Tree work for the Beginner. How to climb, Set rigging, Spurs, Ropes & harness.

[Music] alright guys what you're gonna see today is extremely dangerous there's tree guys doing this day in and day out and they make this work look easy and there is nothing further from the truth it's dangerous it requires a high level of skill and experience after you watch today's video do not attempt to do anything that you see inside of it I went to Detroit and I had to actually talk my buddy Keith Kalfas some of you may recognize him from his youtube channel called the landscape employee trap into showing us how to climb a tree Keith doesn't make videos about tree work even though he does it on a weekly basis in his business he'll regularly climb up 100 115 feet into the top of a tree and limit but he doesn't make videos about it because he doesn't want you guys to watch a video and think that you can go out and do the exact same thing and so if you're one of those experienced tree guys watching this video will you do me a favor and put in the comments down below to the new guys that are maybe interested and excited about getting into tree work what they should do next what's the next steps where could they go to get the information that maybe they need to take their career to the next level and speaking of careers Keith and I talked very frankly about what a life and tree work is actually like how much money you can make what are the what are the dangers that you face and is it actually worth it to get into tree work they've gotten this down to a science and today we're going to introduce you to that science but there's still a high level of danger and I want you guys you're thinking about tree work watch this video and more importantly read the comments down below because the experience for you guys they're the ones that can really give you the right sense of direction but today we're gonna hopefully introduce you to this line of work here we go guys refill minutes cuz if we get all the gear to go up at the climb left which tree what you feel like line one here so we're gonna climb that tree right there up that poplar okay then you've done this before many many times okay okay all right the reason I'm asking them is because I'm here with Keith guys he's gonna teach me how to climb one of those I've never done this before ever I mean when I wanted to get to the top at the top of the tree key thing you usually just take an excavator and push the tree over and go up there's the top it's laying right down there it works - what's up I'm Keith Kalfas with the landscaping employed trap YouTube channel as its you vest what's up I'm Keith Kalfas with the landscaping YouTube channel oh good today we're gonna be gearing up and climbing this poplar tree so I'm gonna go gear up right now okay so we want to do the climbing Eliot I'd rather film you wanna film yeah you don't want to go up top now right now you know I've got to get a Heights I'm scared of getting tonight's actually hold this I'm gonna tell you guys something I'm not scared of heights at all I'm just scared of falling [Music] take everything out and lay all the gear out and then make sure the rope there's no knots including the lifeline rope the green rope underneath okay all the gear comes out okay make sure there's no cake [Music] they got the best in me so like I could help them right now but this is literally the first time I've ever seen the dirt monkey do any work so I'm gonna enjoy this I know who's not getting it raised next time review period comes around whoo I already got my rage so this is my my lifeline this has got to be a sixty-eight hundred pound tension it's a multi braided nylon lifeline and this is where actually what you climb from this is what you hang from you can actually pick up a pickup truck with this and it won't break this carabiner right here is at least a was a 12,000 pound tension carabiner don't ever use a standard carabiner like you would get from the Walmart or something it's a triple action so it's not going to come out on you pull the Pete carabiner down twist the lock pull it back that's safety make sure any carabiner you use has triple action I was wondering come here look at this can you see that is that is it in focus so that's your lock right down turn spin okay yeah that makes sense and then this is also connected to it that's a double nut so it's stopped and it won't it won't thread back on you and you're in the tree now okay you're supposed to do an undo your double nut because the braids can get weak there's so much safety before you do anything you're supposed to check all of your ropes all of your gear go through everything and make sure there's no phrase there fringes or anything messed up or any cuts you weren't aware of in your lifeline if you if you go to climb and maybe something got cut and you weren't aware it's the smallest little tear through the fibers if it's a huge safety risk [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] art hat always safety glasses whether the clear dark doesn't matter and then make sure you've got a chin strap an actual helmet for your tree climbing and then gloves so you don't tear up your hands on the tree bark so I got my gas hog I've got the saddle and right here is an 8 foot steel braided lanyard that means if a chain saw hits it it's probably not gonna cut all the way through this is a buck strap so I always have a backup for when you're climbing from crotch to crotch and this is an adjustable buck strap so so why does it have this weird so it oh yeah it has this because it's adjustable see that you can go all the way out or you come close so once you're up in the tree and your close and need to tie yourself in so you can do your work you want to close make it closer to you so you're more taut in the tree and you have better points of stability