Fair enough
.
By far the more common scenario in which a pull rope is used in the arb world does not include power that can be reliably accelerated, without loss of traction, to keep ahead of the speed the tree gathers from gravity. Manual pulling, or with a winch, or by block and tackle...those sorts of arrangements are the norm. It is to those cases that I primarily direct my cautions about over-confidence in what a pull rope will provide, thinking it exceeds that of a well-deployed set of wedges.
Its a common misconception that pulling with a vehicle will keep the pull line tight well into the fall. From reviewing video in slow motion, its clear that the pull line goes slack very early in the fall, even with a vehicle. Pulling by hand is that much slower.
I know you west coast faller types have all kinds of tricks... How much side lean can you handle without a rope?
I only use wedges on easy trees, so little experience with their limits and capabilities. From a suburban arb's perspective, it seems that wedges can't do nearly as good a job as a pull line on side leaners.
I have had a lot of success on side leaners by adjusting the direction of pull to compensate for lean. As long as the hinge wood is sound, it seems like once a tree gets started to the lay, there is a lot less chance of the hinge failing. When a good hinge does fail, it takes a second or two for the fibers to separate. So from the time the pull line goes slack, that extra second or two is enough time for the momentum to overcome the side lean and take the tree to the lay.
Also a high pull line on a vehicle allows the faller to leave a thicker and therefore stronger hinge, especially on poor hinging wood like willow and silver maple. You're not going to get that kind of force out of wedges. There is also a little energy stored in the stretch of the rope and the bend in the tree, that wedges do not afford.
And if the tree has too much side lean, it usually easy enough to set a right angle retainer line...
SO from a suburban arbs perspective, ropes are MUCH better than wedges for side leaners...
What can a good west coast faller make happen with wedges?