Yeah.... but dang it looks silly when I keep tieing in with my feet on the ground and no climbing to be done.
Freeclimbing...
- Thread starter Bermy
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Yeah.... but dang it looks silly when I keep tieing in with my feet on the ground and no climbing to be done.
I used to spend about a month and a half each year freeclimbing Noble firs and Normann firs cutting branches for x-mas decorations. Denmark exports about 75000 tons of those branches each year, it is a huge industry from october untill december.
In 1983 I was about 10 feet up a Noble fir, when all my three contact points broke at the same time.
Noble fir branches get brittle when dead, as opposed to Normanns, they stay supple for a long time.
10 feet is not far to fall, but when you land on a stump. it'll cost you a fractured spine.
Kept me out of work for a loooong time.
I haven't freeclimbed since. I won't even freeclimb a blackcurrant bush. Once burned, as the saying goes.
In 1983 I was about 10 feet up a Noble fir, when all my three contact points broke at the same time.
Noble fir branches get brittle when dead, as opposed to Normanns, they stay supple for a long time.
10 feet is not far to fall, but when you land on a stump. it'll cost you a fractured spine.
Kept me out of work for a loooong time.
I haven't freeclimbed since. I won't even freeclimb a blackcurrant bush. Once burned, as the saying goes.
B
Blinky
Guest
This is another case of, 'You're right, I'm just weird'.
Long before I got into tree care I was climbing boulders and small cliffs free solo. The term highballing wasn't around yet, it was just free solo... but the discipline is just like Bivyless said, don't fall, no mistakes, period. That's what makes it cool, you have to have to keep your shite totally together under stress.
Trees are so much easier to climb than rock it's tempting to not rope up on small ones because you can rip through a lot of prunes in a day if you don't set a rope.
That's about subjective risk meaning, you are in control of your fate. On the other hand, there is objective risk over which you have no control except avoidance. If you get buried in an avalanche or three limbs break simultaneously, you just got screwed by an objective hazard.
Working in the company of objective hazards is something tree guys do, how much you expose yourself is a personal thing. I'll admit, it's more professional to expose yourself to risk as little as possible. But no risk at all isn't much fun to me.
I used to free climb quite alot in my youth to set a line, scared myself a few times.Rarley do it now tho, older and wiser I suppose. Only time I do it now reall is in Connifer hedges.
Funnily enough tho i fell out of one yesterday, went down about 8', my left shin is now 1 big bruise, big bruise on my back and a nice sore shoulder, that'll learn me (maybe)
Funnily enough tho i fell out of one yesterday, went down about 8', my left shin is now 1 big bruise, big bruise on my back and a nice sore shoulder, that'll learn me (maybe)
T
treeclimber
Guest
I think as an experienced climber your learn your limitations and always remember them, I have fallen twice in ten yrs. both times doing something I knew was wrong but things I've done many times before.. That being said I truly believe that is what kills most tree workers, complacency, repetition and just plain "Its Your day...."
Tucker943
Bamboo Plantation Owner
Free climbing is fun until you grab the collar of a small cavity as a hold only to discover it is a bee hive........
Not fun.
I free climb just a little ways to loosen up and get moving but thats it. Very seldom do i pass the 20' mark without being attached. Most always i have a line in the tree before i get started. Conifers are a different story. The guy that taught me to climb absolutely NEVER used anything until he hit the tippy top of the tree than threw a lanyard around something just to tie in. Always spooked me. During my short lived line clearance career I was often reprimanded for using a safety device until i hit my TIP. Boss said lanyards slowed production down.
Not fun.
I free climb just a little ways to loosen up and get moving but thats it. Very seldom do i pass the 20' mark without being attached. Most always i have a line in the tree before i get started. Conifers are a different story. The guy that taught me to climb absolutely NEVER used anything until he hit the tippy top of the tree than threw a lanyard around something just to tie in. Always spooked me. During my short lived line clearance career I was often reprimanded for using a safety device until i hit my TIP. Boss said lanyards slowed production down.
N
Nails
Guest
I freeclimb if I want to get to the top before working the tree. Plain and simple, it is my favorite way to climb. I suppose because it is fast and you can just clip your climbing line to the back of your saddle and go.
treelooker
Treehouser
I'd like t o see the FS specs; I caught myself unlanyarded in a bushy maple about 50' up; 3 points and all that, ols hBITS ARE hard to break. but yes even in tall bushes secure when working/cutting.
my kid was whacking a crepemyrtle and hit the deck while moving around. now he has 2 lannies on his belt.
my kid was whacking a crepemyrtle and hit the deck while moving around. now he has 2 lannies on his belt.
