monkey wrench in the works

[tinman44]

Burn!!

 

[DDM]

Hmmmmm Problem I have with Hooks is that I havent found a way to wear them they dont Bash my ankle bone when i kick them in.... Tin? Why not just use ropes and TOss the Hooks?

 

[tinman44]

i only have rope to get in trees. he has the rope and the hooks. so we use both methods, looks like i will be doing spike removals and he will do rope trims or removals

 

[jason j ladue]

there's a big difference between working through pain/injury and working w/ numbness. if you cant feel any thing you dont know if you're standing on a branch or not. sounds serious.

 

[OutOnaLimb]

I have a few pins, screws and wires in my right lower leg from a bullriding accitent back in 99. I feel it when Im spiking into hard dead wood all the time. Its annoying, but I deal with it. Every time I gaff into a piece with my left leg I feel the screws in my medial molarar. (the bump on the inside of your ankle) It sucks, you deal with it. I may get come Geckos in the future to see how the aleviate that discomfort. I will keep you posted on the results. In the mean time, just do what I do. Suck it up and dont be a wuss.

Kenn

 

[tinman44]

well the guy with the hurt foot works as a county sheriff and serves warrants, he says occasionally when he kicks in doors he can feel some pain, he's about 6' 8" and 280lbs

 

[gitrdun_climbr]

foot tingling strikes again!

i only use my spurs from time to time .. especially on wet, slippery removals in this seattle winter. yesterday i was in the bucks for about 6 or 7 hours and upon showering last night discovered that i had no feeling on one side of the TOP of my foot .. right about where that top strap goes. i had excellent quality boots and my gaffs are in great condition (alothough maybe not as broken in as they could be). problem is, today the site is still numb (well .. tingly and numb). feels like classic pinched nerve anyone have this happen???

different tolerances for different folks i know but i sure won't let this stop me from strapping up and getting the job done though. gotta bring home the bacon if you know what i mean.

safe climbing in the new year (and every year!

 

[pantheraba]

I did a big leaning pine last March at my house and after 2 days on spurs ( I can't remember which boots I used) my right foot was numb, not completely, but not normal, for several months. It slowly got better but the next time I used the spurs I got some of that again. It has slowly resolved but I attributed the numbness to the spur strap at the time.

I have never had that happen before this year. Some of that numbness and arch "pressure' came back when I was on spurs a lot the first week of Katrina. The 2nd week was mostly spurless but the limb pressure on that right arch was aggravating sometimes.

That was about 4 months ago, it's mostly OK now. I have some new caddy pads and all new straps enroute from Wesspur. I'll be curious to see how I do with them.

 

[gitrdun_climbr]

spurrrrrs and feet

pantheraba - I was suprised to have numbness on the foot after only 7 hours in them as I too did some Katrina relief work from Biloxi as far east as Mobile and was on my spikes ALL day. I never had any problems.

as an update the feeling is coming back already. Was kind of tingly (which indicates only nerve irritation not total severance or damage) .. I think this may have boiled down to wrenching that top strap too tightly. I was spiking around on a 3 leader conifer (20 y/o cedar) with small fragile branches and thin bark so I strapped 'em up for the removal. I'm thinking about placing a nice leather shank or something to spread the pressure.

several months for the feeling to return pantheraba? yikes!

 

[jmack]

spikes

at any rate he says he cant climb anymore with the type of straps he has

What type of boots are you guys wearing I used redwings and kleins for years some times for 8-10 hrs up nice ground crew eh, my top pad i had the felt covered shin cup. I now have wescos lifetime rebuild on these and custom steel toe if you can wait and buck velcro steel shinccups. Buck makes an additonal pad that slides onto the shank for ankle protection quite comfy too. The other thing that i have heard is to take the bottom strap and wrap it once around the shank for better ditribution of weight. whose gaffs were they, are they put together properly? do you have the right size gaff itself(pole/Tree)? went to work for a clown and he had been in business 20plus years (I brought my own gear) he is telling me he hates removals his spikes hurt etc etc one day he brings them out and starts strapping up I look and the split ring was over the top of his foot, out of the box years before he had never assembled them right ! ouch

 

[gitrdun_climbr]

Bucks are proper tree spikes, assembled right. Custom fitted (not hand me downs). Just pulled too tightly on the top strap. Only takes two pounds of pressure on a nerve to lose signal. Can take days and even weeks to come back. Main thing is to resolve the problem right away as prolonged nerve damage can result in permanent damage (nerves may regenerate but maybe not fully). I hate to use the term 'pad' here, but I'm gonna put one on my gaffs.

Interesting about wrapping the strap around the shank of the spikes once before going over the foot. I'll have to try that. Seems like it would hold the spikes more firmly. Is that the objective?

Seattle winter

 

[kennertree]

Try geckos. I hated wearing spikes due to how my ankle would feel after a long day in the tree. After i bought geckos i have no trouble at all. They are very comfortable but they take a while to get used to.

 

[PowersTree]

Wrapping the strap around the shank does help relive the pressure on the foot. But most importantly it holds the gaff more stable. I was taught from the get go to do it this way.