What tool or method do you use to determine your elevation when in a tree?

There will be an angle of shooting factor in with this type of calibration. If you always shoot the same angle, it will work, otherwise, adjust in your head.

For conifers... know the length of your lines to the inch.

I've got about four different lines I use when removing conifers. I'f I'm using Jerry Beranek's 18 percent rule, (The cutting of 18 percent of a stob to get the cut part to do a 270 degree flip--belly-flop--to the ground,) then it's imperative to know your height to the ground to within five feat or so. Climb lines don't lie although your ground guys might because they're too lazy to stretch your rope out 90 degrees from the tree to tell you how much is still on the ground.

Oh Jed, you're too much buddy!

TLAR....

Y'all are just scared of the math...
.

In the tree, I use climb line length too.

I have all ya'll beat at 420 and 350 feet.

When I started recreational climbing, I used an old automatic (spring loaded/self winding) fly reel to drop a weight to the ground, marked the line and measured it when I came down. Doing this several times shortened my guesstimation learning curve. Now I mostly go by how much rope or throwline is left.

MasterBlaster said:

I have all ya'll beat at 420 and 350 feet.

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Hold on there boss, you're not the only tower climber out there. Why, I climbed a tower once that was so tall that I had to wear magnetic boots to keep from floating off! How's that Chris?

I once butt hitched school buses off of a 300 footer....

But it was a short bus

I think Nick from Wi has a Youtube video where he put a coloured stitch to mark the middle of his SRT line.

Just a though, anyone have GPS on their phone with an altitude reading?

Paul B said:

I used to remember how to do it with a clinometer, or the 'stick trick' but its been a while since I used either.

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Paul, thanks for the tip about the clinometer. I'd never heard of it before. Thanks for posting.

Tim

flushcut said:

I hak a loogie out of the tree and count how many seconds it takes to hit the ground. No really a range finder works well.

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I would try this, but the way my life works, it would invariably land on one of my favorite pieces of gear, or the person that is giving me permission to climb in the tree.

BOTS said:

Last week I SRT up a sugar pine, had 300ft of samson Vortex rope with base tie....had 40 ft or so left on ground

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So, 300 feet - 40 feet = 260 feet, ÷ 2 = 130 feet, approximately. I get it. Thanks for this post.

Tim

inbredJed said:

For conifers... know the length of your lines to the inch.

I've got about four different lines I use when removing conifers. I'f I'm using Jerry Beranek's 18 percent rule, (The cutting of 18 percent of a stob to get the cut part to do a 270 degree flip--belly-flop--to the ground,) then it's imperative to know your height to the ground to within five feat or so. Climb lines don't lie although your ground guys might because they're too lazy to stretch your rope out 90 degrees from the tree to tell you how much is still on the ground.

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Thanks for this. I'd read about Jerry's 18% rule before, thanks for the reminder. I'm not at the stage as a climber where I'll utilize it yet, but your post points out a really good reason to want to be able to accurately assess one's elevation in a dynamic and continuously changing circumstance. Thanks for taking the time to post.

Tim

P.S. It seems like an accurate rangefinder tool would be the perfect tool for someone like you, as frequently as you need to reassess the situation. I just don't know yet whether or not any of the sub $100.00 ones are any good or not. Amazon has a few like that, but I need to do more reading.

Get a good one, it is a tax write off and one benefit to being manager of the company is I can use it to go hunting...

MasterBlaster said:

I have all ya'll beat at 420 and 350 feet.

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How do you stay tied in when climbing? Two lanyards?

I bet a clinometer and a tape measure to be the most accurate, inexpensive tool, if you can get the appropriate distance away. possibly 66', one 'chain', IIRC. Someone help me out. The clino can compensate for looking uphill/ down hill or a combo of uphill and downhill to sight the top and base of the tree.

bstewert said:

How do you stay tied in when climbing? Two lanyards?

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Nowadays nearly all towers have a piece of 5/16 or larger guy wire running top to bottom that you clip a steel cable grab onto. Slides freely going up but you must lean back for descent. A straight downward pull and it locks up. Some have a pipe with teeth on it that lays in front of the tower's ladder with a grab that encircles the pipe. It works on the same principle as the cable grab. Tower climbing is not bad unless it's also a buzzard roost. Buzzards not only poop, but anything they can't digest is thrown back up and it will be all over the tower and you before you get down and it's pretty foul, or is it fowl.

