Whats the best way to get comfortable up high in the tree

[RandomWoodsman]

In the tops that are really thin and flexy I will route my tie in through a couple points to spread out my weight this will also feel a little more stable and hopefully make u feel better other than that practice practice practice.

 

[capetrees]

And also know your trees. What I mean is know how the tree will react under pressure from you climbing on it. I'll climb and hang in an oak all day but I'd never do any limb walking on a willow or alianthus. Even maples make me nervous. I'll climb way out on a thin black pine branch but I'll stay close to the trunk on a white pine. Some trees are brittle, some are very forgiving.

 

[szajer]

The best way to get comfortable high up in a tree........

Put a big Bear in the bottom of the tree while you are in it.

Too bad they're better climbers than most of us here.

 

[TREENATE]

WHAT????!!!!

So by your reasoning nobody should be up in the tree, skilled or otherwise, for any length of time because it's dangerous? Really? And if your are comfortable up there you're a druggie? WOW!!

I've been up in the trees since I was 10 and I am MORE comfortable up in the canopy than on the ground or on a ladder. I could sit in the trees for days and not care or get nerved up. Came down only once in 40 years of climbing trees and thats because a wild weather front came in and nearly blew me out of the tree and I've never done any drugs (don't even like to use asprin).

My advise to anyone that is uncomfortable climbing a tree is to NOT DO IT. Would you be an electrictian if you were uncomfortable around electricity or a doctor uncomfortable around blood or virus's? I will admit that for much of my climbing life, I climbed without gear, all freestyle and often with saws for tree and branch removal. Unsafe, you bet. Comfortable? You bet and I wouldn't have been there if I wasn't. Got my saddle and spikes just a few years ago and now I can do soooo much more in the tree and safer. But all the gear in the world won't make you more comfortable if you don't have confidence in what you're doing. I didn't trust my saddle at first but I've become completely comfortable but still respectful of the idea it could break. Become more comfortable by doing more in the canopy. Height doesn't matter. Good TIP, good saddle, good flipline and good technique will prove to you you can do it. But don't force it. Some can climb, some can't.

That's funny, I used to do electrical work and I never really got comfortable around it either. It's scary stuff. The last company I worked for had a guy fall 40 feet from a palm tree. He was high or stoned or whatever you call it. He was pretty comfortable and fearless up in that tree. He was so comfortable that he leaned back on his lanyard but forgot to clip in. He was way comfortable until he hit the ground. I've been rock climbing since 1989 and I've been doing tree work since 2000 and I still stand by what I said. Don't get too comfortable up high because that is when accidents happen. I think that goes double for someone who is new to working up high.

 

[Matt81]

Maybe it's not good to get too comfortable up there? It's a high risk environment especially when you add a chainsaw to the mix.

Couldn't have put it better myself.

When all said and done you are still high off the ground with only a rope for stopping a long drop with a sudden stop. We are all trained in procedures. Clip in, double check etc...etc... it is mental training to be constantly vigilant and aware of checking and double checking

The more comfortable mentally you are, certain people have a tendency to become complacent. Then it's more likely you will be 1 or 2 steps ahead with your brain but your body hasn't caught up. That's when accidents have the potential to occur. Too many people i have worked with or known are way too complacent and are always thinking too far ahead and not on what they are doing right now in the tree.

I know of someone who told me of a climber who he worked with was working away at a million miles an hour in a tree and he absent minded clipped one end of his lanyard into his caritool. He was still on the rope thank goodness but he sure got a shock when he leaned back and caritool snapped and he fell with no warning. He had the arrogance to blame the caritool!! I say he was an idiot for putting the caritool right next to his side D and not taking the extra second to check he was clipped in correctly.

