For the "Old Timers"

[Blair Glenn]

Some of you might even be in this bit of old old school video from 1984. I had a new video camera and did my best to document the Jamboree. Not many folks even understand what a footlock is anymore. Hope you enjoy this.

 

[Mick!]

Great haircuts, skipped through a little, but Bob at 32 minutes had some technique.

 

[pantheraba]

Great share! I had never seen the "on rope rest"...I'll be curious to hear the older folks here relate who they know from this video.

I saw some great footlocks...smooth power and technique for some of those guys.

 

[lxskllr]

I like the looks of that. Looks like normal tree guys competing with each other as opposed to timbersports which looks like timbersports athletes competing with each other.

 

[cory]

Geezus, unsecured footlocking, old school saddles, no hard hats. Cave man days!

I wonder at what point organizers said, " you don't suppose someone could actually fall while footlocking 40' do ya?? Nahhhhh!

 

[lxskllr]

Disqualified!

 

[pantheraba]

Geezus, unsecured footlocking, old school saddles, no hard hats. Cave man days!

I wonder at what point organizers said, " you don't suppose someone could actually fall while footlocking 40' do ya?? Nahhhhh!

Nancy boys all!!!

 

[Benjo75]

Makes me really appreciate how far we've come.

 

[DMc]

Geezus, unsecured footlocking, old school saddles, no hard hats. Cave man days!

It really doesn't seem that long ago to me. Looking back and knowing what we now know, it may look like a callous disregard of safety, but it was just the way it was. Unsecured footlocking, splitting the rope to rest and free climbing a tree to set your line, were just a day-in day-out activity.

 

[cory]

True statement.

These days are far better and more productive

 

[flushcut]

That was cool to see!

 

[Jed]

Are you guys serious!? "These days," are complete garbage, imho: "Don't Fall!"... "Safety First!" "Go Home Safe!"... "Go Home to Your Family!" "Stay Inside!" "Remain Six Feet Apart!" "Don't Get Sick!" "Don't Geopardize Others!" "Be a Girl!" "Be a Coward!" "Then Wear Adult Diapers In the Nursing Home, and Finally Die." The Amarican Life Well Lived.

Having said that... the ammount of American men named Bob in the Eighties is really quite astonishing. What happened to all the Bobs? Prostate Cancer. Lung Cancer. Colon Cancer. Car/motorcycle accidents, Strokes and heart attacks. Not a ONE of em died from an unsecured footlock.

Mr. Blair: Can't thank you enough for that, my good man. Who knows? Perhaps (for with the internet, all things are possible) it could one day be influential in converting these Millenial folk toward an idea of what having a life worth living was really like. Bit of a struggle, but MAN did the beer go down better.

 

[Burnham]

Might have been more than a few beers, to read you tonight Jed. Easy, my friend.

 

[pantheraba]

hahaha...same thought whizzed thru my head, too, Dr. B.

 

[Bermy]

I don't suppose someone was being a bit you know , tongue in cheek with the safety police comment...actually I think that's exactly what it was..

 

[Tree09]

I don't know about you guys, but beer tastes pretty good to me even without tempting fate. They do need to bring back the constant drinking at work thing tho, helps turn a crappy day into a better one

 

[Jed]

Might have been more than a few beers, to read you tonight Jed. Easy, my friend.

But, how did you KNOW!

Actually, it was just a few beers, but I'm a lightweight ayways. I drink like a girl.

 

[cory]

the ammount of American men named Bob in the Eighties is really quite astonishing.

 

[Underwor]

I agree with David Mc. Why set your rope on the way up when you can shinny. The secret was to never trim you toe or finger nails. I will admit that a 15' shinny in loose fitting coveralls was a bit of a challenge. Never saw my first lanyard until 16 years after I started climbing. You just pulled up the tail of the rope and double tied in that way if you were at the end of a limb. I worked with a fellow from West Virginia, for a short time, who would climb the tree with the rope on his shoulder, trim all the dead wood out and then use the rope to descend. Oh the good old days!!!

 

[Underwor]

Jed, Did you eversee the video of the German climber (help an old man with the name) who did the 500' footlock (secured) of the construction crane. Don't know if it is still on-line or not. It was on a European game show. He had to drop each section of 100' rope when he got onto the next so that it was not too heavy to get the wrap on his foot. If I remember it was about 10 minutes.
Also here is another Bob from the 60-70-80s that is still alive even with prostate cancer in 2011 and a stroke in 2016. I did stop climbing after the stroke except for recreation with the grand daughters.

 

[lxskllr]

I think it was Burnham who recently posted that video here, but damned if I can remember where, or in what context so I can find it again.

edit:
found it. It was in the RopeRunner thread...

 

[DMc]

I had 15 years of climbing under my belt by the time that video was made, Bob. We were doing big Eucalyptus removals, with spurs of course, so I was well acquainted with flip lines and lanyards. But I remember some of the big estates having wonderful groves of Live Oaks, free climb up with your hand saw smacking dead wood out of your way as you went. You could spend all day, doing 3 or 4 trees and never touch the ground. That was some of the most fun climbing and rope work I have ever done.

With Hobbs, we always had good gear, but man, life would have been so much better with SRT and the gear we have today.

 

[cory]

There's this vid too, may be of interest re rope climbing. This guy is an absolute savage re sport rock climbing/body weight strength etc.

 

[lxskllr]

Holy hell that's hard, climbing with only hand/arm strength. I wouldn't mind giving it a try. My rope expense would be much lower, and I wouldn't need a crane :^D

 

[Underwor]

Dave, when was the video made. I started with Davey in 1967 after my Sophomore year of college. Good old manila rope with a tautline hitch, 22 inch Atkins pruning saw, a can of black tree paint hooked to the saw scabbard and a long black streak down the right pant leg from when it hung up on a twig with the lid not screwed on tight!!!!! I worked on some estates around Youngstown, Ohio that had 100' trees. In a lot of places you could go up in the morning and swing between trees and stay up until you got hungry or thirsty. Clove hitch would send up a can of soda, you could twist open the strands of the rope to send up a cigarette (I chewed snuff so that was not a great advantage for me). If you wanted to take a little nap, you pulled up the end of your climbing rope and hung it on a limb. This kept a smart aleck on the ground from tying it off so you could not come down. 1/2 ton trucks with no hoist so you loaded it with the weight balanced just ahead of the lowered tailgate. This way you could take the binder loose and pick up a big branch on the bottom of the load and tip it all off the truck. Of course, if the boss was not around, you could get up a good head of steam in reverse and hit the brakes. That usually got the load off and most of the mud under the front fenders when the wheels came back to the ground!! As I said, The Good Old Days.