1 of 3 trees from a mornings work. Couldn't fall the tree without first cutting down several others. Diagonal fencing prevented also made it awkward. So I said I could take the tree down in sections.
I know you say your videos aren't for instruction but, I've been watching your videos going on 13 years now and the amount I've learned from that is monumental. Just want to say Thanks
"Lets have a look at what we were tied into....not a lot" 😄Calm and cool as always. Thanks for posting. Always love learning from your work. Your skill and demeanor are top shelf.
@@jackberdine Agreed. As a recovering hot head, these videos are therapy for me. He's also calm when tired and in hairy situations. Unreal. I'm trying to change
"I'm not trying to add fake drama" he says... from the top of a bloody rotten old tree... I think we can all agree the drama is glaringly real! 🤣 Your calm, measured and thoughtful approach to what looks like a horror of a task is instructional beyond the world of tree work. Love the insights into the tree's condition too, fascinating. Thank you for taking the time to share.
I like it when I get solo work now a days. There is no anxiety to be in a rush. The work seems to melt away. Some of those dead ones really make me feel alive. Thanks for sharing Reg. Have a beautiful rest of your week sir, and folks.
Great Video! This is what I noticed this time around: you used a running bowline knot and attached your ascend / descend, mechanical device and used it as a secondary attachment to come down with. Like a second safety device?
Thank you, interesting. When we were on holiday in the Lake District in the 1970s, our Dad showed us how to set up a resonance with dead Birch, giving them a little push and watching the swing, and pushing just at the right time to amplify the rocking motion.He regularly managed to get the top to fall off the stem, sometimes the whole tree would fall. Your gentle pulling on the top of that Fir reminded me of that. I'm currently writing my autobiography and need to add that anecdote.
Run into sap rot a lot on the east coast USA. Never saw it in Cali. Crazy how much they can hold while 20% of the tree girth is coming off with each gaff. Terrifying at first. Very strange judgement call, but experience helps and that comparative movement analysis you did at the beginning also helps a lot. I frequently think about recent storms and go out and watch trees in storms for reference.
Keep your Parachute With Ya Mate, At All Times. 😁🤗🤗😎😎😎🙂😉😃😇. With All That Ground Cover, """""Vines"""" . It Looks Like They'll Be Calling You Again. The Vines Kill The Trees. Climb That Tree Like A Stealthy Cat!!!!! """"""""Nice Job Reg!!!!!!!! Love Watching. That Stuff Would Make Good Campfire Wood. Vines And All!!!
Thanks for the trunk strain test. Although I am a structural engineer, I missed that one in my approach. I was just climbing and waiting for the bang :D. Sometimes I drilled holes to see what's inside, but it's easy to miss a weak spot
One of the best fella's out there, Thanks for filming your work for our entertainment. I learned quite a bit from watching your videos which made/makes me a better climber.
Thanks Reg. So glad to see this level of detail. I'll go through it a few times and make some notes. Great information for my tool box. Thanks for sharing your thoughts.
I wouldn't have climbed that tree myself unless another tree next to it to hang climb rope on. Nice to see you do it logically tho that ivy really gets in way of seeing what the work is and any climb lines!
Certainly a lot of vegetation on those trees, great footage and aerial views. I certainly admire and have a great deal of gratitude for you tree guys. I prefer my feet on the ground, limbing and bucking the stems for firewood. Nature is certainly very beautiful and wonderous. Thank you again, Mr. Reg Coates!
I wish reg I could think like you do a lot of the times I sat there and I over-think what if what if what if I've been trying to train my mind not to I just sometimes depend on the situation and what tree I'm doing I always think what if The way you think and the way you move in the tree is so smooth it is absolutely amazing. If there was one person I could meet it would be you and that's the God's truth
@Reg did you see the wild saddle that August just built? One of the words we use down my way to describe the rotted wood you were showing us is 'Punky'. It burns pretty ugly and stinky also. Liked your reading of what that tree was like on the inside.🤘😎✌️
Very interesting stuff Reg. As a new climber your videos are priceless :) I was up some dead trees the other week and used a similar logic. Will your new device be available over the pond in Blighty when it is released? Will you announce when it will be hitting the shop shelves?
Ill have updates on the device here on RU-vid. There's actually 2, I just haven't shown the second yet, which might actually be available before the one in the videos. Its an arduous, drawn out process, especially where other people are involved, but will.come to fruition one way or another.
Thanks Dan, stranger things seem to happen with groups of workers too. No cleanup on this job so paying someone to stand there watching seems like a waste of money that I cant afford to just give away.
As an owner/operator I think working alone is ok, so long as you know your limitations and accept any added risk and consequences. As an employer I dont think its fair to put that on employees as you have a responsibility to make their environment as safe as practically possible. Having someone stood there watching me climb that dead tree certainly wouldn't make me any safer and neither would I want to put it on someone else if the situation turned bad. Fire fighters can do the recovery out, they trained and well rehearsed at that kind if thing. I obviously carry responsibilities as a father and husband too but my work practices decisions are always based on logic not emotion.
