Thanks Dave, you're too kind with these words 😅 I am very encouraged by them and will do my best to continue sharing helpful stuff 😊

Thays an excellent point! If it did get caught, I would be possible to pull the end of the rope up through the quick shackle, but it would take a lot of pulling and climbing back uo would certainly be faster

Thanks Bill! I just want to share the things that have made me a better climber so maybe others can improve their skills too.

@@zaccheus oh most definitely I'm sure it helps a lot of people

Thanks Nate! We'll have you climbing trees in no time!

Haha thanks man!

Thanks, man. I'm a firm believer in building the work place atmosphere you want to work in.

Thanks for the support! I definitely look forward to the dead ash tree finally being gone. For the most part atleast. I don't know that we will ever be 100% rid of them

Haha thanks man 😅

Thanks, man, that's really encouraging to hear! I'm afraid there isn't really a straight answer. There are different things about a tree that disqualify it from being safe to climb. Once it has been determined to be safe to climb, there is nothing to worry about. If it's not safe to climb, it shouldn't be climbed. Dead wood is still strong, our houses are built out of it. Decayed wood is not strong and should never be trusted. This doesn't mean I don't get uncomfortable in the top of a tree, it just means I don't put myself in a position where I can't remind myself with valid reasoning that the tree is safe to climb. Any climber who says they've never been scared is a liar 😅 I don't know anyone that likes climbing noodly cherry trees. We all hate them because they move around a bunch.

@@zaccheus thanks man, that helps. I’ve been climbing for a little over a year and I learn something every time I watch a video, talk to other climbers, or I get in a tree myself. Thanks a bunch!

@@zachsites906 Those are the best ways to learn that I know of! All three are important components.

@@zaccheus so funny, I just climbed a noodly newly dead cherry yesterday!

@@josiah513 haha, they're no fun at all!

Thanks Michael!

Thanks man! I'm sure you do the same then, but I'll sometimes mount the porta wrap on different tree and such for the same reason. Another commenter suggested some fishing pole type rigging and I think thay would have helped too.

@@zaccheus ahh yep. 👍👌 I was reading about the fishing pole technique being great for that, especially on heavy laterals with skeptical looking higher rigging points. Sometimes I’ll set a redirect or two on the way up the tree basically making the whole tree a fishing pole depending on the structure haha.

Thanks man, I think he did pretty good too 😁

Oh nice! I generally try to avoid self rigging, but I can see why you might want to.

Thanks! Nothing wrong with that! It's good to know what you are or are not comfortable with. It's also important to not feel bad or insufficient if someone else climbs something you're not comfortable with. Just because they make foolish decisions, doesn't mean you should ever feel pressured to.

Thanks Todd!

Haha, I think my knees were a little trembly at times. It was still pretty green. I don't think the borer has been up there in Minnesota as long.

I think the biggest drawback of the chican/zz combo is definitely the length. The zz really isn't recommended for single line work without the chicane so I personally would not do that even though some guys here on youtube recommend it. The akimbo is definitely the shortest of the devices I've tried for spar work. Another short one would be the unicender which I have heard also tolerates sap better and therefore would probably be a better device if you do a lot of work on ever green spars.

Haha, thanks Simon!

Haha, you got it 😂

Thanks Dave!

Yeah, it is. I've never used a zubat, but I can tell you that I really like this size and I like the hook tip alot too. It's hard to say that they are worth the price. There are a lot of hand saws that cut just as good as a silky saw 🤷‍♂️ I find a lot of value in having a good scabbard/saw combo that I can easily strap to my leg.

I talk about it briefly near the end of this video when I'm rigging down the stem wood: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/ecqcmbNj1d69qmw.html

Thanks man, they're not my favorite. I don't mind if they're a pretty sound species.

You're in luck, I already have a video on it. You can see it here: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/at-albmYzte-o5s.html

Lol sometimes thats all you can do 🤷‍♂️😂

Thanks Leonard!

@@zaccheus 🤠👍👌

I noticed that too, I think I bought it before that trip last October.

I think that's a fairly common thing to do. It probably better than only one lanyard, but it doesn't really protect you against a nasty slide down the tree if you gaff out really bad. It also doesn't provide a rope egress if you were to injure yourself in some way. The addition of a friction saver would probably be a pretty quick and easy way to make thay lower system cinch though. I would think you could hold it similar to the they way I did with my srt system in this video 🤷‍♂️

It's an omni block 2.6 made by Rock Exotica. Hands down my favorite block.

Ok thanks I’ll check it o it

I hear you on policy rules like that. It's a little frustrating that they can't trust a climber's judgement, but they are also the ones assuming the liability 🤷‍♂️ there are fewer and fewer ash tree that are sound enough to climb every day. Not a single one is worth dying for. I've definitely found ash trees that looked terrible and still had good hinge wood in them and I've seen ash trees that still had bark, but were trash all the way through. I don't think death by EAB makes them any worse or any better than any other dead tree. There are definite other species that are much less desirable to climb when dead.

To add to that, as much as I don't like blanket rules, I think it is important to honor the wishes of your employer.

Honor your employers wishes. I can climb most of them, but not all. I almost always treat them like a a spar and don't rely/trust on an overhead line.

@@4.0gpa44 great advice, thanks :)

There is nothing wrong with that. I've found it helpful for newer ground people. It's also handy because I never have to tie the rope to myself while I'm moving around. I think it improves cycle time and reduces rope wear, but an experienced team can probably be just as fast with just knots. I think it's mostly a matter of preference 🤷‍♂️

@@zaccheus I got you buddy I understand thank you so much

I don't think there was anything thay would have been stronger. There were other trees around, but I as I recall, none of them had bigger limbs up that high. Definitely a good thought though! Thanks for bringing it up 😊

It probably would have helped! I didn't even considering doing that, but it definitely would not have been bad thing to do.

@@zaccheus yeah I was just curious buddy cuz that thing was a noodle great work

@b r right on! It was a good question to ask, my favorite questions are the ones that challenge me to think about things I didn't think of on my own.

@@zaccheus I understand buddy definitely God bless

It's a violation of some of safety standards. It also leaves you in a position to slide all the way to the bottom which might not but super life threatening, but it can really tear you up. I've never slid more than a few feet, but I definitely regretted not taking the time to do it right. Lastly, it leaves you with no method of rope egress from the tree if you were to get hurt in someway.

yep always have a rope to get down quickly...

Haha thanks, I'll take 'em 😂

Haha glad to hear it!

Because then I wouldn't have the opportunity to talk about rigging in the video 😂