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Scared of heights? Step ladders make you nervous?
- Thread starter Pat Whatley
- Start date
SAS
New Member
Craig Sjoquist
New Member
yikes I'm still shivering, that's something to be able that day after day.
round man
New Member
I can remember when they quit using wood to build billboards and first came out with the steel monopole structures and the heights of billboards went from a max of about 80 feet to well over 150 feet in places. at first I appreciated the added security of the steel but then I ended up on a double stack 120 feet up one day just before a thunder storm. I was all hot and sweaty from climbing and the cool damp breeze from the thunder storm hit me and made me queazy as hell, as I was watching the lightning strikes and counting the distance away from me I realized I was ten minutes from the ground if I climbed down as fast as I could and the math did not add up to a safe time table before the lightning was upon my location. Talk about getting a case of sewing machine knees in absolutely the wrong place and time,.....I had problems with heights over 75 feet after that day up until present day and reach a point where I can't control my nerves and or calm down enough to paint a straight line. It was a source of a great deal of conflict between me and my bosses for several years after that as they had become used to depending on me for their high dog work over the years,...it's not a pretty place to learn your limits,....I can't imagine nor do I want to try to comprehend what its like up another 1850 feet,.,..,,.
iSign
New Member
I guess I got a few climbing stories to add here. Wasn't sure if I would find the time when the thread was still alive. I got the same total respect for these guys as anyone, but I didn't seem to get any of the nervous effects people have reported from the video. I found it strange that someone would say that, but after several people said it, I guess I'm the strange one. I've done a bit of hiking & scaled some hairy sections of trail to get to peaks, clifftops & outcroppings. No mountain climbing though, but my technical climbing experience came when I was a tree planter in the Pacific Northwest.
With 300 ft. of climbing rope, a harness, climbing spurs & split flipline, I climbed 150 to 200 ft conifers to pick pine cones from the very top, on Government contracts with the BLM and US Forest Service. a 150' pine (in a forest setting) typically has no limbs at all for the first 50 or 60 ft. the diameter is usually around 3 feet across at the ground. After adjusting the length of the flip line & getting it around the base & clipped in, I could set my spurs, & move quickly up the tree in pretty fluid motion, like those lumber jack contests on a slow day at ESPN.
Anyway, the first tricky part comes after 50 feet. A lot of the lowest limbs are dead & I had a nice hardwood club I made, hanging off my harness & I could traverse around the circumference as I climbed, gradually planting each spur a little off center to the direction I needed to go, to end up with limbs on my left side. If I couldn't break them off, I used the split flip line. It was a steel cable lined 1-1/2" hemp rope with one long end doubled back over itself on the right D-ring, such that I could tighten in the length as the tree grew narrower during the climb, but the left side split to two 3' cable lined ropes with snap hooks for the D-ring, so I could climb until my waist was even with a limb on my left, remove one hook & get that half over the limb, clip in & get the other half over & then go on further up the tree. Eventually the amount of limbs got thicker & there was a lot of maneuvering around to get each limb on the left, but around 100', when the limbs got too thick... that's when the fun starts.
From around 100' to 186' (my tallest tree) it was free climbing, and then you get to the top 20' and the trunk is only 8 to 10" across... and I would tie off my 20' safety line here, because the top of the tree can break off from my weight... BUT, that's where all the pine cones are! At least the greatest concentration, which are also within reach.
By the way, before I forget, the views are totally amazing, because I drive through dense forest & have next to no idea what might be in sight. I've seen incredible wildlife, and the most amazing views... and I've also felt some serious swaying of the trees up at the top. I can honestly say I did not feel fear doing this job, except the time my snap hook gave a good loud snap, but it hadn't fully engaged the D-ring, and I wasn't looking as carefully to ensure a good connection. When I trusted my weight to it, it gave that extra inch with another "clink" and now I was safe... but that second of unanticipated "give", with an unusual clink sent chills up my spine!
So, anyway, if free climbing 150' up in a tree doesn't sound crazy enough, I would pick 40 or 50 pounds of pine cones in a burlap bag, tied to the back of my safety harness. now, free climbing back down, with a heavy bag leading the way below me, I'd have to choose the route, through which limbs, as I positioned the bag below, until I got to around the place where I switched to a free climb.
If anyone here repels much, the most fun part is here! I have to uncoil half of my 300 ft' of rope & set it around the tree. It will have to be dragged out again from the bottom, so the ideal scenario is 2 limbs opposite each other, and a third slightly higher limb on the back side.
Anyway, once the rope is set, I run it through my figure-8 friction device, & find the best straight shot down through the remaining larger limbs I couldn't bust off on the way up. Some of the ones I couldn't break with my club to save me using the split line, I would break with my foot after I got above them, to improve my chore of getting down.
The repel is awesome, kicking out from the tree & easing up on the friction, dropping 10 to 20 feet in each graceful kick.. man I need to go climb that wall at REI now... I sure miss repelling now that I think of it.