Thank you Reg for another great video. I always appreciate your commentary on safety and reasoning. My biggest concern after you discussed the spar would have been any root rot but I guess you eliminated that by hooking the top with your rope and pulling on the tree before you started climbing. Correct?
Making sure I get this correctly, once you reached the top you layarded in, removed your climbing device from the line (guessing it's a midline attachable device like akimbo/roperunner/hitch+ropewrench), pulled up the tail of the line to you and used the tail of the line as a spar tie-in (leaving the base-tie in place) and then installing your climbing device back on the line? Guess that'd only work when blocking down a tree, would be awkward to go for a limb walk with you tail still tied to the base ;)
Do you deal with poison ivy where you are? I live in the Midwest (USA) and have several dead oak trees that need to come down but they are covered with poison ivy
top footage Reg an well done again , Just a thought but would it be feasible to use a drone to drop a line in , or check the set ? i know there a lot more affordable these days .
That was cool! Have not climbed any firs, usually just dead cottonwoods here in Colorado. Since you started with a basal tie, does that become your retrieval as you work your way down srt?
Hey mate, where do ya climb in colorado? How do you find working there? I'm from england like reg but my wife is from colorado. May end up there in a few years
@@Jay-lr3me How are ya? I work the front range of Colorado and now mainly in Colorado Springs. For broad trees we have Cottonwoods, Siberian Elm. Honey Locust,and Silver Maple. For single stem we have Ponderosa Pine, Spruce and at higher elevations Douglas Fir. I do miss climbing the mighty Oaks, but what can ya do?
I think I'm the only person on the planet who shoots my slingshot with the pouch and bag on top rather than underneath. Found it interesting wobbling the stem back and forth. I would have been scared to do that and it breaks and takes out the fence. Do you take extra gas and oil up with you when you solo? If so, any pro tips on how much, container type etc?
If I thought I needed extra gas I would, but in this case it didn't look like it. We use MSR camping gas bottles to carry fuel in the trees. If the top had collapsed on the fence due to me testing it with a line then I think it would have been a fair sacrifice than finding out the hard way that it was in fact too weak to take my weight.
Firstly Id use the stuck throwline to perform the same pull test, but probably more severely in the hope it might pull free. Then Id contemplate putting a second line up, as it would be unlikely anyway to get a line stuck when you are shooting right over the top of the tree. However, if it did seem likely that I might get the second line stuck Id just have to spur up there.
Also reg I see you did not work your way up from the bottom taking the branches off in your opinion if you would have took the branches off on your way up would it have made the tree stronger or weaker just curious thank you God bless
The strength would remain the same. The difference is that the tree is more susceptible to oscillating *moving* when the branches are removed. By cutting top down, he eliminates the risk of being at the top of the spar when the tree is more susceptible to movement. Sometimes the force of a tree oscillating can be enough to cause a fracture. If you think about it, are you more balanced when you have your arms stretched out to the side or tucked in beside you? The same applies with trees.
Hey Reg can you explain how you descended at the end? Double rope around the stem with no choker, was it on a ledge? Thanks for the video! I like that idea for getting a feel for the wood while on the ground. God bless.
@@Recoates thanks. I'm sadly not surprised to hear that. Thanks for your videos. I appreciated the insight about working from the top down in order to keep stability in a rotten tree. I know lions tailing makes things a bit more dynamic. But I've never put two and two together 😂 cheers 👍
The bracket fungi looked like Ganoderma australe? a selective white rotting parasitic fungi leaving behind the soft mushy wood after it degrades the lignin (which is responsible for the woods rigidity)
Hi Reg, when you saw what you were tied into and said " not a lot", what did you think?, I know if the rotten bit had broke your rope would have slipped to a lower limb, I'm just being nosey, basically I wondered if you thought " phew" or something similar.Thanks for the content, always appreciated and respected.
i do sometimes wonder if you'd be better making a gap in a fence to fall a tree through. were possible that is. I recon a mended fence after the job is cheaper than a broken neck.
@@Recoates Oh I see, I only mentioned it because I happen to be in the middle of putting some paddock fencing up. the idea of taking out the old posts was sort of annoying till I got stuck in and then it didn't seem so bad. sort of made me wonder if you'd ever chogged down a tree on account of not wanting the hassle of shifting part of a fence.
Great. Weighs about the same as rope runner pro. Just experimenting with some last minute tweaks to make sure I haven't overlooked anything that could be advantageous.
@@adventurecub7687 It will do whatever you want but technically might only be certified for for SRT due to the specific standards criteria. That side of things is a bit of a minefield.
This was super scary. Climbing without a lanyard, not knowing how well or poor is the line attached to the top. Can you please explain why you did not use lanyard when climbing? Stay safe! I love your videos.
Probably because all of the branches, and like he said at the top, even if it did drop, he would only fall a few feet before the line snagged onto something else - all the branches at the top.
