# Now this guy is EXTREME!



## Ekka (Aug 11, 2006)

He's a local legend and regularly attends events as a speaker and demonstrator of his fine art.

He was involved with the Victorian Workcover people in helping put together some standards for the industry.

The trees he works on are amongst the tallest in the world. Until they cut down the largest they were even bigger than the Redwoods.

http://farrer.csu.edu.au/ASGAP/eregn.html

The trees are Eucalyptus regnans (Mountain ash, Aussie style) and the man is Graeme McMahon. The Aussies on this board know him alright, especially the guys in Victoria.

Here's a bit of a video I put together from surfing around the net etc.

1.25mins and 5.71mb wmv

www.palmtreeservices.com.au/video/mcmahoncollection.wmv


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## TackleTree (Aug 11, 2006)

Now thats wild. You will have to hang more guys off the back of your kanga to carry those. The folding technique.... very interesting.


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## Ekka (Aug 11, 2006)

I love the explosives .... KaBOOM


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## BlueRidgeMark (Aug 11, 2006)

Good stuff, Ekka! A tip of the hat to the man! Was that an explosion taking down a large branch on one of those clips?

What's the folding for? Just keeping a tall tree from going where you don't want it? What's the technique there? Notch and backcut the middle, climb down and drop it?


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## Ekka (Aug 12, 2006)

Yeah, he notches it and back cuts it, _there's a rope further up so when it starts to go at the base the hinge works,_ then normal at the base.

So a 200' tree can be felled into say 100' spot.

And the big dead tree was too dodgey to be in to cut etc so he rigged explosives. He did have 3 charges set but 2 didn't go off, they reset them and blew the whole head out of it.


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## l2edneck (Aug 12, 2006)

*Sweet!!!!!!!!!!*


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## BlueRidgeMark (Aug 12, 2006)

Ekka said:


> And the big dead tree was too dodgey to be in to cut etc so he rigged explosives. He did have 3 charges set but *2 didn't go off, they reset them* and blew the whole head out of it.



THAT is seriously dangerous! Mebbe he should leave the bang stuff to a pro!


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## woodchux (Aug 12, 2006)

Looks like fun, but why not just cut the top off when notching and back cutting it?


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## pitkas (Aug 12, 2006)

I like the tree that was folded across the street. He hears the crack and walks away, then looks up and assess whats going on, then he decides to walk a bit further just enough not to get hit.


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## trevmcrev (Aug 15, 2006)

Ekka said:


> The trees are Eucalyptus regnans (Mountain ash, Aussie style) and the man is Graeme McMahon. The Aussies on this board know him alright, especially the guys in Victoria.
> 
> 
> www.palmtreeservices.com.au/video/mcmahoncollection.wmv



Yup, Greame is a bit of local legend down here 

My fave is the 100 odd foot top tied off itself, Greame anchored to another tree and releaseing lanyard from the cut tree when it folds over. 

Maybe a link to that for the topic going on in the Climbing Forum about going for a ride on a leaner when topping out is appropriate..............NOT.

Trev


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## neighborstree (Jan 1, 2007)

i wana blow stuff up [email protected]


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## woodfarmer (Jan 1, 2007)

that is some awesome stuff


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## soutz (Jan 20, 2007)

coooool. Grahame talked at the nz arb conference a few years back. i was in the room when he showed the full versions of those vids. people were sh..g themselves just watching. Certainly a different league.


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## derbyguy_78 (Jan 20, 2007)

*what the?*



Ekka said:


> He's a local legend and regularly attends events as a speaker and demonstrator of his fine art.
> 
> He was involved with the Victorian Workcover people in helping put together some standards for the industry.
> 
> ...



very cool....i will check out the other videos tonight.thanx


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## JayD (Jan 30, 2007)

Hi All,
Great video truly inspiring,can you imagine what was going thru his mind as he doing the final felling cut..his heart must have been pumping like..you know..the pressure of have I done everything write as it starts to go..when you make good your escape and you look back,and the instant relief you feel when you know it was a successful take down.


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