Scared of heights?

[Old Monkey]

I've always found it interesting that you can put someone up in a sixty foot tree with all its limbs and they feel good. Take off all the limbs and leave a sixty foot pole and most folks tense up on it. The tree without the limbs is stronger for the lack of weight but the tree with the limbs feels more secure. I used to limb and top trees then deliberately make them sway to "feel" how secure they are and allay my fear. Palm trees on windy days still make me pucker. I keep thinking about all the hurricane footage I've seen on the news and how they bend and don't break. FEAR=NORMAL
I too think Butch is a cyborg, climbing all those years and he's still ambulatory.

 

[chipper]

It's not that I don't trust my gear; I do. I think that it is just a sudden rush of mortality.

 

[Beast12]

I've always found it interesting that you can put someone up in a sixty foot tree with all its limbs and they feel good. Take off all the limbs and leave a sixty foot pole and most folks tense up on it.

I am that way. I can climb a tree and not be too bad but once it is just the top and I have cut most of the bottom branches off I don't feel as "comfortable". I think it has a little to do with the fact that I can actually see how high up I am (less obstructions).

-Matt

 

[clearance]

I not that scared of heights as much as I used to be, but some trees scare me. Today we slayed 7 big cottonwoods on a res. job. We had a bucket truck so buddy took off as many branches as he could, then I climbed out of the bucket. One was a leaner and as I got in it it started raining like crazy and the wind came up. Anyways, when I saw branches and tops disintegrate when they hit the pavement it gave me a queesy feeling, like what if it brakes below me?

 

[MasterBlaster]

Cinch up un yur lanyard, and you'll be fine.

Pay attention to the task at hand.

Ignore the scenery.

Accomplish the task... Err...

Git it done!

 

[jason j ladue]

why does the wind always wait til yer in the top? would some1 splain that to me...

 

[MasterBlaster]

To keep the mosquitos off ya.

 

[jason j ladue]

HA! butch you are the coolest. no doubt. you are cooler than snoopy...

 

[Beast12]

why does the wind always wait til yer in the top? would some1 splain that to me...

It's always there, you just don't notice it until you start to get nervous. That'sd when you notice EVERYTHING! "Hey that hole wasn't in the tree when I went up the first time!"

-Matt

 

[Tom D. Wilson]

its not about fear itsself but how you control it - any one whose in this game says they'v never been Sh1tt1ng themselves at some point is a liar or an idiot. keeping your cool is the measure of the man i reckon

 

[Tom D. Wilson]

and i dont mean they'r fraid every day but at some point you'v had a twitchy ring

 

[underwor]

When I lose the respect for the heights we work at, I had better quit! After 38 years I still notice the breezes that waft across the ND plains and gently rustle the tree tops. But it is still fun. I am still considering a climb of the Underwood Tree, 297' redwood, on my 60th birthday if I can work out the details in the next 2 years. I tell my students that they are safer at 200' than at 10 feet. In a fall, when you hit the ground head first, the results will be the same, however from 200' you might catch a limb and you might learn to fly. You have time for neither from 10'!!!

 

[MasterBlaster]

and i dont mean they'r fraid every day but at some point you'v had a twitchy ring

A "Twitchy ring?"

Hahahahahaaa, sweet!

 

[Old Monkey]

In a fall, when you hit the ground head first, the results will be the same, however from 200' you might catch a limb and you might learn to fly.

If I didn't find a sudden aptitude for flying, I think I'd go through all the major religions I know asking their deities for some timely intervention. If that didn't work, I'd ask myself, "What would Wiley Coyote do in this situation?"

 

[clearance]

underwor-that big redwood sounds like it would take a long time to strip&chunk. Guess you need spurs with really long gaffs to climb that. If you can drop 41'6" logs from the top down and have them land flat, that would impress me totally. How big of a butt log do you have room to fall? Good for you, the biggest tree I ever cut was a 140' Douglas fir I climbed to the top (after I climbed out of the bucket, so only 70' counts).

 

[Tom D. Wilson]

, "What would Wiley Coyote do in this situation?"

probably hit the deck stick his head out of the hole before getting tonked on the head by his chainsaw and then the tree landing on him - you'd have thought the he would have stopped using Acme by now - none of their stuff ever works - he needs to learn his consumer rights

 

[Al Smith]

Fear of heights?

Fear and respect are two different things .I've been dancing high steel for over 30 years .It's only a danged fool that is not concerned at heights .Use your perifial vision to orient yourself.Keep your eyes on the task,not the ground .As has been stated already,many things can affect your sense of balance,congestion,low blood sugar etc.I think,in my own little life,that my concern,not fear,is what has kept me alive so long.The higher I get,the slower I go.Then again,I get paid by the hour,and not everybody can climb,so,in a way,it's a good thing,or at least it works for me.

 

[jason j ladue]

butch, i was thinking about your words yesterday. "focus on the task @ hand". up in the top of a white oak -all vertical stems, but pretty good sized. it had been real blustery all day on and off. i got clear up there and tied in to two different stems so i could go all through the middle of it and grab a couple big dead ones. and one good sized hanger. the sky had turned dark gray. began to rain hard. 25mph gusts. this was about 65' up- all over the top of this nice house. i was rockin and reelin. i started thinking "what other meteorlogical could ya dish out?" then while i wasn't looking the kid next door had come out to fetch the garbage cans from the curb. have you ever noticed how much like thunder those things sound when they're empty- especially when youre rolling em two-at-a-time. i thought for sure an electric storm was coming. made me laugh, but that wind was not funny. just kept thinking to my self "focus on the job @hand..." well, i guess it worked. thanks blaster. and btw...not one mosquito bite all day. oh yeah. when i got down and was eating my sandwich there was'nt a cloud in the sky or a spot of wind. typical...

 

[Old Monkey]

I got lucky today and slushy wind driven snow came down during my lunch time, the rest of the time it was just a bitingly cold wind.

 

[chipper]

Thanks everyone. I really got something from "focusing on the talk on hand" just yesterday. I was up in some more massive maples and was testing myself. As soon as my concentration left the height and more on the work, it became less bothersome and more of a fun challenge. I haven't been climbing for that long, but every once in a while it just gets to me. As for the 279' redwoods, ????, sounds like a trip to me!!Thanks again all. I just need to remember why I got into climbing in the first place......because I really enjoy it and get a great rewarding feeling after a job safely and well done.