Improvements!

[Bermy]

I've mentioned a few times how crap I am at the throwline...been getting better since I got a bigshot.

Well yesterday was a day of firsts, First tree I got the shot on the FIRST try! With a group of schoolkids watching...(only problem was setting the FS from the ground...it had a bit of a twist and the throwline wrapped round the ring, so I actually had to climb up to it anyway )

Second tree I got my second best TIP on the FIRST shot! Climbed up and just moved the FS up a few feet.

I had to set rigging in both trees to swing branches away from the ornamentals below, the working area was a considerable distance from my TIP and the anchor pulley, and I so did not feel like having to go back up to retrieve the pulley, so I cobbled together a retrieveable setup while I was up there, and by gum! It worked on the FIRST pull to get it down...

AND the crap government we've had for the last 14 yrs in Bermuda just got kicked to the curb in the general election!
Good day yesterday

 

[bonner1040]

Great news Fiona. Its always nice to see a measurable improvement in anything, especially the government

 

[CurSedVoyce]

Been on a roll myself Fiona so I can totally relate to teh good feeling. Trying not to pull out the big shot unless I am having a bad throw day.... Practice... practice.

 

[vharrison]

Yeah, practice, practice! Great job Fiona!

 

[flushcut]

Sounds like a good day all around.

 

[Bermy]

Without the big shot, the throw would have been well nigh on impossible for me...almost straight up for about 50', lots of small branches in the way too...

Streeetchhh, PING...oh yeah!

 

[gf beranek]

The big shot opened a world of possibilities for so many trades. It really changed how I entered trees from the old days.

 

[PCTREE]

Fiona, I hit my target crotch today which was at 110'!!! Cheated though with a crossbow 3 shots to hit it,, suckers kept messing with me.

 

[Bermy]

Awesome!!

 

[stig]

And I spent about 1 hour setting a line in a really tall beech,Having to remind myself over and over that it was still easier than going oldstyle with spurs and lanyard, only to find that the canopy was completely glazed over with ice when I got up there.
Rapelled down immediately. While I will climb ice covered trees in an emergency, I won't do it to feed a bunch of beetles.

Frosty weather sure takes a lot of the KAPOWWWWW! out of the Bigshot!

 

[CurSedVoyce]

And this from the guy that hit that rec climb toss the first try after my decisive failure..... lol

 

[gf beranek]

I think it was the freeze of '72, here in nor-cal. Record low that busted 90 percent of the residential water pipes in Sonoma and Mendo counties. The eucalyptus froze to boot. And climbing them coated in ice was like a greased pole. Ug

 

[Bermy]

I've climbed cold wet trees...that was bad enough, ice...think I'd stay home!
Question...do you chaps set a FS from the ground on those really tall trees or are you all the SRT/Wraptor crowd?

 

[pete mctree]

I've climbed cold wet trees...that was bad enough, ice...think I'd stay home!
Question...do you chaps set a FS from the ground on those really tall trees or are you all the SRT/Wraptor crowd?

If I'm pruning then I set a FS when practicle.

On spikes I usually don't bother as I am usually just tending slack.

I usually climb trees 60-90ft - makes a difference when deciding

 

[CurSedVoyce]

+1 what Pete said... More often than not, I will set mine once I get up to where I want my TIP to be. I find it faster to SRT or Wraptor up and set it after I clean up little twigs and stuff where I want it. Less chance of not getting it back LOL. Sometimes isolating a crotch can be a royal PITA. Now if it is a tree I have worked on in the past, I often have a clear shot to where I want my TIP and go ahead and set one for the prune.

 

[stig]

I usually SRT up and then set the FS.
Now the Hitchhiker has pretty much put an end to that.

 

[gf beranek]

Amazing the recent development of new methods for entering and working in our trees. And Paul has been a major innovator in this. Cool beans.

 

[Altissimus]

SRT has me climbing back up the final time to retrieve my rigging .... nice just pull the single line out from the ground

 

[Oldmilltreecare]

I have not set a friction saver from the ground since I started using an SRT system. I big shot into almost every tree because my throwing is so bad, even the small ones get the Bigshot treatment because I'm accurate with it.
Like Petemctree, most of my trees are 60-100ft total height so I access with ascenders and a Hitch Hiker and once i've got my TIP I work with SRTWP.
Pull my rope out from the ground at the end of the day.

 

[Oldmilltreecare]

By the way Petemctree, are you using the HH with a DdRT or SRTWP system for work? How's it going? Perhaps you could post more on my HH thread on Arbtalk as it could generate more interest in the product in Britain.

 

[pete mctree]

To be honest I have returned to using a lock jack for most of my work.
Easier on the joints & it self tends. Srt is for access only & that is rare as I spend most of my time wrecking trees & use spikes