New Project:
The 2520 didn't have much to do yet, just carried my gear.
The job is removing two small, dead Elms next to the evaporation pond. The larger one on the right is 10" on the stump and about 30' tall, the one on the left is 8" on the stump and maybe 25' tall. The circle at the top shows that the top of the larger tree had grown into the walnut tree above and the circle at the bottom is a small hackberry that I'm trying to preserve.
There are also trees on the back side of these two that I did not want to damage, so I decided the best course of action was to climb the bigger tree which allowed me to de-limb and cut the tops off both trees.
This picture shows my climb line set in the bigger tree and it's tied off on the base of the trunk of the smaller tree adjacent.
Note: Normally, you would do your "base tie" on the same tree you are climbing, but there were too many branches in the way so the line wound up going behind a branch on the small tree and it was too hard to move so I just tied to the small tree. This was not ideal because it was kind of torquing on the tie-in point but I knew the bigger tree was still in pretty good shape, so wasn't real worried about it snapping off.
Being tied into the bigger tree allowed me to swing back and forth to de-limb both trees with just one climb.
Next picture shows the tops and limbs removed and just the main stems left standing. The rest of the branches are on the trail on the other side of the berm behind all the bushes. Ran out of time this day, so will drop the stems chip branches and haul the bigger wood to the wood pile next time.
For those interested in the climbing setup, I'm using a Buckingham Master 5.0 saddle, Yale Blue Moon climbing rope and a Rope Wrench with Hitch Climber pulley and friction hitch for support. Also using a Notch Jet Step foot ascender and a Haas Velox knee ascender for moving up the rope.