what a fluke!

[1I'dJak]

As i've mentioned b4 I windfirm here in bc....so we either top or spiral prune the upper third or so of leave trees...to do this we have two fliplines so we can go over limbs, yet always be strapped in...anyways, I'm climbing up about a 3.5-4' cedar tree...come to a branch...get my second strap, and whip it around the stem...SNAP! WTF!...I look down on my D ring and the flipline i just threw snapped itself on...couldn't a done that in a million years...I inspect my snap..standard double action snap...gotta push the back of it B4 it'll open up...it's all good...slightly worn, but still won't open up without pushing the back of it....I was amazed! Usually if i hit anything its my hand or elbow...OUCH! Stem was about 2.5 feet where i was...I guess it whipped itself around the stem, hit the d-ring with enough force that it engaged the double action and clipped on...couldn't do it again in a couple a lifetimes...anyone else have any flukey stories like this...the best are when you look like a real pro!

 

[clearance]

Jak, I was windfirming on the Charlottes last year, using a double ended flipline, 18' long. I was climbing a relatively small (3'-4' d.b.h.) hemlock with big branches. I cut one and it hit the end of my flip line, causing the double action snap to close around the branch back onto the flipline. It was too heavy too pull up. I had the guys send me up another flipline, then I unclipped the first one and it fell to the ground with the branch. Couldn't do that again if I tried for years.

 

[1I'dJak]

...ouch...nothing like a tug on the old hips....suprised you didn't keep workin all day with that attached to you...draggin it up and down the trees, draggin it back to the truck! Sounds like a story i heard about a guy out stemming... cut a failry large marm off...as it fell it got caught up in his lifeline (he was letting it hang)... and i guess his belt was on pretty loose...yarded his belt down to his ankles...had to radio for some assisstance as he was stuck upside down...funny yet scary...amazing how the law of averages works out...while windfirming i was trailing my lifeline...anyways on my way up it got stuck....came down to where it was stuck...i swear it had clove hitched itself to the branch!

 

[1I'dJak]

r you doing residential or hydro work these days clearance?

 

[clearance]

I have seen a rope being pulled out of a tree tie itself in a clove hitch, it happens. I have heard of guys swinging into another tree, blowing off the top from that tree, screwing up and the top hits thier lifeline thats in the first tree. Scary stuff. Production climbing them trees was a blast, but you are dealing with some big trees, a long ways up and a long way from help.

 

[clearance]

r you doing residential or hydro work these days clearance?

Both, just a removal hack, you know how it goes.

 

[1I'dJak]

first your money then your clothes...I hear there is alot a removals required in the interior where there a lot dead pine in people's yards...If the strike goes on for awhile I was thinking of grabbing my gear and taking a tour of spots like kampoops...

 

[clearance]

I'm pretty close to Kam, many of the dead res. trees have been sawed down already. But the beetle is moving south, Kelowna is next. All the surounding communities to Kamloops have it. On the Hydro front here, lame is the best word, yes, they "care, are monitoring the situation, are aware" and so on. They are getting some dead trees removed but its painfully slow. You can drive for miles and miles and see stone cold dead pines, I mean no needles and grey, beside the lines. If this same deal was going on in Ontario or Quebec there would be boom trucks from all over the continent working here, making it happen. You could probably find work, hardworking tree killers are needed, thats for sure. Do not, whatever you do, lower anything big out of these p.o.s. trees, they are dry and brittle. The ones I have outright felled always break up when they hit the ground. And I mean flat ground, not slabbed out on rocks or nothing. Tops busted off at 10", stuff like that. Pound it down, don't save the lawn.

 

[BLACKeR]

^^^ yeah, try keeping that thought out of your head next time your 50ft up.


ive never had anything that exciting happen to me in a tree, but ill tell this since it just happened to me. i was pulling a rope bag of a shelf above my head. there were two loose rope snaps up there that fell when i pulled off the bag. i found only one. i couldnt figure out how i lost a rope snap in a small room. i looked everywhere couldnt find it. a few hours later i was changing my pants, it was in my lower cargo pocket.