Posted: 2/21/2015 12:43:55 AM EDT
|
So I just about died at work today. Not too happy about it. I am a tree climber by trade, with roofing as a backup income. This story starts yesterday. My boss calls and ask if I can go look at a tree in Lexington Ky. that is dead and not very accessible. I go look at this thing and it is the deadest red oak I have ever seen still standing. There is no way to get a bucket truck to it, nor a crane. We are slow so my boss wants to get the job, and I want him to get it because I am good friends with my coworkers and know they are hurting. I tell him I'll climb it but I'll need $1,000 dollars instead of hourly(sometimes I get paid by the tree, normally by the hour). He turns around and bids the tree at $3,200 and the customer say to do it A.S.A.P.
I go in early this morning and meet the guys at the shop. I tell them that the tree is a high risk and that I need them too watch out for me. We all pile in my truck and head up to Lexington, which is about two hours away. We didn't take any company trucks because it was a leave lay, and my truck had more than enough gear. We get to the job and I set a false crotch on the side I want to start on and start up the tree. It is too soft for my spikes to stay in so I hip thrust up the tree on my climbing line and start bombing shit into the yard. I had the first 3/4 of the tree down in 20 minutes. I come down, take a piss, and move my climbing line to the center lead. At this point I only have two leads left and both are coming down whole. I have the groundys set a tag line in the one coming down first and have them give a test pull. Things look good so I spike over to it and put a notch in it. I have them pull again and things still look good, so I tell them to give me steady pressure on it while I do the back cut. I start the back cut and everything is going great until every bit of hold wood breaks and the butt starts to slide towards me. I cut my buck line with my saw(Jonsered 2172) and kicked myself away as fast as I could. I swing out and away from the sliding trunk and as I'm swinging hear the lead above me that I am tied into fail. I'm only about 20 feet up at this point and am somehow rather calm. I'm swinging out and airborne and try my best to relax my body so as to "back flop" onto the ground. Turns out the lead I was tied into hit the ground, and part of my climbing line got hung up in a hawthorn tree and it kept me from hitting the ground. When the dust settled I saw that the tree was down, I was alive, we missed the house, and it all worked out. Now I'm sitting here wondering if I really want to do this anymore. TL;DR trees suck. |
|
Quoted:
Sounds to me like you know what you are doing. If you quit a lesser experienced man on your crew gets pushed to do your job, he might not be as skilled or as lucky as you. Just ask yourself if your conscious is ready for that. Not so much. If I quit my boss will hire any of about a half dozen climbers in our area. Nobody is going to put an inexperienced guy in a big dead tree near a building. I'm not going to quit, but I'm sure as fuck going to think about it and drink a beer. |
|
Glad you're ok. My uncle used to do the same thing...until he went up a tree, got into a hidden hornets nest, and got the shit stung out of him. He was scared to death of bees, probably because he is very allergic. He freaked out, fell, broke his right arm in two places and cracked a few ribs. Then he went into anaphylactic shock, we almost lost him. |
|
Quoted:
Glad you're ok. My uncle used to do the same thing...until he went up a tree, got into a hidden hornets nest, and got the shit stung out of him. He was scared to death of bees, probably because he is very allergic. He freaked out, fell, broke his right arm in two places and cracked a few ribs. Then he went into anaphylactic shock, we almost lost him. Bees suck. I once found myself trying to punch a raccoon to death while getting stung by bees about 50 feet up. |
|
Quoted: Bees suck. I once found myself trying to punch a raccoon to death while getting stung by bees about 50 feet up. Quoted: Quoted: Glad you're ok. My uncle used to do the same thing...until he went up a tree, got into a hidden hornets nest, and got the shit stung out of him. He was scared to death of bees, probably because he is very allergic. He freaked out, fell, broke his right arm in two places and cracked a few ribs. Then he went into anaphylactic shock, we almost lost him. Bees suck. I once found myself trying to punch a raccoon to death while getting stung by bees about 50 feet up.  |
|
Quoted:
Bees suck. I once found myself trying to punch a raccoon to death while getting stung by bees about 50 feet up. Quoted:
Quoted:
Glad you're ok. My uncle used to do the same thing...until he went up a tree, got into a hidden hornets nest, and got the shit stung out of him. He was scared to death of bees, probably because he is very allergic. He freaked out, fell, broke his right arm in two places and cracked a few ribs. Then he went into anaphylactic shock, we almost lost him. Bees suck. I once found myself trying to punch a raccoon to death while getting stung by bees about 50 feet up. Shit, now I want to hear this story as well. |
|
Quoted:
Shit, now I want to hear this story as well. Quoted:
Quoted:
Quoted:
Glad you're ok. My uncle used to do the same thing...until he went up a tree, got into a hidden hornets nest, and got the shit stung out of him. He was scared to death of bees, probably because he is very allergic. He freaked out, fell, broke his right arm in two places and cracked a few ribs. Then he went into anaphylactic shock, we almost lost him. Bees suck. I once found myself trying to punch a raccoon to death while getting stung by bees about 50 feet up. Shit, now I want to hear this story as well. I was climbing a silver maple, homeowner said they thought squirrels lived in it. I spike about 70 feet up and start throwing shit down. I figure fuck it, my groundy that day sucks so I will just toss everything and won't bother roping anything down. So I go about my business and throw shit down. I'm half done with one lead and cut into a bees nest. I swing away and go to the second to last lead to hang out and see what the bees do. I get stung a few few times but nothing major. I go about my merry way and throw all the brush off the lead I'm in and start chunking wood. I get down too the bulk of the lead that is about 20" and hollow. I snap cut a big chunk and throw it, then look down and there is what ends up being a 35 pound pissed off raccoon that bum rushes me. We fight and I unhook my buck line and swing away. He hangs out and comes with. I end up back on the bee lead and spike/run up the lead while being chased by the raccoon. I get ate the fuck up by bees while this raccoon asshole tears me a new side ass. I pin the coon too the tree and punch it to death and then rappel down away from the bees. Assholes all around. |