Adirondackstihl
Flyz, Fuel & Fotos
Jerry Beranek and Keith Ankler (in the green shirt), his partner, standing in the staging. Jerry’s knocking out the undercut out with a steel bar. To avoid jacking the tree, Jerry climbed almost to the top and removed the big branches on the downhill side of the tree. Note the numerous ropes needed to hoist the equipment to the staging. The chains and binders above and below the cut are used to help avoid splitting, and a possible barberchair.
It’s rodeo time! If the butt hit the end of the staging and catapulted Jerry, would he ever land? Keith’s safe, and if a problem arises, he’s ready to pick up the tree he’s in and knock the problem out of the way. And how did Charly Pottroff in the tree nearby hold the camera so steady?
The drama’s increasing now. Just the popping, tearing and breaking noises would scare most to death. Now — the staging (floor) is built on two springboards that are stuck into notches made in the tree. See the springboards? Check the position of the left springboard in each photo. When a tree falls, it puts tremendous pressure on the butt and (in this instance) has literally pushed the stub back a few feet. When the top left the 150 ft. stump, that stump performed a football touchdown “wiggle.” Wow.
The conquerors. Up there, 150 ft. in the air must have been a combination of looking into the Grand Canyon from the hill in Iwo Jima. Who in this world loves their profession like a logger? Note that Jerry Beranek had a broken right foot when he topped this tree — most people couldn’t have performed this job with three healthy feet
Falling the 150 ft. stump (stub) was quite a chore, too. The strip this tree was on belonged to John Strauss (standing nearest to the ground). He is a long time old growth redwood timber faller from Fort Bragg, CA. John let Jerry fall the stub since he fell the top part and drooled every time he looked at the remaining stub. They had to pull the stub up the hill with a yarder to save the ...wood and keep it out of the watershed. In this picture, the undercut was just finished and they moved the springboards and staging to the back of the tree to make the last cut. That means cutting, signaling (to the yarder several hundred feet away to take up on the line), cutting, signaling, then holding on one more time.
P.S. The stub (Photo E) was felled a few months after the tree was topped and Jerry Beranek’s (in blue shirt) right foot healed — and his cast had been removed. Without a cast, timberfalling’s a snap.
-Bill Bailey
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nuthen like big timber and big saw!
