frozen hard maple

[stumpjumper83]

This week a customer asked me to remove an old, dying hard / sugar maple from his yard. When i went to spike it, my spurs would only bite in maybe a 1/4 inch. Temps were 15-20 degree range. This was not in older wrinkled bark, this was newer "smooth" bark. My hooks are sharp, and i'm not a light guy. Maybe pole spurs would have helped, but I doubt that they would have penetrated any better. What do you all do when you have to go up frozen hardwood?

 

[beowulf343]

Double wrap my lanyard and slam the spikes home hard.

Frozen maples are bad but always thought frozen beech were the worst.

 

[beezer]

Yeah, just smash them in and trust they will hold.

Is it dead or just dying?

Stone dead trees can be very hard to spur into. Careful of loose bark too, it has caused a few little slips and curses from time to time.

1/4" is a better feeling than burying them up to your ankles if you need to look on the bright side.

 

[Davey Dog]

We have alot of eucs here and I dont like that feeling either...Like you are standing on toothpicks.... You should go and get ya some cheap Buckingham pole spikes.... They have the shorter gaffs and will be alot more stable.
Trust me, It sucks to be 140' off the ground on sloppy footing. Hope that helps....