Well I was inspecting another big tree the other day. Large Douglas fir around 5' diameter. Brand new and very fancy house right next to it. (another story there).
A tough climb due to over pruning...limbs far apart etc. Top broken and rotten at ~115'.
I climbed on this SRT. I felt pretty good about it and I had been screwing around for a while and was ready to get to work.
I will post a picture of the branch I had been shooting for...sure gald I did not go on that one as the close up view was not visible through my binoculars!
Have at me!
Scott

Here is a shot of the branch I had been trying to get a line over!
That would have made me shake had I been climbing on it.

I guess it was good you didn't get your first choice.
How far away from the trunk was TIP that you used (your first picture)? I'd even be a little worried about that one if it was really far from the trunk.

Patrick

For you to clearly see that defect would probably take a high powered bird spotting scope and plus GOOD observation skills as far as risk evaluation. I looks like that whole vertical leader was sitting on top of that dead stub.

But then again, your rope might have gotton pinched in the fracture crack- if the gods were watching out for you that is. It pays to have a healthy account in the good karma cosmic realm (do good things in the world so the world will do good things unto you).

So did you condemn the tree? What was your final judgement fellow certified arborist doing dangerous things, like aerial hazard assessments.

Did you quickly retreat from the tree while calling the tree service with a 100 ton crane? Or better yet, did you tell the home owners to move out of the house? I've done that a few times- it gets their attention.

It took some hutzpah to climb on that tie-in. It looks strong but it would worry me. I guess this is part of arborist on-the-clock time pressure. A rec climber can keep on blasting away with the slingshot until they either run out of throwline and throwbags or get a branch that they're happy with.

You should consider publishing a calendar with dicey tie-in of the month photos!

Thanks for posting it.
-moss

I'm a right-coaster, so my only experience with doug-fir is on exposed rafter tails, but I've heard about a prevelance of down sloping limbs. Your first photo kind of illustrates that. I guess on SRT that's no big deal, but DRT will run with gravity...y'all keep that in mind, or someone correct me if I'm wrong.

Climb Safe!
Icabod