because if you're hanging out far you can't do much so you can you become symbiotes you develop a symbiotic relationship with your gear the same with this too you'll see how it's adjustable in a second this right here is important this is called the floating d-ring so you can navigate and move in the tree right and first time I put this on my wife thought it was really hot I don't know but that's cool I'm gonna be climbing what's called old old school look at my fist my lifeline knot is gonna be in what they call a monkey's fist or it's gonna be in a Blake's hitch so basically you can a client with with pet soles all different types of new tools in tree gear I'm gonna be doing it old-school but anyways don't ever go up in any tree unless you have your lifeline attached to you no matter what because you might need it and then not only do I have the lifeline right here this blue rope is called the work line this is for roping this is for rigging this is for setting a gin and doing the work that you need to do if you have to rope something down when in doubt rope it out hmm what is that purple strap bunched up behind you on your belt too it's this weird roping and rigging for dropping branches for roping things down it's connected to a carabiner so you can actually throw a strap kind of like a running bowline but without the actual nuts to a log and it cinches up and tightens on the branch connected to your your work line when it comes down to what kind of a career can they have in this field kind of weird what kind of a career what kind of powers what kind of pay what's the compensation like I know it's a Pitts different country but I mean what could a guy make they're gonna be willing to put their life on the line doing this stuff literally the baseline for tree work even if you're on a job by yourself is minimum 250 bucks an hour about and then when you're working like I won't even put my gear out and go up a tiny tree it's 150 just to put my gear on or I'm not even entertaining it and now it's I mean that was then I mean I used to think tree work was extremely lucrative yeah but I look at all the associated risk and liability involved with it so unless you're a hundred percent committed to it I think it's not a very smart career to get involved at all if you're doing it just for the money and you if you ask professional tree guys lists that do this every day if you're trying to get into this business for money and you're in your thinking is backwards you have to be passionate about it so the passion comes first and then that's where the good money comes in I've friends that have break down I don't know 20 grand in a week doing this especially with storm damage tree work when the winds blow through so they're doing it on a job by job basis but there's guys out there working for the bigger tree companies yeah where they walk to job security they're bringing in about $25 an hour and that's one of the top guys one of the top guys the guy that can go out and do this stuff all by himself all day long and the company doesn't have to babysit them and that's honestly for the risks you're taking I'd like to see these guys get paid more plain and simple I mean yeah this kind of stuff it really deserved finger paint because it's a there's a bigger risk the big V it the more skill involved the bigger the risk the bigger your patient be so I this is an industry that I think is underpaid the guys who start getting in the next step and say they take out loans and they go into debt and they get chippers and boom trucks and big equipment now they can take on bigger jobs and make more money they absolutely have more overhead but what I'm looking at is do I want to be doing this in my later years no this is this is also a different scenario those guys are also doing it on a bid basis so they'll look at this tree and they'll say this is a fifteen hundred dollar tree or a thousand dollar tree or whatever this is yeah this is they'll bid it out there how they're bidding it is not an hourly basis twelve hundred bucks yeah all right now I've got the lanyard around the street I'm staying relaxed when you first start you literally can't even do it you're scared you're freaking out you're holding the tree and basically to go up you flip the lanyard up take baby steps and you hump the tree I know it sounds funny and I just tell you I have my scabbard and my saw right here see this specifically because when I go up I need to saw obstacles that are on my way up [Music] [Music] be very careful in the tree with this make sure you don't hit your lanyard or hit anything put it right back in the saw holders each time you use it [Music] [Applause] Keith what's the highest you've climbed 115 feet like so high you can't even see it 30 now 2530 feet I need one more thing it's very important yeah it'll look easy if you go up in a tree and you think you can climb higher because you look like you you just think you can do it you can actually have a panic attack in a tree and get stuck in there and nobody's going to come safe [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] so I window I through I only went up to the first crotch but I through the life route the life line around the fattest part of the crotch I'm not going to say anything else about that and then I tied a Blake's hitch right here with a stopper knot so it doesn't run through so here's the system this is the most basic you can set up micro pulleys you can do all types of stuff but if I undo this system and I back it out so you throw the carabiner around the crotch back through hook it up to the floating d-ring like just you grab the tail end of the lifeline I'm yeah and this is your tail here you can do whatever side you want you that you get used to it's good to practice with both and you wrap it around one two three four times over down back