blizzard, I'm having a pretty great day.
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The boss got a new toy. At six weeks, I guess my climbing career was a pretty short one... I've been doing nothing but dragging rapidly-growing brash piles into the chipper all week. Ah well, I'm sure there'll be more glamorous work to be done again in the future.
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Those fellas should be lifting with their legs, not their backs. Groovy looking chipper, mobile and mean.
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I don't see why I should have to chop it all when there's a shedful of Lithuanian schoolchildren willing to do it for pennies.
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Fairly productive day.
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Beginners climbing guide, hints, tips and general climbing techniques
peds replied to Adam Bourne's topic in Climbers talk
Okay, I've got a technical question about re-topping a line of leylandii. So, once you've made progress up the tree and found the previous topping points, how do you manage to cope with the crushing futility of it all? How do you not sink into a hopeless pit of despair as you come face-to-face with such a bleak reminder of the fragility of life? -
When a man says he'll do something, he'll do it. You don't have to keep reminding him every six weeks.
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Cripes, looks like I'm not working hard enough because I've been getting around two weeks from a pair. But then again I have been rotating multiple pairs throughout the day depending on the weather and the work. Yesterday was a three pair day, with some good solid Irish weather and fishing logs out of a wastewater runoff swamp.
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Jeesus, just spotted it. Fuck that, dude!
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Edited to add words, see above That is the boss up his tree, I did the two on either end today, and we did a straight fell on the other middle one because it didn't have anything leaning backwards. There was a little back road behind the trees, lots of lemmings, so much opportunity to ice a mother, but I managed to restrain myself.
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Taking down these four today (two left at time of photo). Because it wasn't in anyone's way, we knocked over the right-hand middle tree first, whole, sadly not pictured, then I took apart the leaning one on the right closest to the wires, also sadly not pictured. After a quick cup of tea, the boss took apart the biggest one in the middle whilst I was chipping and directing traffic (small one-way street below the four trees behind a terraced wall, crumbling because of the tree roots, which is why they had to come down), then I took apart the smaller one on the left. (Edit to add... there's also a home heating oil tank hidden in a little plywood box under my leftern tree, which is why we couldn't knock them over.)
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Looks like a fun one, that ^ edit As a newcomer to this sport, I have to say, I am amazed at the difference in weight between beech and, say, sycamore. The noise of a bit of beech hitting the floor... bloody hell.
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Cheers dude. Yeah, arb work is bloody brilliant rehab... end of week one I was destroyed, end of week two I was exhausted and sore all over, end of week three I was still knackered but I've got grip strength back in my hands and I'm lugging around big weights like I used to be able to do... and now, week four, I'm just finishing work each day just regular tired, and pretty bloody content. Might even go for a jog this weekend. No pictures today, dismantling two 10m ash trees and giving an ancient apple tree a nice aggressive haircut.
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Banging, nice one dude. Back to this pretty little church today to make sure no trees fall on the grave of WB Yeats. Cast a cold eye, On life, on death. Horseman, pass by!
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Only when the wife has locked me out of the house.
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Yo, Can you tell me about this style of cut with a big chunk of the bottom half of the gob removed, and when you might use it? Looks bloody clever. I guess it reduces the bounce of the piece as it comes off the stem? Cheers
