Pine Pitch

[SWAMPY036]

4 40'ers today and I have a bid on a 70-85'er with a smaller one next to it. Easy climbing but man that $h1t raises hell with my friction knots. All of the ones today had damage fromn that nor-eastern snow last week so the sap was heavy. Oh well back at tomorrow. I also am finding that drinking cold beer is helping with the pitch on my hands and one more good thing is I wont be needing a air freshener for sometime.

 

[SRT-Tech]

yesterday i thinned out a large pine,...bucket loads of pitch on my flipline, Macrocender flipline adjuster and on my ropes, saw, gloves, handsaw.......stunk of pine pitch......

cleanup took about an hour and a bit........soaked the biners and macrocender in varsol, then scrubbed em clean, dried them and reoiled them. The flipline, well it can stay pitchy....., the ropes on the worst part i used baby oil and scrubbed with a nail brush...worked pretty good, then i washed them as normal. The handsaw, quick scrub with varsol, sparkly clean, even in the teeth and gullets.

i will be tackling another large pine sometime next week...........the owner has pitch collection troughs at the bottom..........should be real fun...might wear my old climbing pants and boots and a throwaway shirt for this one....:yoyo:

 

[clearance]

I have climbed lots of pine, spruce, and my all time fave for pitch, balsam fir. I just keep working, keep going, it wears off or wears in, whatever. I just wear jeans and a t-shirt to climb in, if I am going to fall and buck as well I wear my falllers pants with a belt, I cut the buttons for suspenders off them. Seen all your safety stuff there SRT, good for you, it keeps you safe, on sunday I slipped and fell on my saw when I was bucking a tree I climbed, got staples in my arm instead of stitches, nice change.

 

[SRT-Tech]

yes, everyone lists all their saws, figured i'd list all my PPE..

sometimes in really pitchy climbs, i'll use a mechanical ascender (Rescuecender) instead of a friction hitch. Teh mechanical ascender does'nt jam up like a friciton hitch does when clogged with pitch.

heal up Clearance! i'm trying to get to the island soon....go for beers!

 

[CRN Tree]

friction saver

I've used a friction saver in pines before keeps some of the pitch off climbing line.