Another friend told me also of a new climber who was very confident and had a "good head for heights" in his own words. He was working an easy tree as he was still greenish but had an experienced groundie. Branches were all off and he was blocking down the trunk. At this point he was only around 15-20 feet off the ground with spikes and a polebelt. Climber was getting impatient and irritated because the saw was playing up and he called out to the groundie who was spotting for him, to go to the truck and grab another saw. Groundie told him not to cut anything and wait for him to return. He went to get the saw but as soon as he started walking back he heard the climber re-start the saw and begin to cut. Groundie rushes back to see the climber cut straight through his polebelt then instantly drop the saw and bear hug the tree. He had to come down 15 feet with only his spikes.

Being too comfortable mentally can lead to complacency. Same goes for being distracted or allowing something to get you angry or upset. It only takes one thing for you to forget to do, or do in the wrong order and it can all be over. Not everyone gets a second chance like these 2.

 

[TREENATE]

I personally know of 4 bad falls that resulted in significant injury or death. One was an amateur on a ladder that cut a big branch which knocked his ladder out from underneath him. He wasn't tied on and he landed on his heels which were shattered, among many other injuries. Another amateur "self-taught" guy tried to rappel off one frond of a palm tree with a limb-saver. The stiff webbing acted as a wedge and pushed the frond away from the tree. He fell 40 feet onto grass and broke most of the bones on his left side. Since he landed someplace soft they were not complete breaks and he healed amazingly well. Third guy was on drugs and forgot to clip in on a palm tree and fell an unknown distance. I don't know much about his injuries. The fourth guy was in a palm tree that was overgrown and the fronds collapsed on him. I cut the tree down the next year and I felt like his ghost was watching in satisfaction. When palm trees are overgrown they need to be trimmed with a lift from the top down.

I think there are some things these guys had in common, the most important being how casual they were with their own lives. The other thing I just realized is how many people get hurt doing palm trees.

 

[Matt81]

When palm trees are overgrown they need to be trimmed with a lift from the top down.

I think there are some things these guys had in common, the most important being how casual they were with their own lives. The other thing I just realized is how many people get hurt doing palm trees.

I had 3 palms around 35 feet high nothing like the ones in your pic, to remove for an uncle. It was a really tight access between a large shed and a fence and the neighbours house all within 4 meters. Not only was it around a 2 hour one way trip but i couldn't shake the thoughts of all the stories i had heard of bad things happening to guys climbing palms. Also i had never ever done one before as i live up in the mountains while my uncle lives by the ocean where they are far more common.

His neighbour ended up getting a large camphor laurel taken down and while the tree service was on site my uncle got a good deal for them to do all 3 of the palms that were left with their cherry picker.
I was relieved as i just could not shake that feeling off my back. I am not scared at height in a tree and would not have approached working in the palms any differently to any other tree i have done, in terms of safety and planning. I think we get that feeling for a reason. Call it a sixth sense or self preservation.

I think being too comfortable also can mean shutting out these feelings and pressing on with the job regardless. If we don't listen to it sometimes is there any wonder when bad stuff happens?

 

[beastmaster]

I can't help but feel comfortable up in a tree. I am kind of clumsy on the ground but trees are second nature to me and i move around pretty good. I'm real good at doing tip work, don't matter if the tree is 10 ft or 120 ft. Just because I'm comfortable and at ease hanging a 100ft up, out on the end of a skinny branch,doesn't mean I'm unsafe or on drugs. That sounds like something you've rationalize to explane your own fears. I am a professional climber, why wouldn't I be comfortable?
I think being scared and nervious up in a tree would would lead to an accident quicker then some one who feels at one with the trees he in. Safety is either built into you or not. I am in the here and now when I'm up there, very aware of whats around me, I follow rules Ive learned and double check every thing. I do these things none stop without lots of thought. I'm safe and comfortable, to be otherwise just don't make no sense. Being over confident or cocky is different then being comfortable, maybe the two are being confused,
.