With 300 ft. of climbing rope, a harness, climbing spurs & split flipline, I climbed 150 to 200 ft conifers to pick pine cones from the very top, on Government contracts with the BLM and US Forest Service. a 150' pine (in a forest setting) typically has no limbs at all for the first 50 or 60 ft. the diameter is usually around 3 feet across at the ground. After adjusting the length of the flip line & getting it around the base & clipped in, I could set my spurs, & move quickly up the tree in pretty fluid motion, like those lumber jack contests on a slow day at ESPN.
Anyway, the first tricky part comes after 50 feet. A lot of the lowest limbs are dead & I had a nice hardwood club I made, hanging off my harness & I could traverse around the circumference as I climbed, gradually planting each spur a little off center to the direction I needed to go, to end up with limbs on my left side. If I couldn't break them off, I used the split flip line. It was a steel cable lined 1-1/2" hemp rope with one long end doubled back over itself on the right D-ring, such that I could tighten in the length as the tree grew narrower during the climb, but the left side split to two 3' cable lined ropes with snap hooks for the D-ring, so I could climb until my waist was even with a limb on my left, remove one hook & get that half over the limb, clip in & get the other half over & then go on further up the tree. Eventually the amount of limbs got thicker & there was a lot of maneuvering around to get each limb on the left, but around 100', when the limbs got too thick... that's when the fun starts.
From around 100' to 186' (my tallest tree) it was free climbing, and then you get to the top 20' and the trunk is only 8 to 10" across... and I would tie off my 20' safety line here, because the top of the tree can break off from my weight... BUT, that's where all the pine cones are! At least the greatest concentration, which are also within reach.
By the way, before I forget, the views are totally amazing, because I drive through dense forest & have next to no idea what might be in sight. I've seen incredible wildlife, and the most amazing views... and I've also felt some serious swaying of the trees up at the top. I can honestly say I did not feel fear doing this job, except the time my snap hook gave a good loud snap, but it hadn't fully engaged the D-ring, and I wasn't looking as carefully to ensure a good connection. When I trusted my weight to it, it gave that extra inch with another "clink" and now I was safe... but that second of unanticipated "give", with an unusual clink sent chills up my spine!
So, anyway, if free climbing 150' up in a tree doesn't sound crazy enough, I would pick 40 or 50 pounds of pine cones in a burlap bag, tied to the back of my safety harness. now, free climbing back down, with a heavy bag leading the way below me, I'd have to choose the route, through which limbs, as I positioned the bag below, until I got to around the place where I switched to a free climb.
If anyone here repels much, the most fun part is here! I have to uncoil half of my 300 ft' of rope & set it around the tree. It will have to be dragged out again from the bottom, so the ideal scenario is 2 limbs opposite each other, and a third slightly higher limb on the back side.
Anyway, once the rope is set, I run it through my figure-8 friction device, & find the best straight shot down through the remaining larger limbs I couldn't bust off on the way up. Some of the ones I couldn't break with my club to save me using the split line, I would break with my foot after I got above them, to improve my chore of getting down.
The repel is awesome, kicking out from the tree & easing up on the friction, dropping 10 to 20 feet in each graceful kick.. man I need to go climb that wall at REI now... I sure miss repelling now that I think of it.
CheapVehicleWrap
New Member
iSign, that's old school. Nowadays government workers don't pick cones like that. They just wait for them to fall off the trees.
Team Valhalla
New Member
I wonder if he was wearing a parachute... seriously.
I don't recall seeing anything in the video and I don't really want to watch it again. My feet were tingling and my hands sweating by the end of it.
SP
I don't recall seeing anything in the video and I don't really want to watch it again. My feet were tingling and my hands sweating by the end of it.
SP
iSign
New Member
Reforestation is still an important part of maintaining one of America's most valuable renewable resources, and our Government has nurseries all over the country to generate the seedlings tree planters plant to maintain our forest lands, as well as for genetic experiments to identify superior phenotypes for our timber industry.
Pine cones are designed to naturally regenerate the forest by releasing their seeds from the treetops, to scatter the ground below with hundreds of seeds from each cone. Cones do not naturally fall from the tree at their proper ripeness. They fall after releasing the seeds, so you are incorrect about waiting for them.
Well, if the Government is also making Christmas wreaths, then maybe you are partly correct
CheapVehicleWrap
New Member
Thanks for the explanation. I was wondering why they had you picking cones 
CentralSigns
New Member
I didn't think it was that bad either ISign. But I used to do high angle rescue, pick up the pieces if the climber had a heart attack or passed out, couldn't climb down for whatever reason. Not even near that high, but plenty high. We would get up to the patient hook them int our harnesses however we could and rappel them and ourselves down together. It was cool. I also put together some structures with a helicopter lifting sections. We would guide the pieces in, and bolt them together. Also removed some stuff, the same way. Shaky times when its windy.