Hello all, I recently chimed in on another thread regarding a members concerns on eab. Thought I'd introduce myself. I've been lurking here for quite some time...My name is Ian Pendergast-White. I run a business called Aerial Arborist Solutions Inc. I live in Ashmore, IL. It's bout an hour south of Champaign (where U of I is located.) I've been playing in, and having an appreciation for the woods, since I was a kid.
I played soccer for a couple years in college on a scholarship. Then, I got tired of running all day everyday and transferred to SIU Carbondale into the forestry program. At that point, I pretty much swapped soccer for rock climbing. Through rock climbing I got into ice climbing. I ended up working at the climbing wall at the university. Over time, I got a graduate assistantship running the Outdoor Adventure Program aspect of SIUC while I got my masters degree in forestry. While all this was going on (grad school) I trained the guides for SIUC. My guides were trained in anything including but not limited to: climbing, canoeing/kayaking, caving, backpacking, whitewater rafting, wilderness survival, wilderness medicin, etc. I ended up getting on with the Jackson County Ambulance Service's high angle rescue team and went through some extensive training for technical high angle/rope rescue. At the same time I was going to grad school, working for SIUC, working for Jackson county, owned a guide service, and was the President of the Illinois Climbers Association. A few days before I was going to start the PhD program, I dipped out and headed back to the CO/WY area where I had been spending my summers guiding. After a bit out there, I came back to spend a summer with my ailing grandpa and take an EMT class while I was here anyway.
Since then, I've moved back to IL and kinda been blending the technical rope/rigging knowledge I've been fortunate enough to gather and some of the stuff from my forestry education. I ended up staying in Illinois after I met the amazing woman who ended up being my wife and the mother of my son.
I run a small tree company back here in Illinois now. I've been an ISA Certified Arborist for 5 years or so. We do anything from crane removals to consultation, to pruning, to various sorts of phc.
Most importantly, my son is almost 21 months old and he and my wife are my priority every single day. My business has gotten so busy to the point of being thoroughly overwhelming, but I make it a point to spend as much time with them as possible everyday!
So.... I know that was super to the point and not overwhelmingly friendly. But, I've been meaning to tell ya'll who I am and what I do for a few days now. As I'm sitting on my porch and watching/listening to it rain, I figured I should go ahead and take care of that.
It's been a long day, but I wanted to throw all that out there. More importantly I wanted to say thank you to Butch for providing this and thanks to everyone who I have learned so much from, and thanks to everyone who has made me feel so welcome here already!
I really look forward to being able to continue to enjoy a cold one and catch up and learn from all of you guys!
Again, thanks so much for the opportunity and letting me be a part of your community!!!
Hope everyone is having a great night!!!