Confession and a question

[tree MDS]

This looks lame- I see I've been away ! lol, just kidding!:monkey:

 

[Nailsbeats]

I actually find that with gear, I actually have a bit of fear, not much, in that I am putting my safety in the "hands" of a harness and a few knots that could break or come undone at any given moment, having checked them or not. While working without harness and tie ins, I knew 100% that I was able to do the task because physically I knew my limitations. I guess I have trouible trusting things more than my own instincts.

I hear you, I feel that way sometimes. Big difference in free climbing and hanging from a rope. When you free climb you are always in contact with the tree, it gives you a safe feeling. The fear comes when you have to let go and learn to trust your equipment. If you can't do that you will be very limited to the jobs and trees you can do. Growing up the first lesson was, sit back in your saddle and trust your gear. It's probably different for everybody, but I feel what you are saying.

 

[tree MDS]

Someone take over please ?? :spam:

 

[tree MDS]

Sorry, but I aint kidding, are these people for real?? and if so ??

 

[tree MDS]

Disregard- goodnight.:jawdrop:

 

[capetrees]

I'll try to answer as many questions as I can.

To woodchux, I would say I have taken down in the range of 150 trees. I never really counted but over the years it has to be at least that many. I haven't been doing just trees all along. I do tree work as a second job and enjoy it.

To OTG, to drop the spars, I would tie off the spar on the low end of the spar to a rope that was tied off to the standing tree below me, cut the spar and drop it with the tied off rope to the tree holding the log. Then, I would loosen the hitch and drop it by hand. Spar dropped one time and caught me in the knee. Not good.

To Mark Currie, it's not BS. I purchased gear about three years ago. In January, I posted that I use two flip lines to be safe. Now that I rely on gear as opposed to my instinct, I try to over do the protection. As I posted earlier, I don't feel as safe in gear as I do free climbing. And as for the other posts in the hack thread, in reading it I commented a hack is someone tied to the ladder that isn't even tied to a tree.

For Thillmaine, the tallest tree I've taken down while in it was probably around 75 feet tall. I know because thats how long my rope is and it barely touched the ground while in the tree. For the record, where we are , most people here don't trim their trees. I take them down because they are dangerously close to the house or storm damaged.

For D Mc, as stated above, I'm not an arborist in the sense that I trim trees. I take them down so I generally don't have to go too far out on a limb.

To Blakemaster, that is how I did it, a rope tied to the saw on the ground and I would bring it up as I went. Then, to lower the branches, I would use the rope to lower them to my helper on the ground. And no, I am not Tarzan. I wouldn't look good in a loin cloth.

Nailsbeats, thanks for your input.

To treeMDS, ??? Ask anything you like. I am just wondering what some people think. Its real and I just want some opinions, thats all.

 

[mckeetree]

Sorry, but I aint kidding, are these people for real?? and if so ??

Well what happens is one guy says something ridiculous and then some others feel safe enough to come out of the woodwork. Someone has already called BS on this guy. I call double BS. Everybody that is really in the tree business knows that if you started to talk nonsense about climbing with no gear you would get your ass ran off.

 

[capetrees]

Thats absurd to even say something like that. You have no idea who I am or my abilities. I just wondered what some though of the idea, skilled or lucky or dangerous? Don't get your undies in a wad. I have all the right gear so I can still hang with you guys.

 

[John464]

, skilled or lucky or dangerous?

all of the above

skilled in the sense you made it home alive. however your skill level is greatly deprived due to advancements available to you in terms of gear. with the proper training/technique you could become a skilled master.

lucky in the sense you didnt fall

dangerous in the sense that you weren't making sense

 

[masterarbor]

i can see this thread rambling on for pages. opcorn:

 

[woodchux]

I'll try to answer as many questions as I can.

To woodchux, I would say I have taken down in the range of 150 trees. I never really counted but over the years it has to be at least that many. I haven't been doing just trees all along. I do tree work as a second job and enjoy it.

I am going to go with Lucky then... I consider a climber experienced when they have climbed around a thousand trees. Keep using that gear and you will trust it in no time.
BE SAFE

 

[capetrees]

To masterarbor,
I doubt it. I get the hint. I should have been using equipment to be safe, I was lucky nothing happened and my skill is basically un-usable due to the fact that more people than not feel its unsafe. Like I asked initially, is the fireman brave /skilled for going into the fire and saving the kid or was he dangerous/foolish for doing so. IMO, fine line.

 

[John464]

Like I asked initially, is the fireman brave /skilled for going into the fire and saving the kid or was he dangerous/foolish for doing so. IMO, fine line.

the fireman is trained in his technique using all of the necessary fire proof suits, masks, hoses, water, fire ladders, etc. the fireman isnt climbing into that burning building without all of the necessary safety gear/equipment that is available to him.

 

[masterarbor]

after the "is this safe to climb on?" thread and the responses that guy got, i think ya got balls just posting this one! i give you props just for being real. don't get me wrong, i think that stuff sounds nuts, but at least you're not fronting. there are a lot of very informed people in this community that get all fired up. I might be tempted to weigh in at first, but after 100 posts i think the point is taken. like i said, i bet this one lives on for days. people are going to want to roast you. you have two choices: ignore them or fan the flames!

rock on!:rockn:

 

[Bigus Termitius]

Let's see, stupid or highly skilled?

How about ignorant? Not a put down, I speak from experience.

When I was a young man we would climb the highest trees around in the timbers that we deer hunted and break the canopy and enjoy the day. I knew nothing about gear.

It took skills, strength, stupidity, bravery, and it sure was dangerous, but most of all it took ignorance.

If I knew then what I know now, I would never have done it.

We never lost anyone climbing, but we didn't have the same success with our other high risk behaviors that required the same attributes.

Ignorance. That is the trump word here. Now then you are no longer ignorant...congratulations, and welcome to the club.

 

[capetrees]

Nailsbeats, lxt and I for some reason are on a similar wavelength. We just tell it like it is and downplay the "perfect" ones that have never done anything wrong or substandard. I'm sure once word is out, a lot of negatives will be in here. But just like we all saw the other night on Axmen, even some if not most of the pros aren't perfect. They do it the way they know best.

 

[Bigus Termitius]

To masterarbor,
I doubt it. I get the hint. I should have been using equipment to be safe, I was lucky nothing happened and my skill is basically un-usable due to the fact that more people than not feel its unsafe. Like I asked initially, is the fireman brave /skilled for going into the fire and saving the kid or was he dangerous/foolish for doing so. IMO, fine line.

Not a fine line really. You have to ask the question:

Would the same firefighter go in without gear?

In any high risk situation, there is the ever present element of risk. However, with proper gear you tip the scales in your favor. Not eliminating risk, but meeting them with strong mitigation.

Meeting the risks with ignorance tips the scales the other way.

 

[Col2y]

Is the firefighter that goes into the flaming building to save the kid brave or stupid? Was I dangerous to be up in the tree without gear or was I very skilled? Let me know, what do you think?

im not going to comment on the stupidity of climbing without gear but, being a firefighter as well i would like to say that you should way the risk and reward portion of the job, firefighters run into burning buildings to save kids becuase its a human life, not to mention wearing bunker gear and B.A's, carrying radios and hoses, and having a whole hell of alot of training. where you climb tree`s with no equipment because you `felt safe` and you saw dollar bills in your eyes. these two things dont even begin to compare

 

[masterarbor]

opcorn:

 

[capetrees]