Got to use a speedline today

[treeclimber165]

This is only the second time I've ever set up a speedline, and I've never seen anyone else set one up. I had a 70' pine tree to remove from a back property line. It was leaning out over the 10' hedge and almost over the neighbor's pool screen. On my customer's side there were Azalea and Gardenia bushes packed into a large bed surrounding the pine. Access to the trunk was by a narrow 3' wide opening between the hedge and shrub bed. The opposite side of the yard was wide open.
I was working with an inexperienced crew and my only decent anchor was the base of a medium size Crepe Myrtle tree. Therefore I hooked the speedline to the base of the Crepe (using a sling and rigging biner) and took the loose end up the tree with me so I could tension and secure it.
I then set a pulley higher up for the lowering line. When cutting the limbs, I had the rope man hold them tight untill I could drop down and attach them to the speedline with a loop runner and biner. Then he lowered them down and they followed the speedline out into the open yard. The customers were extatic that we didn't drop a single limb on the flowering shrubs.

Here's a pic of me setting the speedline. I'll post more pics as soon as the customer emails them to me.

 

[treeclimber165]

Here's a picture of the first cut. It took some stretch out of the speedline but still cleared everything ok. I tightened up the line before the next cut.

What do you guys think? Did I do this in a reasonable manner? It took a bit longer than I expected but was better than trying to bring everything down into the shrubs. Took me about 30 minutes to set up, an hour to brush out/ top the tree and 20 minutes to block down the last 40' of trunk in 3' chunks (I had a rather small hole/ target to aim for).
The ground guys had no idea what I was doing but they picked up on it OK and were careful to keep the saws away from my ropes.

(I got a couple more pics but they were all taken before I even had the speedline set up. These two were the best shots.)

 

[Kevin]

Brian;
You didn't by chance drop the load on a tensioned speed line ... did you?

 

[treeclimber165]

Originally posted by Kevin
Brian;
You didn't by chance drop the load on a tensioned speed line ... did you?

LMAO! I certainly hope not! I didn't want to sling myself out of the pine or uproot the crepe myrtle on the other end of the speedline. It was only about a 10' -15' drop down after each cut to clip the limbs onto the speedline.

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

If you anchor the ground end with a friction hich and redirect it up the anchor tree, you can carry your end up the tree with you. Just gotta teach the groundies how to move an MT or whatever.

I do a taught speedline/DWT where I use a friction brake for the ground to give slack on the line as the load comes down onto it.

 

[Kevin]

Was the ground man using a PaW or some other friction device on the end of the lowering line?

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

That is what I ment by friction break. Of course I use the GRCS now, but I have used a PWIII in the past. Not having the play in the PW mounting sling sure makes the system more efficient.

 

[treeclimber165]

Kevin- No, he took a wrap around the pine trunk with the lowering line. It's the way he's done it forever and I was fine with it.
I tried a figure 8 a few times and the groundmen all hated it. Less control than a wrap on the trunk and it twists the rope untill you can't tell when it will slip or grab. I don't own a PW yet.

JPS- Actually, I did use a friction hitch to tension the speedline. I just did it up at my end rather than at the groundie's end. These guys had minimal treework experience and I was trying to minimize their responsibilities.

Am I right or is it just my Control Issues showing through again?

 

[treeslayer]

way to read that job, Brian.
I have a PaW 3, and its fun to drop it and some pulleys on the ground and tell the "experienced" ground men to set it up. It usually shows pretty quick what their all about.
I've always wanted to get a speedline kit, ( does Sherrills still sell one?).
Sounds like you timed out all right, and I'm like you, I always felt better rigging for one of my climbers, or controlling it myself with a regular groundman.
Looking forward to the pictures.
dave

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

Those issues are making you work harder vs. smarter

 

[murphy4trees]

165...
Nice job... And I think you made a good call on tensioning on your end... The bottom line here is that you are resposible for the safe completion of the job and you do it in a way that makes you comfortable . So that was your call and no one has the right to tell you any different.
My first speedline job was a $3K tulip removal, which was actually touching the wires on the back side and right over dogwoods, shrubs and rose beds on the front side. On the other side of those rose gardens there was this huge wide open yard. I bought some rescue pullies, loop runners and biners just for the job.... and it went so smooth... The tree was down, chipped and wood gone in less than a day and another few hours to rake up the mess and repair the lawn...
I still don't set up speedlines very often, but when they are needed they are GREAT!!!
God Bless All,
Daniel

 

[treeslayer]

Yeah, you're right about that, john.
I've had some great guys in the past, and I'm looking forward to getting another good crew set up.

I'll be hiring around May.
I'll bet your answer to new/inexperienced help is training, isn't it?
I would love to take some advanced rigging classes, get a couple of guys back, and go down to Fairfax and Arlington (Lots of big trees= big$$) to plunder and pillage! (Ha-HA toddppm!)

 

[mikecross23]

Brian,
Nice pics! I have been wanting to do a speedline but haven't had a practical application for it yet. I bid a job about 3 months ago that would have been the perfect opportunity to set one up. I never did hear back from the guy though.

Did you use the same 3:1 set up that you showed me on our zip line? I didn't catch how you controlled the decent of the limbs either.

Always curious,
-Mike-

 

[treeclimber165]

Here ya go, Mike. This might help explain what I had going on a little better.
No, I didn't bother with a 3-1 on the speedline since I had plenty of room and sag wasn't much of a factor. I also didn't want to put excessive side pull on my speedline anchor or the spar. I just used a full wrap around the spar and secured the rope using a Distel hitch and biner so I could take up some slack.

The guy on the lowering line controlled the lowering speed down the speedline.

 

[mikecross23]

I got-cha. You didn't need a descent control line b/c there was enough slack to keep the load from reaching 200mph.

Is it acceptable to use a maasdam rope puller to tention the line? I hope so b/c I used one for a zip line I made a few months ago on a fun climb. I tied a stopper knot so if for some reason the puller did let the rope go, I wouldn't die.

 

[Kneejerk Bombas]

So you have to move the speedline with you as you work up the tree?

 

[treeclimber165]

Originally posted by Mike Maas
So you have to move the speedline with you as you work up the tree?

Nope, I moved the lowering block up to rig out the top limbs and dropped down after each cut to attach the limb to the speedline. The man on the lowering line held the limb until it was attached to the speedline then lowered it down to the groundies.

Once I got it topped out I dropped all the rigging and chunked down the trunk into the small opening I had. The groundies grabbed each chunk in between cuts so I wouldn't have chunks bouncing off into the shrubs.

I'm sure there are faster, more efficient ways to speedline out a tree, but I was working with "Joe Treeguy with Truck, Chainsaw and a Ladder". None of them had any real tree experience and I wasn't going to spend the entire day training them from 50' up.

As a side note- one of the groundies was fascinated watching me climb and expressed interest in learning more. I told him to pick up a copy of TCC from the Vermeer shop and start reading. Then call me after he read it at least 3 times. Bright kid- 20, good shape, looked like he'd make a good climber.

 

[rahtreelimbs]

Originally posted by Kevin
Brian;
You didn't by chance drop the load on a tensioned speed line ... did you?

I must be out of the loop on this one. Why isn't a tensioned speed line a good idea?

 

[treeclimber165]

A tensioned speedline is good, dropping a load on one (shock loading) is not good. Tremendous forces can be transmitted to the anchor and the side loading on the tree being removed can have unintended results.
The rope man lowered the limbs even with the speedline and I clipped them on. Then he lowered them down the speedline.

 

[rahtreelimbs]

Gotcha!