Son of the "Close Calls" thread!

[Drella]

Back in 1994 we did loads of work for a local golf course that would hold PGA tornaments yearly. We would go in, find any hazzardous limbs or trees and remove them. Sometimes spending weeks at a time getting everything prepped for show time..

There was a massive White Oak at just over 200 years. The base of the tree was well over 10' in diameter. All we had to do was get it on the ground, cut it up a bit and they would skid it to a giant burn pile.

So I went up and started dropping complete limbs that were bigger than most trees. It was the first time I had to use an Echo 750 with the 4' bar up in a tree. Just trying to muscle that sled dog was a real nightmare.

I've just dropped a limb about 4' diameter and was about to finish off the stub; "I had originally made the first felling cut about 6' out from the tree to manage the cut a little easier."

I'm now rotating the saw tip first as far as I could sink it-- before following around with the rear, leaving just the fibers in the center to hold the stub in place before I finalize the cut.

At this point,, I'm tied in above and safetied in just under the stub, standing with spurs and reaching to the right because due to the awkward lean of the tree..

So as I'm now lowering the saw straight down to finish the center cut, I decided I wanted to take a look from above the cut to see how much further I had to go.

Just as I put more weight on my right side from leaning that way to see my progress, I must have just pinched the saw enough to make it kick back. The bar jumped out of the cut just missing the bridge of my nose and across my eyes -even before I managed to say -Oh ****! It was all over and the saw was back within the cut- idling.

That was the first time in my entire career that I had a saw kick back at me. From that moment on, I learned two very valuable lessons.

1) Never, ever get comfortable with a chainsaw.

2) Always make my cuts at waist level, never cut above the region of the abdomen.

 

[darkstar]

Spent 9 days total while doing a little day route called the Liberty Ridge on Ranier.
5 or 6 of those day were spent in a nasty storm.
I made it out, but was so hungry i ate two birds i found frozen in the snow.One was a nice little yellow bird the other was ugly and black and would have made me puke but there was no food to puke only bile.
At one point i had to drag my partener into a small steam vent as he was basically dead.
Check out the article in climbing magazine called The Bird eater by Mark Synoot.
haha its true.

 

[darkstar]

The guy who works with me climbed a small tree beneath a giant removal hed just finished bombing in.
Turns out the spar he was climbing was a freaking limb spike cut into the ground.
It fell over on him but he lived.

 

[RIVERRAT]

Spent 9 days total while doing a little day route called the Liberty Ridge on Ranier.
5 or 6 of those day were spent in a nasty storm.
I made it out, but was so hungry i ate two birds i found frozen in the snow.One was a nice little yellow bird the other was ugly and black and would have made me puke but there was no food to puke only bile.
At one point i had to drag my partener into a small steam vent as he was basically dead.
Check out the article in climbing magazine called The Bird eater by Mark Synoot.
haha its true.

OH MY GAWD!! THAT WAS YOU?

You are a.....well this ought to do.....

 

[stehansen]

Awesome everyone. Glad everyone is still here to tell their stories.

 

[darkstar]

You like tha part about how i saw jesus footprints in the snow ,which eventually led me off the mountain.
Sehhwwww

 

[sotc]

cant find the story dark

 

[Drella]

Birthday Blunder

I've got another good one;

It was a friday, I just turned 21, I had plans to get spun out after work. The day turned out rainy and it was just my boss and I. After most the day in the shopp, he decided we could use the window of sunshine and head over to a job where we could get in and out fast enough to beat the rain again.

We pulled up and just behind the client's home was their backyard and immediately the woods. At just the edge of the woods was a giant, leaning tulip poplar,, kind of shaped like a upside down "J" -- or a "7" for the rest of you who can't pick up what I'm putting down..

Well, the boss is standing there staring at it and I'm just waiting for him to say; "grab your gear." (I used to hate when he said that.)

Just then he grabbed the throw-line and decided it was too hazzardous to climb, so he set the line high with the top, tied off a workline- and we both were going to pull the rope with all we got before attempting to remove it by climbing. Afterall,, all we had to do was get it down and let the woods use it as fodder.

