Climber Weight

I don't see any reason not to climb. It'll help shed the weight for sure. Sounds like you'd only be climbing here and there anyway. Don't let anyone tell you that you can't do something. It just might be a hard go of it. How determined are you?
 
Dave - DMc's - question is what i thought of, too.

Also, safe and efficient treework is about optimal work positioning. Pruning demands some interesting positions to get to difficult spots.
 
I have a really messed up knee and frequently basic climbing with no spurs is at least as easy on the knee as groundwork if not easier because the climb line acts as an extra leg which takes a lot of your weight.
 
I cant understand why the climbing school would not let you climb vecause of your weight. that bugs me. what the hell? there are people with no legs at all climbing trees. there are people with one arm climbing. The tree doesn't care about an extra 100 lbs. where are you located?

For sure the tree doesn't care, but the body packing the extra 100lbs sure will care.

And those one armed or one legged climbers are rec climbers... not every day working climbers.
 
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  • #36
I am based in Atlanta, GA. Tree climbers international told me I would "stroke out".
 
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We actually don't focus on tree work at all... Being that I am in the industry I get asked about removal jobs pretty frequently. A few years ago I got insured and bid on the jobs when they come around. I don't advertise or push for the work. As far as pruning goes if I cannot do it with a pole saw it doesn't get done. I have never worked with a climber that didn't use spikes so we just pass the work along. I would never spike for pruning only removal
 
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  • #38
I have already acknowledged needing safety training and help with proper rigging technique. I am in no way trying to discredit what you guys do or claim to be more knowledgeable than I am
 
You could. Or it could be the thing that saves your life. Do you have any equipment like a mini skid or other loader? If not get an arbor trolley and lose even more weight. I've worked with some large dudes who at a glance you think couldn't keep up, but I was very very wrong. Strong as an ox and more flexible than me. One played competitive softball five days a week, ran faster than me, hit twice as far, and would carry weights around at work that I wouldn't even attempt. Very good bowler too, had so many 300 games the lane stopped giving him stuff for them. The most violent thing I've ever seen, the pins would about dive out of the way of an 18 pound ball coming at mach 3...
 
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  • #40
I am pretty determined. It was something I enjoyed in the past and I am sure it would be the same now. I am trying to make sure I haven't lost my mind or got lost on an ego trip to think someone my size can be a climber. Not a production climber necessarily but someone that can safely get the job done If needed
 
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  • #41
I will also mention than I am very active in the labor of our day to day. A lot of days during the growing season I walk up to 19 miles behind a mower according to a pedometer. I am far from a couch potato. I work very hard... something about guerillas being meant to stay on the ground come to mind when I think about climbing a tree
 
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That's the thing. You would be working for yourself, not a hired gun there to run a crew on someone else's dime. You would be part time on trees, so the day to day grind isn't the same as a guy who literally wears a saddle 40 hours a week. I'm not the fastest by any stretch of the imagination, and watching videos of guys like Kevin Bingham, Reg, and August here almost make me want to just hang it up, because it looks like you taped a go pro to a squirrel. But I keep doing it, learning each time, and having fun, trying to remind myself that guys of that caliber are that way because they have spent a lifetime working on it and have gifts that I wasn't blessed with. If nothing else, rec climbing would be an amazing workout, and would help the entire situation in the first place. If you want to climb, get some stuff and climb. Most companies around here don't even climb, they all use lifts, to the point where they just turn down the work if they can't get to it. Had a family friend tell me how one of the larger companies here took 3 days trying to get down a tree with a rented wheeled construction lift because it was too tall. So tree work is in your grasp, no matter what, as long as you aren't in 120+ conifers all day every day.
 
Definitely go for it, treesplease. You have the most important thing already, a desire to learn to do it. I think you have a good plan to start slow on your own trees, no pressure to complete the job fast. I think you should skip buying the spurs for now and just learn to climb the tree with rope. Instead add a copy of The Tree Climber's Companion and a hard hat to your list.
 
And the only one in the world, I'll bet a nickel!

the only one with an Instagram that I know of at least.... 1_armed _arb. he takes on some serious work

his biggest problem seems to be midline attaching a rope runner. I told him he is not alone.
 
I am based in Atlanta, GA. Tree climbers international told me I would "stroke out".

that is disappointing. they are good people but teach an archaic form of climbing anyway. look up Odis Sisk if you can he is one of the best instructors in the business and is based in Atlanta
 
That 1_armed_arb guy is a beast!

Seriously though, Treesplease, there is no reason these days that you can't get up into the canopy from time to time. Even 10 years ago, it was much more difficult to climb. Nowadays we have knee and foot ascenders and amazing stationary rope climbing systems that take a lot of the 'macho' out of the equation. Like everything in life, it comes down to mindset. You seem like you have a great attitude and a willingness to learn, you are more than halfway there!

Will climbing be fun, or will it feel like work? Probably feel more like work. Just depends on the situation. Is it doable for you? Hell yeah!

I'm really surprised by a lot of the responses on this thread, would have expected a lot more support...

'Service to others is the rent we pay for our room here on earth' - Muhammad Ali
 
I'll admit I'm using my own experience with a meniscus tear when giving advice. If my knee pain was ever 4 times worse than it was pre surgery I would need one of those painkiller addictions where you flush you life down the toilet.

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