SouthSoundTree- said:

Count your paces (left, right) in 20' at a regular stride. 3.5 paces for me in 20', 7 in 40', etc. combining the stick trick or being able to eyeball 45* (from felling and checking your estimation, you calibrate your eye. )
150' throwline doubled over = 75'. if you have to add on 50' of throwline, you're at 100'.
When your at your high point, you have some rope left, stretch across your arm span a couple times and add it up. You're generally as tall as your arm span.

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Thanks for this tip.

Tim

SouthSoundTree- said:

I bet a clinometer and a tape measure to be the most accurate, inexpensive tool, if you can get the appropriate distance away. possibly 66', one 'chain', IIRC. Someone help me out. The clino can compensate for looking uphill/ down hill or a combo of uphill and downhill to sight the top and base of the tree.

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Thanks for this tip. So much to learn. Much appreciated.

Tim

RajElectric said:

Crap, missed the "In the tree part".....I carry 80ft paracord, use it to haul up water, lunch, advance TIP. If I get a second waiting for groundies I might drop an end down, measure what's left, just rough arm's span (5ft about). To figure if what's left will fit for a drop I'll tie a knot at the ground on the retrieval side of the canopy SRT anchor, measure that by arm spans.

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I have to admit, I did have to think long and hard about what you meant by the second part of this post.

"To figure if what's left will fit for a drop I'll tie a knot at the ground on the retrieval side of the canopy SRT anchor, measure that by arm spans." Just feeling a little slow on the uptake, I guess. Once I parsed the sentence and imagined it in my minds eye, it all came together for me. This is a very valuable tip in and of itself, and I thank you for it.

To restate it, basically you are using the Zing-It line that runs all the way from your cinched tie-in point high in the tree, and all the way straight down to the ground, as a good measurement for the maximum amount of rope you could possibly need to make it back down to the ground with your climbing rope. This would come into play when you have moved laterally in the tree, and are no longer certain that the amount of rope that remains below you is adequate to reach the ground.

By tying a knot in the Zing-It where it touches the ground, after you've put a running bowline in the rope and pulled it all the way up to the branch you are using as your tie-in point, you get an exact measurement from your highest possible position, down to the ground. Then you just compare that length to what remains on the climbing rope below you. If it comes up short, you know that you'll need to come back some in order to gain the amount of rope needed to get you safely to the ground.

Sorry if all of this stuff seems blatantly obvious to all of the more senior members here. I just wanted to foot stomp what he meant by this for all of the less experienced guys, like myself, who might wander onto this thread in the future.

Thanks for the tip, and your patience.

Off topic, but I just love the new avatar. Your little chainsaw user is just adorable!

Tim

Less experienced!?!? That's me!

After topping and removing many sections off the top I'll get to a point where "I'll feel" the rest will fit in a suitable drop zone. I'll have at somewhat a mid point on my SRT climb line an alpine Butterfly to a metal link of some sort capturing the climb side of the SRT line, cinching on a spar. So after descent, I'll tie a knot in the non- climbing side of the SRT line, the "retrieval" side, at ground level. From this knot to the alpine butterfly will be the length of the trunk left standing. If need be I can lay out knot to knot to make sure the drop will fit an area. Or I'll measure, by arms span, counting. My arms span is about 5ft.

Regarding "Will it fit"? I take pull rope stretched from the nearest object-to-avoid to the butt of the tree, put a overhand on a bight (easiest). Have it tied on my climb line. Pull it up. If the end of the rope reaches me before the knot comes off the ground, there is some space. If you pull the knot off the ground, you don't have room (allow for jump off the stump/ slide/ etc).

I attach the pull rope on the top of the spar and rappel off it on a munter, with spurs and lanyard, as its a rigging line. A ground-belayer (pulls on rope hard if you freefall for some reason) is a consideration.

If the spar leans, I put the pull rope on my running bowline as a pull down line to retrieve my SRT system, then loosen the choke on the trunk somewhat, and lower off/ rappel on my climbing system.

sotc said:

Oh Jed, you're too much buddy!

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At least the boys get a good belly laugh out of me.