exit strategies for poles due to be felled

[CoreyTMorine]

Exiting from poles due to be felled.

So you’ve got all the brush off, and the top wood blocked out, there is 25 or 40 feet of stub left with plenty of room to fall it. How do you get out of the tree?

For myself, if I need to leave a pull-line I will tie the line off and rappel down. I usually tie off with a running bowline; pull up some slack and tie a muenter hitch around the HMS biner that lives on my center ring (master saddle). Then drop down the few feet to tighten up the hitch, unclip my flip line, and rappel out. The line I rap on is my lowering line, or one of several dedicated pull lines I use. I realize this is a no-no, but it sure encourages me to keep my lowering lines in good shape, and it beats using a climbing line to pull with.

If I do not need to pull the tree over, and don’t want to leave a rope in the stub, I cut a groove in the top of the tree, set my climbing line in it, and descend using my blakes hitch.
I’ll attach a diagram of the notch, now is a good time to check it out. Most times I will taper the edges of the groove, so the rope isn’t bent over a real sharp edge.

I started using this technique after I saw Rory doing it. The notch thing has always made me a little bit nervous, I never really picked Rory’s brain about all the do’s and don’ts. Could the climb line run up and out of the notch??? I don’t think so, but I don’t know. If anyone has ever heard of such a thing happening please do tell. I do know of an incident where a climber had tied in using a stub he left for the purpose, while descending his climbing rope somehow slipped off and he came tumbling down the tree. I got the story second hand, and the only two things I know for sure is that the Jim is a very seasoned climber who often gets careless. And the ground guys stole a lotto ticket he had in his jacket pocket after the ambulance took him to the hospital. Seriously, he was on judge Judy over the whole lotto ticket scandal.

Anyway, if anybody out there has a better pole exit strategy please post it. Likewise if you have any exp with the cut groove false crotch.

 

[Old Monkey]

Keep a figure eight on the back of your saddle and use it to descend your pull off line instead of the muntner hitch. Much safer that way.

 

[begleytree]

Ditto old monkey, thats how I do it too.
-Ralph

 

[Ross Turner]

I agree with the Fig 8,But if you have a ART rope guide you are still able to use your climbing line to descend the pole.

 

[Husky288XP]

I spliced an eye on a 10' piece of Safety Blue put a steel biner in the eye and come off of that. I tie a cow hitch around the spar making sure to keep the biner on the backside of the tree, opposite the direction of the target landing zone.

 

[Buzzlightyear]

Spike down using the pulling line as a back up with a loose friction hitch on.

 

[Thor's Hammer]

Thats real funny reading your notching method Corey - I thought I was the only one to do that. Other climbers have called me completely mental for doing it, but it always seemed OK to me...

 

[treeman82]

Depends on the work environment, but if I can I use the friction saver around the back of the tree to dead man off of and then just come down. Pull my rope out and down comes the friction saver.

 

[green leaf]

I like to use a clove hitch on the bull rope and then use a figure 8 or a muenter hitch on my biner. If you are not leaving a bull line then I try to leave a 6-8 inch stub were I figure I can rappel from. But as we all know stubs can be a BIG pain when lowering.

 

[clearance]

I cut a deep notch in the top that is at least the depth of the bar, feather it at the edges like Corey says and rappel down on a tautline. After you tie the tautline, climb down a few feet with your steelcore still around the pole to make sure it is o.k., with your weight on the line unclip your steelcore. You can pull trees over if you pull back up a running bowline, I use this for trees that can be pulled over by hand only. If it is a heavy leaner or you ar going to use a truck to pull then tie a bull rope onto the pole a few feet down from the top. Practice this with your steelcore on the tree a few times first. Works awesome, done it many times.

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

I used to rap out on the pull rope using a munter, but now have an ART rope guide. Well worth the money since it can be installed and adjusted from a few feet away and pulls out easily.

Just have some brush or rope for the device to fall on, at 185 USD it does feel funny letting it freefall.

 

[CoreyTMorine]

I don't rap down bull lines any more.

Dan

why not? what made you stop?

