limb walking....

[budroe69moni]

i'm finishing up a live oak job tommorrow
and i've got a few questions. i've got to
work 2 more leads that start out about
30' up the trunk and are about 35-40' long.
i've been doing alot of limb walking lately but
i'm stumped. the leads are level for the 1st
10' but after that, they curve up at a 45 degree
angle for the next 15 feet before leveling out
again. w/ my T.I.P. up as far as i can go,
close to the center of the tree, how do i walk
up these leads?????? i know that i can do the
"shiney-hiney" but i want to improve my limb
walking techniques. HELP!!!!
thanks boys,
budroe

 

[treeman82]

Spencer, I am not familiar with the branch structure of live oaks, but is using a re-direct an option for you? If not, could you use a dead manned lanyard to help you get up those 45* parts? I really think though that using a re-direct will be your best bet... either that, or moving your TIP to different sides of the tree. Possibly a good reason to carry an in tree throw line???

 

[Tom Dunlap]

Try this in-tree SRT technique.

If there are lateral limbs close to you off the limb you're pruning, you can use a noose knot or some other monkey fist variation to toss the end of your clmibing line over. Flip the end back to yourself and tie it off with a running bowlie or equal. Make the tie off low, where you will return later. Now, use this as the srt line and keep your Doubled Rope too as a second tie in and balance. work your way up the limb and do your work. You could either reset your TIP on the limb or just back out the way you came in. If you use a Gri-Gri, Rocker or other similar tool all you have to do is rappel back out. Otherwise you have to choose another sliding friction hitch to descend on the SRT line.

Are you familiar with the M-style redirect that Mark Chisholm worked out? Its too late to describe. You could do a search here and T*eeB*zz

Tom

 

[heartland]

Budroe - I have same problem with a Cottonwood in my yard.

tm82 - In my case, there is no place for redirect...... simply because the limbs are way out there by themselves with no other limbs closeby.

I've thought about dropping a line about mid-way (it could hang from another branch, above the one I'm trying to walk). But even that does not provide good triangulation for balance, etc.....

Another thing is to girth-hitch a loop runner at the 45 degree part of the limb and use it as a foothold/step. Then continue advancing with more loop runners until you reach a part that levels out and can be walked. Using the lanyard throughout this process provides good stability. I've done this before and while time consuming, it does work.

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

One way I will go about this is to go along the side of the branch and put most of my weight on my rope. This is where good climbing boots come in, the grippier the sole the less effort put in. Coarser barked treeshelp to. Look for nubs and nodes and anything else that will afford a better grip with hand or boot.

Use your fliplineor tail end as an assist, throwing up over branches every few feet.

My style of climbing is sorta like mountaineering aid climbing, I will use my gear as much as possible to help me up.

Maybe get a rope over a branch, tie a hitch, pull myself up some, advance the hitch...

 

[Oxman]

With extra ropes & throwlines, could a tie in be set from the top of the tree by throwing sideways? This may involve having the ground crew assist with retreival of the tail on the far side.

The transfer between three trees in this forest involved some rope tossing from climber to climber. I believe the distance was 35-40' apart. A third tree out of view to the left had a third climber. All 3 of us converged in the tree my foot is standing on.

Read the story under the caption "Below:", at: (Click here)

A traverse can sometimes be best done as a team effort. One time I was plumb tuckered out during a game of TREE TAG by attempting to get into a third tree with a low tie-in. For some strange reason, my tie-ins are not quite as high as those who can place their ropes on skinny limbs (I wonder why?). As the realization of my impending failure emerged, my descriptive comment to Dan Kraus (seen donning his ascenders)was, "Traversus Interruptus". He immediately fired back his own interpretation of the quitters' move, "Traversus Groundonlyus".

Predicting this kind of thing ahead of time can sometimes expedite the process later in the climb. Using a long pole saw or grapnel to snag the far end of the line is an effective technique, although sometimes hard on the ropes.

I have been in the center of a clump of five trees, where this process helped a lot. Three could be done from one tie in by swinging over. The other two had their lines set by tossing a throwball over the top, and letting it run to the ground on the far side of the stem. The half-full bag with the remaining line was then tossed straight down, directly between the tree I was in and the tree I was going over to. This involved two throwlines in two separate bags. By the way, the ground could not be seen, because of the thickness of the foliage, and the height, which was less than 200' tall. The throw lines are about 400' long.

If the effort to return to the ground, set a line, then re-ascend is greater than cumbersome moves in the tree, then cumbersome it is. It's our own effort. Lets make the most of it

 

[treeclimber165]

For your particular scenario, Spencer, I gotta agree with John Paul. I constantly use my lifeline as a 'third leg' to keep my balance as I walk out the far side of a lead.

 

[budroe69moni]

the problem is this tree is so wide open
that there are no branches above these
leads. theres nothing to tie into so i can
walk the "far side" of these branches. the
only T.I.P. is on the other side of the tree
in line w/ these branches.

i've been leaning out againt my line and
i'm able to get out on the branch until
the upword turn starts. i stopped by
earlier this afternoon and got "stuck"
again!

i'm about to use heartland's idea w/ the
loop-runners to get by this upward section.

any other thought would be greatly appreciated!!!!

thank,
budroe

 

[Kneejerk Bombas]

Is this what it looks like?

