Favorite tree to trim (climb) ?

[treeman82]

That elm tree is RIGHT by the UMASS Amherst campus. Under 5 minute walk from South West

 

[tjk]

Here in Chicago I'm all about American Elms and White Oaks.

 

[TREETX]

Favorite tree to climb?? I love those dry ones under a sunny 75 F sky. I'll take those over any.

Love them live oaks too. They get boring day after freakin' day. Always a challenge climbing trees wider than they are tall. Cool to consistantly be able to hang you life in crotches less than 2"

Great times too in european beech and euro-oak Q. robur.

 

[NickfromWI]

My long-time fave is Honey Locust! Serious! Whenever I climb them, it seems there is always a branch where I need one to grab while moving about the tree. I love 'em!

People often complain that they are slow because the branches get stuck while you're trying to throw them to the ground. If every one knows is, and the tree was bid as such, then it's just part of the game. I'll play that game any day!

If the person who sold the job just sold it as "mediumish sized tree that shouldn't take too long," well then there are other issues that need to be worked out.

love
nick

 

[NickfromWI]

However, I did climb some Coastal Live oaks and Blue Oaks last year at Lake Cachuma State Park in Santa Barbara, CA. I loved them both. Very fun.

love
nick

 

[Gord]

Around here open growing Bigleaf Maples are fantastic to climb. Sturdy wood if somewhat brittle but a great structure. Here's one that we had the work climb in this year.

bigleaf maple Acer macrophyllum


Also have to say that being up in the tip top of some of our large PNW conifers is a real treat too-some of the views are phenomenal, completely unavailable to al but the tree fella! Routine heights of 130-150.' Roger knows what I'm talking about.

 

[rbtree]

Yep, that be the truth, Gord!!!


We logged a baby 135 foot Doug fir today, 32 inch dbh, house right behind it. Got 2 21's, a 31, and a 34, plus the30 foot top. Plus three hemlock. I also gingerly climbed a 70 foot hemlock snag, with huge woodpecker holes, just so we could create a safe height habitat snag. Tied in at 3.5 inches in a nearby young healthy alder, so I could feel safe at the 25 foot topping height.

I skied my buns off at Whistler/Blackcomb all 4 weekend days....Do you ski? 15 of us were standing near the bottom of Solar Coaster chair Friday afternoon as a 20 inch heavy snow blizzard was winding down. 250 feet away, we heard a crack and looked up to see a 100 foot 20 inch dbh hemlock (heavy snow load) fall directly onto the ski run, snapping a small cedar as it fell. Luckily no one was closer than us. I'm too busy to post the pics of the rotten trunk...But it was one heck of a great powder ski day!!!

Congrats to the young Cdn downhiller for his 2nd place at Lake Louise World Cup Saturday!!! Speaking of which, I skied all day Saturday with Hilary Lindh, retired from the US Ski Team. She has 3 or more World Cup victories. Had my ears pinned back all day! But that's OK, as I wuz feelin' the need for speed!!!

I don't get to climb as many great spreading shade trees out here in the PNW, So I love anything I get...such as some 115 foot tall by 100 foot elm that we have....recently cleaned the largest red oak in Seattle, two trunks, 4.5 and 3.5 foot dbh. We've done a 6.5 foot dbh 110 foot liriodendron that was fun. Recently a large spreading black locust was fun that we cabled a bad split and lightened all limbs.

Copper beeches are fun, as well as spectacular trees, but mighty easy to get around in....

Big leaf maple take many forms and thus techniques and challenges can vary widely.

Just did some massive (and rare for the PNW) coulter pine, for the second time.... and harvested more of their awesome cones. Very long heavy branches.

 

[Burnham]

I suppose they would be uncommon in the urban/suburban setting, but you folks would find it hard to beat an oldgrowth Noble fir. Imagine a sorta live oak style crown (though with a central lead) on top of a 100 foot clear bole 3 or 4 feet DBH...total heights around 200 feet...these are my alltime favorites. We call these beauties "big ole round-tops" .

 

[Gord]

We have some grand firs around here Burnham, similar to what you describe. Never have got to climb one tho, tried to persuade the course super at one of the clubs I work at to have me deadwood one but no go.

Glad to here that you had a good time in Whistler Roger. I snowboard (young whippersnapper) and usually get up there a few times a season, incredible mountain(s) that they are.

Awhile ago I went to one of our local mountains, Seymour, on a Saturday before the lifts opened and felled a large grand fir that was growing over a cat track and was losing dirt from under it's roots. Undercut, backcut and 10 more bucking cuts and the snowcat pushed it all over the bank. 2 overtime hours and free day passes for myself and my buddy who came along. Pity more jobs like that don't along.

 

[rbtree]

Burnham,

Aren't nobles grand?? Errr, awesome that is, not abies grandis....

We have a job to remove some Doug fir at an Edmonds home which sports two large (for residential areas) nobles,one is near 100 feet tall and 24 inch dbh.

Have you seen Robert Van Pelts new book, "Forest Giants of the West Coast" or something like that? There is a stand of Nobles in the Gifford Pinchot Wilderness near St Helens that has more cubic feet of wood per acre than any other stand of any species in Washington, I think. The tallest Noble there is 295, making it the tallest true fir in the world...and another specimen is the largest.

 

[Burnham]

Boy, Roger, a 295 foot Noble is amazing...I haven't seen that book, but I'll have to look for it. Do you have any idea what elevation that stand is located at? Most of the Noble fir around my district are above 3000 feet, but some nice ones live down as low as the low 2000's...once in a great while even lower. Anyway, the shorter growing season and generally poorer soils in the Noble fir zone keep overall heights here to the low 200's, though there are certainly exceptions.

 

[M.D. Vaden]

That pin oak post was funny.

I think my favorite tree is the beech because climbing spurs are so much easier to use on that tree...

No seriously ---

The Japanese black pine is really one of my favorites to prune. They leave me messy and dusty, but usually, the improvement is almost dramatic after the interior is cleaned of dead crud.

I can name my anti-favorites - pin oak and honey locust. Hate them almost more than hawthorn. I should limit this comment to neglected and tangled specimens.