I've never heard of an injury from a bull line failing while being used to rap on. to my way of thinking any imperfection that would cause such a failure is going to be visable or at least feelable.

i'm all about the simplest most straight foward way of doing things. "kiss" with my gear and technique allows me to stay focused on the really dangerous stuff, like; i wonder where the skidder is going, whos falling trees now, where are the power lines, whats the next tree i'm doing, any hazards in it etc.

to me that extra time and thought required to rig a false crotch and then convince it to come out of the tree would be better spent on risk assessment and planning.

not to say that anyone else is doing things the "wrong" way, thats just what currently works for me. i started this post looking for input / feedback, new information may cause me to alter that procedure.

but for now i still believe the dangers inherent in rappeling on a rigging line to be far less than risk potential of the jobsite itself. which is where i keep my foccus.

thanks for all the input.

 

[CoreyTMorine]

note to noobs

jeeze, thats three times i tried to edit the above post and three times aol locked up may i should defrag this pig of a laptop :alien:

Note to noobs The ropes I work with are my own, and they are all in good shape. If someone sends you up a limp, rust covered, oil soaked, frayed out, rat of a pull line, do not trust your life to it. I can honestly say, that if someone sent me up a rope that wasn’t my own, regaurdless of how nice and new and friendly it looked, I would not use it for life support. I would keep my flipline around the tree or rig a FC. Treeco’s method is probably the most straight forward, and the one I would employ.

Think safe be safe.

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

I don't mix climbing and bull equipment. I don't have a problem using a bull line to rap if it's in good shape but I just don't do it.

One of the reasons I bought the Rope Guide, along with the heavy wear a munter puts on a rope.

I will put the RG a foot or so under my lanyard as a safety so I can descend if I have to, or I cut my flipline (have not done that yet, cut a few climbing lines though).

Here's a shattered tree I tied into an adjacent one and only flipped in on stubs.

It was one of those that gave use pre split firewood.

 

[Old Monkey]

Wow JPS! That some steep country were you work.

 

[DDM]

Be tough and just ride'um Down!

 

[treeman82]

Hey John, why did you go and cut down that beautiful tree? I see nothing wrong with it.

 

[coydog]

you can take your climbing rope midline and tie an alpine butterfly leaving just enough tail to reach the ground, put a locking biner or clevis through the loop and the working end of your line and rappel down single line. use the tail to pull the system down from the ground.

 

[Tree Machine]

I use the notch into the top method. From the backside, I place a cow hitch (spliced eye and a steel locking biner), then over the top, tail to the ground. This is using a bull rope, not my climbing line. I'll rappel down this as my bull ropes don't get heavy weight usage, and never a shock load.

I used to do the tie-off to the near side (fell side), not going over the top, but then your caribiner and eye zone are subject to impact.

One other thing I do differently is my notch across the top is a deep V with the back side (where horizontal meets vertical) angled at 45 degrees. The V takes up a lot of the friction.

I don'r condone rapelling down your bull rope. I know where mine have been, so I will. For the last 8 years, although I've cycled through a lot of different climbing lines over the years, my preferred climbing line, up until last year, was 1/2" stable braid. Rappeling down 1/2" bull rope SRT has pretty much been the norm a normal climbing scenario, so this exit strategy out of the tree is nothing different except for the placement of the cow hitch (high vs low) and the top V notch.

 

[Tree Machine]

True. I'm glad you asked. I have used a girth hitch hundreds of times around the base of a tree for climbing SRT. Not once have I ever seen that setup slip. This too, as you point out, is being pulled 'up' the tree.

A cow hitch is an even higher security layer, since it crosses over itself and goes around the tree twice, and once tensioned, just does not move. I have more experience with this scenario in lowering limbs out, the cow hitch is my preferred hitch (also using a spliced eye and biner) I've seen this one thousands of times and have yet to see it 'slip' or fail. This also, as you point out, would result in the hitch being pulled 'up' toward the crossut end.

Lastly, the V notch picks up a lot of the friction before it reaches the cow hitch. The key is dress and tension the cow, lay the line up over the top, tie into the rope, tension with all your weight, give it a couple bounces and check everything out one final time. Release your flipline from around the spar. Descend. Every step of this is important.

Answering how far down the other side to set the Cow hitch, usually however far it is to set it below a stub or some protrusion. If it is a pole with no surface rise anywhere, though I've never actually measured it, the top of my head will be level with the top cut, I'll do the set at waist level, about a meter down from the top. Or I can create a new category of weights and measure, and we'll call it a torso. From the top, set your cow one torso below your top V notch.....