It's a climbing thing, you'll never understand

[kevinj]

I take my hat off to all the people that climb and make it seem so easy. It is truly a gift. I just wish the customers could see you all in the same light. It never fails to amaze me the way people act like its a job anyone can do.

Does getting on a ladder, leaning against a tree count?
No. I feel the same way.
I've got tons of respect for you guys.
I wish I could get up there, but I'm terrified of heights.
Think I'd rather bring em down to my level.
Good thread, Ralph.
I think this will be right up there with OLE TOM 361.

 

[treevet]

This is a great thread. I ve been climbing since 1970 when returning from Viet Nam without any lapses. I have a 55 and 75 foot aerial truck but there is still lots of stuff you can t get to. Love climbing from the onset and never was a groundy or spray guy. I operate a tree service w just one employee but before you start feeling sorry for me I have mass equipment, a beautiful home and best of all--I am still a climber. I love the way it makes my body feel. You hit muscles you don t get in the weight room and pull harder on them when it may be your life not just a dumbell on your big toe. Everything took a decided turn when I quit drinking and crooked cigarettes 17 years ago. To get the scared anymore I got to be in the 100 foot plus. There is just sheer pleasure in moving around in any tree w your bodyon auto pilot w the balance and skillsinvolved and either working on a beautiful living organism or the ability to remove a difficult takedown. The only similar feeling in my life is taking a 100 mph sweeper on my triumph speed triple or a racquetball match (i can still compete at top level in my area bcs of tree work) w both of us blasting the ball at each other. You guys are all lucky or smart or both to choose this profession. Ditto: "Touch trees". Al Shigo.

 

[jmack]

I thought I'd start a thread for us climbers here. From the guy who only does removals to the guy who climbs to snip dead twigs, from the new guy climbing his first tree to the seasoned veteran, we all share something that makes us not only stand head and shoulders above the crowd, but many dozens of feet as well, comfortably wielding a chainsaw at heights that would cause a ground pounder to swoon in fright and cutting wood so close to our own bodies as to make others gasp in fear.
We intimately know our charges, have caressed places only accessible to us and birds, we live our lives high above, tethered by a silky strand, understanding and manipulating forces of nature in such a way as to make it seem easy. Anyone can fell a tree, one only needs to cut it to accomplish this since gravity is still on, cutting wood to length while standing on the ground? childsplay, our students do this menial task hoping one day to accompany us to heights, to break free of their earthly bonds and walk with us where eagles fly.

So, here's to the climbers onsite, the upper echelon, the very ones this site was named for, the ones who can do everyone else's job, but only he can do his.
sound off climbers, how long you been above the rest?
-Ralph

Begleytree, climber, 20 years exp.

'81 summers, '83 fulltime sweet career!

 

[Tree Slayer]

I was sent up in a very large Linden tree with another climber when I was 16 on summer vacation. That was in 1977 been doing trees ever since.I don't climb as much as i use to, but still climb when I have to or feel like it.

 

[beowulf343]

Best job there is!! Nothing like the feeling of dropping out a top from seventy feet in the air, roping huge leads over roofs and dropping them in a tiny landing areas, muscling a 394 through a cottonwood while still thirty feet up, the smell of the saw when you first start it on a cold winter day, feeling the tree flexing under your feet when you are up on a windy day, the awe on people's faces when you drop a thirty foot stem into a little backyard-man I could just go on. Got to give credit to my groundies though-without the excellent work they do, my job would would be nowhere as awesome.
Twelve years professionally.

 

[underwor]

40 years since I started. Not full time now, but I try to keep up to help warp the young minds that I have in class. I tell them that I will not make them do anything I wouldn't. Usually have to back that up at least once a year. Enjoy every minute in the tree.

 

[Davey Dog]

I am coming up on 12 years saddle time now...... I wouldnt change anything about the choices that I have made in my life. I love the work I do and wouldnt go back if I could.

Great thread......

 

[adkranger]

Great thread Ralph.. 20 years experience in the trees, not counting my boyhood facination in driving my mother absolutely crazy by climbing the willows, hemlocks, maples, silos, barns and pretty much everything else in the woods around our house. Climbed full time for ten years before my current career, but could not get it out of my blood plus still had all my own gear so I've been climbing "on the side" for the last ten years. Plus my day job affords me lots of rope time on rock, ice, the occaisional rescue and my personal favorite out of a helicopter. Nothing like a 100' rap off a floating anchor with nothin' but air around ya.:rockn:

Nothing draws an appreciative suburban crowd like a skilled climber workin' tricky riggin' on a sporty take down. The puzzle of figuring out how you're going to work that big nasty down into crowded little yard. The feeling when you pull off a move you knew you could do, but still there was that little nagging voice warning you that it had to be perfect or...... When that last piece is off safely and you're down to the bare stem. It's all good. I liked reading the previous posts. From the 40+ year guys to the guys just starting out, cheers.

 

[Xtra]

Going on 4 years now.
I spent 14+ yrs behind a desk getting lazy and fat. After being "downsized" and getting laid off all my old work mates thought I had gone crazy or must be a middle life crisis, to start up a tree service company and god forbid do manual labor. Well, now I'm trim and tight and feel great. I have more energy to play with my sons (8 & 3 yrs). The wife still hasn't completely bought into my lifestyle change - too physical & dangerous.

