2 climbers in 1 tree...

[booboo]

Just curious if any of you have done this and how often?

We recently did a removal of a large silver maple with 2 climbers working different parts of the tree at the same time. I can remember doing it once, maybe twice, before for removals. We do it at least once a year on pruning jobs and frequently work in closely adjoining trees on both pruning and removals.

The scenario was basically this. Silver maple with 7 main leaders splitting into about 12 total leaders. 75-80' high, 80-90' spread, over 2 neighboring yards, 2 hedges, a fence and a garden. No crane/bucket access but we were able to get a skidsteer in for the logs. After we crashed 2 leaders into the yard, I took 2 leaders going over one neighbor's yard, the other climber took the other larger leader going over the other neighbor's yard. We were each able to climb and rig out of leaders that were a reasonable distance from each other's gear. Each of us had one groundman handling our ropes exclusively and we basically took turns taking shots (1 climber rigged while the other cut and vice versa).

The whole thing was super smooth. When we got it back to the center leads, the other climber came down so I could finish them. It was like doing 2 separate trees with a lot of communication between the climbers about who was going where, how big the pieces were and where they were going. We had to stay very aware of where the other guy and his ropes were but other than that, it was pretty much like doing 2 different trees at once. One of the guys snapped a couple of photos, I haven't seen them yet but if they're halfway decent I'll post them.

Anyone else doing this?

 

[boo]

I have done this many times, particularly when training a new climber.
Not only does it make the new guy more comfortable by having another climber close by in the tree, but it also makes things move along a little better for him by seeing a good example of the how to's and being able to communicate without having to yell up to him .....and letting anyone around know he is a rookie climber.
Always good to have another climber on the jobsite close by anyway.

 

[Slvrmple72]

That sounded like the perfect way to tackle that job! Good communication is the most critical part when two climbers are in close quarters like that. Good job!

 

[Thillmaine]

Two climbers

Personally I love another climber in the tree if for no other reason then to bullsh1t with. I dont know about removals, but typically on a pruning job it helps out big time. One person to one side and the other to the other side. Simple enough. On removals unless it was a huge tree as in the situation you said then I wouldnt feel comfortable with lots of ropes and big peices being rigged down and whatnot. Lots of spread seems like it would be the key to make it work to keep each other far apart.

 

[PTS]

On removals of large trees with climbers we often use two climbers. It save from constantly going up to hook your rope and then coming down to make the cut and back and forth.

I can see how this scenario could be dangerous if the climbers have their head somewhere it shouldn't be. But if everyone is conscious of the process and communication is good and PPE's are in place it is a great deal in my opinion.

 

[Nailsbeats]

Yes. We use two climbers whenever we feel it will get the job done faster. Definitely need two groundmen and good communication or somebody will always be waiting. We have a Ash tree to takedown where I am going to attempt my first speedlinning, two climbers will be used to power through it.
Here's a couple pics of me and my bro doing a removal a while back when our PPE wasn't yet up to par. Watch your head! lol.

 

[custom8726]

Yup, works good in the right scenarios.

 

[treemandan]

Yup, works good in the right scenarios.

yup

 

[tomtrees58]

Yes. We use two climbers whenever we feel it will get the job done faster. Definitely need two groundmen and good communication or somebody will always be waiting. We have a Ash tree to takedown where I am going to attempt my first speedlining, two climbers will be used to power through it.
Here's a couple pics of me and my bro doing a removal a while back when our PPE wasn't yet up to par. Watch your head! lol.

ok have to hard hats ware they ???tom trees

 

[treemandan]

ok have to hard hats ware they ???tom trees

AND y'all say I am inchoherent? Is that 'where are they'?

 

[Nailsbeats]

Obviously you can type Tomtrees, so maybe rearrange the words so I can understand. If it is "where are they" the answer is on the store shelf. If you would have read my first post you would catch the PPE joke.

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

We call it tag-teaming, I may be working on a side where the bucket cannot reach, or doing the rigging while the other guy is just bombing stuff out away from the groundcrew.

When using the GRCS it sometimes helps to have one guy setting the rigging on tip ties, and a lower man cutting.

On trims it helps when only occasional polesaw work is needed, then you can pass it back and forth...

 

[booboo]

photos

Here's the only 2 photos from the job that were really any good. Guess the groundmen were a little too busy to take many :biggrinbounce2: . The first is the tree pretty much back to 1 lateral and the 2 main leaders. The second is the butt, saw is a 372 w/ 28" bar for scale.

 

[Blakesmaster]

As long as there's at least two ground guys and both climbers are good communicators I say keep it up. My bro and I work in the tree together all the time. I'm still a bit new to climbing so it's always good to have experienced perspective right on hand. It also makes most jobs go much quicker. Especially no-hauls.

 

[Bermie]

I've done it once, a big prune where the branches had to go into the main road, so we used two climbers, shared job to minimise the time we had to stop traffic.
Always one cut while the other waited or got set for their cut, eye and voice contact.

Despite the hi viz vests, two traffic controllers with signs, cones and a groundie, we still had idiots coming through the drop zone...!

 

[beowulf343]

I refuse to work with another climber in a tree. Up a silver maple with another climber about eight years ago, he messed up, but i was the one who ended up with three broken ribs. I have yet to meet the tree i can't handle by myself.

 

[booboo]

I refuse to work with another climber in a tree. Up a silver maple with another climber about eight years ago, he messed up, but i was the one who ended up with three broken ribs. I have yet to meet the tree i can't handle by myself.

That's kind of why I was asking. On this job we were taking some pretty big shots and even though we were both really comfortable with it, we had to be really cognizant of where each other was, where each others lines were, where each others ground men were etc... It added another dimension to my planning each piece that I wasn't really used to. It was different that using 2 guys pruning because of the size of the shots and the volume of wood and brush coming down. Even so, I'm sure we'd do it again in the right situation.