Guess I just got used to following company policy of being tied in before feet leave the ground and staying that way till back on ground. We are subject to instant termination if caught not tied in while up in a tree. I,m expected to set a good example safety wise for my crew and I am comfortable this way.
gf beranek
Old Schooler
I've free climbed at the tops of small and giant trees. The likes of who's tops were a maze of limbs that a sack of potatoes could not filter through if it let go on it own.
MasterBlaster
Administrator Emeritus
Me too, brother.
gf beranek
Old Schooler
So what's the big deal about free climbing in those situations?
Certainly there are times that it is risky and unsafe, but equal times that it is perfectly safe to abandon the bonds and truly feel free at the top.
Certainly there are times that it is risky and unsafe, but equal times that it is perfectly safe to abandon the bonds and truly feel free at the top.
MasterBlaster
Administrator Emeritus
HELL YEAH.
treelooker
Treehouser
yeah but ssshhhhh, we don't want anyone to get too excited.
I make it a habit to stay tied in when climbing... professionally. 
Burnham
Woods walker
Exactly...and this is the official policy of the USFS tree climbing program.
gf beranek
Old Schooler
As a rule, 99% of the time I am secure. The odd times I am not is as safe as sitting here typing this post.
- Thread Starter Thread Starter
- #42
Did a bit more freeclimbing today...an old frangipani...climbed off the wall, into the treetop, slung the lanyard, clippity clip...mind you my landscaper friend who does a bit of tree work stopped by and laughed, he's 220+ he'd have to do the whole thing from the ground with a pole clipper, the whole damn tree would have fallen over with him in it!
Burnham
Woods walker
I suppose it would be good if I made clear that for FS climbers it is proscribed that climbing free is to be used ONLY when actually climbing. We require strict observance of three point climbing technique, including a pretty tight definition of what does and does not qualify as a legitimate point of contact. Any time you stop, even to take a moment's rest or to look around the tree, you lanyard in. Obviously, any time you're going to do some work you lanyard in or tie in.
We have a mighty good safety record over several decades and many thousands of climbs made by many hundreds of climbers, using this protocol. Like Jerry, we use it both at significant heights and in little trees equally.
We have a mighty good safety record over several decades and many thousands of climbs made by many hundreds of climbers, using this protocol. Like Jerry, we use it both at significant heights and in little trees equally.
K
klimbinfool
Guest
Burham, this brings up a point about lanyarding in while working. I would say 98% of the time i'm lanyard in when working or cutting, but do we ever discuss the times it's unsafe to be lanyarded in ? (lanyarded is that a word?)
Greg
Greg
squisher
THE CALM ONE!!!!
It's been touched on here before. Like when it would/could be unsafe to be held to close to the cut and what might happen afterwards, then in those situations I say it's safer to not be lanyarded in so you could swing or move out of the way. I could give a crap really about what's been written in some regs, I survey each situation and take the appropriate steps to insure my own safety.
gf beranek
Old Schooler
I laynarded in to my belt loop once,,, strictly for safety. If you can believe it. I had a good tie in point and was cutting the top out of another tree I feared may split out. The belt loop was strong enough to hold me while sawing the back cut and I figured it would fail if the tree did split and save me a broken back. I would just toss the saw and swing to safety.
Ended up the tree didn't split, but the hinge that broke was about 24 inches by 12 inches thick. And the release of tension on the trunk made it spring like a wild horse. The belt loop held through it surprisingly.
Ended up the tree didn't split, but the hinge that broke was about 24 inches by 12 inches thick. And the release of tension on the trunk made it spring like a wild horse. The belt loop held through it surprisingly.
F
Frans
Guest
Not for me. I would say it depends entirely on the situation. Does not have anything whatsoever to do with a measured height.
You know, lots of people are put into a wheelchair for life because of falling off of a kitchen stool changing a lightbulb or something...
pantheraba
More biners!!!
I heard a girl's ankle break when she took a six - 12 INCH fall once...she was climbing up a chest high boulder and slipped back down 6-12 inches to the ground...there was a 2-3 inch rock that her boot landed on. Her ankle rolled and snapped with an audible crack.
It does not take much distance to fubar something.
K
Knotahippie
Guest
...Ouch
- Thread Starter Thread Starter
- #50
Very good point, I stand corrected...