 

[sgreanbeans]

word

 

[Matt81]

I can't help but feel comfortable up in a tree. I am kind of clumsy on the ground but trees are second nature to me and i move around pretty good. I'm real good at doing tip work, don't matter if the tree is 10 ft or 120 ft. Just because I'm comfortable and at ease hanging a 100ft up, out on the end of a skinny branch,doesn't mean I'm unsafe or on drugs. That sounds like something you've rationalize to explane your own fears. I am a professional climber, why wouldn't I be comfortable? I think being scared and nervious up in a tree would would lead to an accident quicker then some one who feels at one with the trees he in. Safety is either built into you or not. I am in the here and now when I'm up there, very aware of whats around me, I follow rules Ive learned and double check every thing. I do these things none stop without lots of thought. I'm safe and comfortable, to be otherwise just don't make no sense. Being over confident or cocky is different then being comfortable, maybe the two are being confused,
.

The word comfortable has been thrown around a lot since the beginning of this thread. Speaking for myself i am referring to someone being mentally relaxed, complacent, not switched on and not focused. Someone on autopilot.
A danger to themselves and others. In other words someone who is focused on anything but following sound technique and procedure and looking out for their own and others necks. I don't mean we should not be physically comfortable and at ease working in the tree. Of course we all should be! To be intimidated by and nervous of working at height is just a disaster waiting to happen. If you don't become comfortable up there after a certain period you don't belong there.

I think TreeNate is just pointing out that we should be a little more aware of what is going on around us and what we are doing. From his examples of those climbers who got killed or injured it sounds like they were on autopilot and not in charge of events that they should have been. I personally don't know of any climber i have worked with or anyone doing tree work on drugs. If i did they would not have been working, at least with our crew anyway. I did personally have an involvement in the dismissal of a young climber who was with us for only 5 or so months because of an alcohol problem. Yes i know it is a drug too. Nothing wrong with being a little bummed when hearing of someone getting killed or injured, it is always something to feel sorry for regardless of their own stupidity or not. A death affects so many more people than just the person who died. It is always something to take note of.

His blanket statement "The most comfortable guys are those who climb on drugs" is just plain wrong however. A sign of being comfortable when working in trees shows an application of training procedures, a physical and mental aptitude for the work and most of all (hopefully) a love for the job! "The most mentally relaxed and dangerously complacent guys are those who climb on drugs" i think fits much better.

I will admit that for much of my climbing life, I climbed without gear, all freestyle and often with saws for tree and branch removal. Unsafe, you bet. Comfortable? You bet and I wouldn't have been there if I wasn't.

Some have a feel and a natural aptitude for the work some don't. Some take safety and looking after their own neck seriously some don't. I have never done any tree climb work with no gear but i used to, as i'm sure all of us did, climb trees as a kid. A lot. When i look back now on some of the trees we would climb, 80' plus right to the top until there was nothing left to stand on or hold onto, i can't believe i ever did that. But we did.
I guess we were a lot lighter back then. We got so used to doing it and moving around safely up at height that we never thought about falling or what would have happened if the wind really picked up at that moment.
Like Capetrees says, we would not have been there if we were not completely comfortable in what we were doing. The more you do something the better you should get at doing it. Nothing is a substitute for being well practiced.

But all the gear in the world won't make you more comfortable if you don't have confidence in what you're doing

I think that says it all. Like i said. Some have a feel and a natural aptitude for the work some don't. A greenie with wobbly knees and a sketchy work technique won't work any better in an easy tree with a zigzig and all the newest and most expensive climb gear in the world. A competent and confident climber could work a difficult tree with nothing other than a basic entry level climb rope and a prusik loop connected to their harness. I know because this is how i have climbed for years until just lately i have been bitten by the "shiny gear" bug. Partly out of need as since i left my old job to start out on my own i had to have my own stuff. If i am honest though i have bought a lot of fancy crap i may never end up using simply because of all the hype and advertising that goes along with new technology climb gear. Sometimes i think even with all the gear we use, we think too much about only the bad things that can happen. No matter how much gear or how expensive or cool it is, it is never a substitute for practice, following a sound technique and having a physical and mental aptitude for the work!!