My two best experiences in the tree.
Two years ago about 70 ft up in a pine on the highest point in town next to the river. I was able to see above all the houses, out to the ocean, the giant hangers at Lakehurst Naval Base, and people water skiing below me. I thought if I erased the manmade stuff, I was looking at what the indians would have seen some 200 years ago. Then the sun came out and I was just hanging up there basking in the sun and taking in the beauty.

The other experience was doing a tall dead oak and looking down in the lot next door. Through the overgrowth I saw a cherry tree I used to play in as a kid (and broke my collar bone when the rope snapped that I was swinging on some 35 years earlier). About that same time my kids came down to see what Daddy does up in the trees . . . life kinda came full circle that day.

BTW:
Excellent description Ralph. If only my wife & clients could understand it.

 

[vharrison2]

It is truly a gift.

dshackle, I agree.

 

[Bermie]

I've been working outdoors since 1984, a four year stint teaching, then I finally got my feet off the ground in 2003 and I wish I hadn't taken so long.
I love it, I love the anticipation of sizing up the job, of doing what's right for the tree, hanging out on a branch in the sun, taking a phone call from a friend who's stuck in an office:biggrinbounce2:
I love looking back at the trees as you leave the site, and visiting them again to see how they're doing.
I love a fell that goes right, and talking with friends who share their experiences and advice when you need to talk about something that didn't go so well.

We're all waxing so poetic...I don't like loads of scratches and sawdust in my eyes, and sometimes the aches are a bit much, well, if that's all that's wrong, it's a pretty good job!

I DO NOT miss raking leaves, spraying chemicals, hours with a weed whacker or hoeing flower beds!

 

[adam]

walk with us where eagles fly...

20 years for me, mostly "where racoons defecate", but I love it
adam

 

[EngineerDude]

...acrophillic ... ???

Not sure what you're getting at.

 

[treeseer]

Not sure what you're getting at.

acro = heights

philic = loving

Opposite of acrophobic. What's not to get? It's all Greek to me.:jester:

 

[EngineerDude]

Ralph, I agree with diltree and all the others who said "great post"!

I guess I'm a newbie, having only been climbing with ropes for a year or so, and at that, far less frequently than you guys who do it for a living. And I suppose I'm a late bloomer too, as age 50+ probably isn't the typical time to begin.

Someone else in this thread used the term "envy". My envy is for all you guys who've been doing it and loving it for so long. But the bug has now bitten me, and I'll just say better late than never.

BTW, reading the thread brought back some wonderful memories of my mother, who used to be so frustrated with my coming home from free climbing our evergreens, all covered with pine pitch, and yet she never punished me nor forbid me from doing it. Wishing she was still around so we could share a laugh on it.

Great post!

 

[booboo]

Sweet thread. 10 years full time, mostly climbing, some in a bucket. 10 more years "on the side". Still love every chance to get off the ground...not many people can say that they come home pysched after a day of work they've been doing for 20 years. The sounds, the smells. I personally love looking at a piece of wood, figuring out what it is going to do, and then making it do exactly that. That and getting to the top, and just taking a deep breath and a look around...it's a lot more quiet up there. There's very few people that can pull off some of the stuff we do. That's a great feeling.

:rockn:

 

[nitwit dolt]

While thinking about how long I've been climbing I realized that I haven't been to church since I started climbing trees. I still say my prayers, I just found a better place to say them.

 

[M.D. Vaden]

Professionally 41.5 years, to seek my refuge and my strength about 50.

The site's named for arborists, and there are a few good arborists who are terrestrial. But I agree, as we were told to Touch Trees to know them, we who touch them all over can know them best.

I can go a day or two without climbing but if it gets close to a week I'm way out of sorts. I need to get off the ground to feel grounded.

Climb to Live, Live to Climb.

Which means that those who touch the tops, AND work with the roots like planting, have touched them best.

Climb and Dig to Live and Live and to Dig and Climb.

A tribute to those of us who have dug holes big enough to rival our heights

It's not like I never had climbing gear

 

[oldugly]

Some of you guys humble me...I've only been in the business 30 years, and I still get nervous over 50 feet with winds over 30 mph. Still do it all the time, but gets me a bit nervous.
I love working with other tree guys on the trees they don't want to do. Learning or trying new rigging techniques and watching my groundman, (my son) groan when he sees what I'm trying. I love going to work at dawn on a hot day, making the days quota and coming home to go fishing with some daylight left. I love the way the customers will watch with amazement as we pull down an "impossible" takedown.
I have enjoyed many things in this profession, but wonder how my life would have been different if I had a "real" job.
Great posts guys. As it has been said before, no one will ever completely understand.....except us. Wow!

 

[minderaser66]

climbing since 87. seen some funny ????, some weird ????, some coon ????,some scary ???? and some ???? i never want to ever see again. wouldnt give it up for the world.
stand proud....this is a damn tough job,not for heroes or show offs.
sometimes after ive just blown the top out of a huge tree i just light a smoke , think about those turds who work in an office all day. the poor bastards!