So here we both are pulling this 90' tree, letting it rock,, then pulling again when it's about to return with the swaying movement.

Now we are both laughing at how silly we look dug in with one foot forward, almost on top of each other, pulling with everything we've got and the tree seems solid as stone.

Just then the tree goes CRACK! and we both fall on top of one another, as the whole top comes straight at us both.

Now we're both scurrying like rats to get the hell out of the way as the rope is the first to come coiling down on top of us. We both just escape with about 10' of room from the tree as the wind from the top sends leaves and debris flying past us.

Neither one of really made it back to our feet until after the top came crashing down we were pushing so hard to get out of there...

Needless to say I lived and was still able to go home that night to celebrate my birthday -with copious amounts of trendy chemical amusements aids...

 

[Bounce]

Back before I climbed trees for a living I worked for the FS on the back country trail crew. We would go out for a week at a time cutting logs off of trails in wilderness areas. On a trip into Rattlesnake Valley we got caught in the worst storm I've ever seen. We were in a deep valley/canyon with near vertical 1800 ft walls just 10 miles from the truck. The wind started gusting well over 100 mph, lightning was continuous providing uninterupted daylight at 1:00 am, and unknown to us several inches of rain fell upstream in a matter of hours. Me and one other guy were huddled in the shredded remains of our tent unable to hear each other screaming over the noise of the wind. We were in old growth forest and trees started to fall all around us. Trees 4-6 ft in diameter were hitting the ground every few minutes. By morning, the storm was over and we found ourselves completely surrounded by downed trees - some of which had landed just a few feet away missing us by sheer luck. Thinking we were now in the clear, we were going to start a fire to cook some breakfast and celebrate being alive. Before we could even get it going a flash flood came roaring down the canyon plowing those huge trees in front of it like they were match sticks. We managed to scramble up the walls and cling to some rocks while the water rose below us. After just 1/2 hour or so the water retreated as fast as it had come and we were somehow still alive. We had lost all our gear - radio, food, clothing, saws, everything. It took us 2 days to go the remaining 10 miles, during which time we ate nothing had only muddy water to drink. When we finally made it back to the office a day late, we were just in time to watch the helicopter taking off to go look for us. We rested on Sunday and went back out again on Monday.

 

[stehansen]

That's pretty good Bounce.

 

[MasterBlaster]

Hell yea!

 

[Paul B]

wicked story Bounce!

 

[Drella]

Did I mention I tore a finger nail once?


Hey Sean,, cheating death is NOT a close call.

It's nothing less than a miracle!

 

[Frans]

Bounce, when you were

...huddled in the shredded remains of our tent

did you spoon with your friend during that long cold night?

You can tell us, were all friends here, ya know. Won't ever tell another soul, I promise

 

[Bounce]

HA! Thanks Frans, I appreciate that. If there was the slightest chance spooning would have increased our chances of survival somehow, I'm sure we would have. Fortunately though it did not come to that. Anyway, it sure as hell wasn't cold, and even if it was I doubt we would have even noticed. Nothing like a gallon or two of adrenaline pumping through your veins to make you impervious to the elements.

 

[treetx]

Ahh...a fairy tale thread

 

[Banned by Squirrels]

trimming rednecks trees that didn't want their trees trimmed

This could be the most dangerous thing I've heard yet...

 

[MasterBlaster]

I've been chased outta tree by a fool with a shotgun. We came back later with the law and he was arrested.

 

[Drella]

Bounce, when you were did you spoon with your friend during that long cold night?

You can tell us, were all friends here, ya know. Won't ever tell another soul, I promise

Pfffttt,, spooning?

Ha! That's nothing!

I know that If my life counted on it, I'd resort to "just crawling in a hole and dying."

 

[Drella]

Jeeeze,, tuff crowd..

 

[MasterBlaster]

"It is better to keep your mouth closed and let people think you are a fool than to open it and remove all doubt."

And yes, I'm in the right thread.