 

[budroe69moni]

wow!!!!

hey mike,
that's pretty darn close!!!!!
there's not quite that much height
in the top of the tree but you pretty
much nailed it!!!!
talk to me brother,
budroe

 

[treeclimber165]

You got the idea, Mike. Love your artistry BTW. But don't quit your day job just yet.

This is very common in the big, spreading live oaks we have down here. Typical large live oak is 70'-80' tall but can have a DBH of 4' and a spread of 120' or more. I cut my teeth on trees like this and used every fiber of my being to get out some of those leads. I can't truly describe techniques, as I've used whatever I could to grip however I could. Tossing the tail of your rope over a fork out ahead of you and pulling on that as you let out your lifeline is a good one. Getting a tiny foothold on a bump in the trunk with your toe, knee, elbow, forehead or whatever works are things I've also done. Sometimes using a loop runner for a foothold can be a wonderful time saver, just pull it off on your way back to the trunk.

All I can say is that you are tackling fairly difficult trees for someone with only a year of climbing and you seem to be taking it in stride. You sound like a true natural and I can promise it will get easier with time and practice. I've laid awake at nights playing over a difficult situation I had that day until I worked it out in my mind. Then the next time I had a similar situation, it wasn't as hard.

 

[Kneejerk Bombas]

Here's one thought:

 

[budroe69moni]

picture's worth a thousand words.....

intresting!!!!
set a stationary line and "pull" myself up said
lead. any tips on feeding my life line through
my distal??????
budroe
p.s. thanks mike

 

[Joe]

I don't know about strength of the tree you're doing. It's been my experience in the past with trees that have low large limbs like I think being described that a limb of significant size can hold all of a climbers weight at the tips. If this is the case, then another approach may be to set a line on the tips of the limb that needs to be pruned from the ground. Then ascend to the tips of that limb from the ground. The other posters recommended some options that could still be used along with what I'm suggesting.

I scanned this thread quickly so some1 else may have already suggested this approach. If so, my apology for the repetition.

Joe

 

[Kevin]

or ...

 

[Rob Murphy]

Possable solution

Firstly I would try to get a higher TIP by using an adjustable false crotch. By looping in a series of smaller branches you spread the load and are able to get that higher TIP .
Secondly I use redirects or re tie in to the new leader I sometimes have moved my TIP many times in a tree , nothing to be ashamed of.

 

[Tom Dunlap]

Mike illustrated the idea that I had. Anchor the end to something and use an ascender to move up.

Here's another solution. I used this one time when I had to lower myself onto a broken tree. I didn't want to be in the tree in case it rolled or broke. By dropping in from above I was clear.

This is the rope path:

Anchor on the ground
Up through a secure crotch in the tips of the target limb. Follow the same route as MM's "anchor" line.
Through a crotch high in the tree near your main TIP
Back down to the ground
Secure the end to some kind of friction device ie: munter, gri gir, PAW, etc.

Let the second line slack down to the climber. Tie a mid-line loop knot like an alpine butterfly. Clip in a biner with a pulley and add a second climbing rope. This will become a floating false crotch. If you were to have both ends of the rope in friction devices you could move the FFC back and forth to a perfect, overhead position. Snug up the line and use the FFC as a double tie in.

If you could run the rope through another nearby tree you might be able to have a more horizontal, and maybe even higher, line.

Think of this along the same lines as setting up a zipline or Tyrolean traverse.

Has anyone else ever used etriers? These are sets of ladder steps made from webbing that bigwall climbers use. I made up a four step single out of some webbing. Only used it a few times.

Dave Spencer showed me a setup where they used an extension ladder strapped to the side of a trunk as a gin pole for the climber. The top of the tree had blown out years ago so it looked like the one in MM's illustration. Before anyone does this you need to do some research. Ladders aren't built to be used in this manner. All of the usual cautions and disclaimers belong here.

Are we making up complicated solutions when maybe the use of a long extension ladder might be the best solution?

Tom

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

Originally posted by treeclimber165
For your particular scenario, Spencer, I gotta agree with John Paul....

That musta hurt to admit

 

[d kraus]

There's a lot to be said for putting a little slack in your line and crawling up the tough spots with every available part of your body, then flipping in and setting a quick redirect while you work in that section.

 

[treeclimber165]

Originally posted by d kraus
There's a lot to be said for putting a little slack in your line and crawling up the tough spots with every available part of your body, then flipping in and setting a quick redirect while you work in that section.

Yup, you just hope no one is pointing a camera at you while you do this. I've pulled a few feet of slack in my lifeline, then just held the doubled rope in one hand and let it slip through as I pulled myself up with my other hand (and elbow, knee, right toe, left ear and any other part of my body that I could use).

JPS- I've been agreeing with you a lot lately. Must be something I ate, might need to see a doctor to make sure I'm ok.