 

[Projector]

I'm slow and safe, and happy I am when that crazy thing happens. Try to be as calculated as possible, and be prepared for what might happen. 2 tip when running a saw and make your cuts between waist and chest height. Spend time up high, if your nervous either it's not right or you don't have the experience, spend time doing smaller trees like they're 100 ft plus i.e rigging tops. It will get yourself the feel for the shake and make you so happy when you just have to chunk down sections.

 

[sgreanbeans]

Comfortable and complacent are to very different things. One does not mean the other. I am comfy but never complacent.

 

[Greener]

"Certain trees" is what you said. Some trees will spook some of us more than others. The best advice given (in fact the only good advice I've seen here) is the guy who said "know the species of trees" you are climbing. This, in addition to being familiar with common pests and diseases and how to recognize them will give you more confidence in terms of the integrity of various trees. Keep your caution, though, it will keep you "upright" and "above ground."

 

[adrenaline junkie]

Im scared of heights but I think that is why I do it. Trust yourself and double check everything. Enjoy the free buzz!

 

[AdamOnRope]

I've been doing big trees for five plus years now and still get the jitters when I'm 80 + feet and blowing in the wind (white pines are the worst) but as long as I've done a thorough assessment of the tree and know that there are no major defects then I just tell myself that if it hasn't fallen down yet it likely won't now with little old me in it...works for me!

 

[Volandtitanfan]

Ive been in tree tops since I was a kid. It still hits a nerve every now and then. I just look at this as a sixth sense or whatever you wanna call it telling me to stop and look around and make sure everything is secure and like it should be. Sometimes our subconcious is telling us we forgot something. Always trust your intincts never just force yourself to make a cut, climb or move unless you double check yourself. Your mind remembers more than you think.

 

[ArtB]

start young -



top kid in the summer of 2010 picture above recently topped his first > 60 ft tree, next to house, pic below. Handsaw though, no chainsaw in treetops yet for 14 YO.

Of course, as others have said, find a good spot after your cut and sit there and admire the view for awhile - from where grandson is sitting on a branch few feet down from top, great view of Olympic mountains.

 

[beastmaster]

My first real tree job was in the 70's, there wasn't a lot of safety stuff back then, no brakes on the saws, no locking clips, we made our own lanyards from three strand, and the crews were not soft and fuzzy.
You started out as a groundsmen, on a 5 man bug crew you had to learn fast. You would work with a climber, keeping his ropes clear, gassing up his saw, and watching and anticipating his every move up in the tree. After work we would learn knots ask questions. I climbed a thousand trees before I climbed a single tree.
Before I put on a pair of spikes I was well versed in what to look for and do. That gives you confidence by its self. while learning I would get the trees no one else wanted to do, leaners, sap covered sugar pines, bee trees. Even as rest the crew would be telling me to put my purse down, and pick up the saw, and hundreds of other "encouragements"', I knew they had my back.
Point being I was well trained. I run into lots of climber today who really don't know much. Even kids climb trees, it's not rocket science. The Art of climbing is knowing the trees and your own limitations. Am I scared because it dangerous, or because I don't know if it dangerous or not? I sometimes do stuff that people think I'm crazy, but I never take chances. If your trained right, and make aware of whats right and safe and whats not. Have certain rules ingrained in your brain, you'll be more comfortable in a tree. Its not being aware of a situation that makes us feel uncomfortable. Many climber get moved into situations they have no knowledge about. I'LL climb to the tip top of a Pondarosa pine in a 40 mile an hour wind, but wouldn't a white fur.Training and experience is what makes us comfortable high up in the trees.

 

[Fireaxman]

How to get comfortable up high in a tree?

Good training, experience, a secure tie-in, good equipment, a little padding, and a good beer.
After the work is done, and the chain saw is lowered to the ground, take the time to relax and enjoy.

100 feet up in a 200 foot second growth Redwood.

 

[dblack]

Hey I only have 25-30 hours of climbing experience. I climb part time. I was wondering if any of you guys have trouble with your forearms cramping up? Especially during snap cuts when you've climbing for an hour or two? I also was wondering if anyone gets a little Elvis leg going whenever your calf twitches? What are these things caused by?