around up through two so watch this four times back around here's where the friction grips then you take the tail end and you feed it through these two like this tighten up the system tighten it here run it up like this make sure it's nice and clean there you go then you want to back test it like this you sit down in the tree before you undo your buck strap or your lanyard so you're still secure is that this is loose you'll drop down like an elevator with no brakes to go at this so once it's good it's taut then you run a figure eight knot you can call it a double knot to stop you're not a figure eight knot but like this you twist once twice watch you twist once twice and then run it through tighten it and that won't come undone so it won't run through and you make sure the system is tight by when you sit down you take and you press up as you sit and you yank that oh like this so it's super tight and then if you want to descend down you take your two fingers like this and it loosens the system see I can't I can't move now but if you take your fingers it slides so you can control the speed and the new technology the new stuff they have out is like you just touch a mechanical device and you go right up and down do you like the old school is a new school better key you know to tell the truth I haven't got deepen into it enough to get all the new school technology stuff but it's really fascinating what they've come out with and a lot of the stuff is invented by even tree guys that had been in this because so the the reason why this sucks if I don't have a a micro pulley is you can't ascend the tree every time you want to go up you have to sit there and back the system up to retighten your cell if you're going out on a limb you have to constantly adjust it manually versus a micro pulley system you can pull it and it adjusts itself so that would probably be your better bet ya know so this is here and then you can just hang out if I was dumb up there you know I showed enough this is that good yep okay now you're going up we got time with the rain coming in [Music] you take your thumbs always under like this you never ever take your thumbs off the book box wrap it up like that now reach around we flip it up and then now stick your foot in the tree left and right wider because you're gonna hurt your hips wider now take a step up with the other one jam it in three yep now your buck straps a little too low so you're gonna hump the tree at the same time if you flip the strap up one more foot come in hands watch would you is the rope on it Deb you like it yeah now hump the tree and flip it up at the same time you gotta trust the gear yeah yeah so now take this and pull and tighten and bring yourself in a little bit pull it out this way [Music] yeah it'll do it automatically but you have to loosen your attention while yeah okay cool now go up another two three steps and then repeat the process now a big step no back down like 10 inches maybe 50 see those biggest he knows steps he's taken two big little steps you made this look easy no it's the only reason it's hard for him is because he's fighting himself because his body hasn't gotten used to it it's his first time that's normal how you doing fan they'll remember if he doesn't really dig that spike in that tree because he's using gear for climbing with spikes he'll slip off and he'll feel it so if you slip that that lanyards gonna catch you if you don't really so this is like a poplar and the wood is soft if it was something like an oak tree which you should never trim this time of year it's like dude it's like hard it's totally different and you'll feel it's like sticking the spike into a brick and if you can feel your feet are all bruised up oh yeah because if you don't and you well you're not gonna fall but as soon as you get up to there a good point where you're comfortable make sure your Blake stitch is nice and tight you're gonna back test it by putting all your weight on it and if it doesn't move then you're clear to take your lanyard home getting the hang of it always periodically an obsessive habit periodically always checking your gear is everything hooked up is a carabiner loose like make sure everything but something can come undone if you rub up against a branch or something it can literally pull yeah I mean you're not great but you can't leave it there how do I actually get down so you take the two fingers on each side of the rope without getting rope burn don't touch the rope pull down on that system and watch it just a little bit just a little bit and then let go if you start falling let go of the rope all right guys the truth is is a storm set in it got dark and a whole lot of other excuses which thankfully kept me from climbing all the way to the top of the tree I'll be straightforward honest with you guys I was like half wiped out and I only got a quarter of the way up that Keith went up two and down again there's a lot that goes along with muscle memory and getting your body conditioned to be able to go all the way up and down comfortably I was tense the whole way up the whole way down I was happy that a storm came in I was happy that it got dark I was happy that I didn't have to go all the way up and down because my Eagle would've forced me to do it but my body would have been in pain for days afterwards Keith makes this stuff look easy and tree guys in general make this stuff look easy so if you see a tree guy out there just realize that they have a high level of skill that they probably just don't get recognized for the dirt monkeys recognising you tree guys out there god bless you tree guys do me a favor help the new tree guys that are interested in this line of work understand where to go leave some comments down below and tell me what you guys thought of this video I mean this was definitely a stretch for me but I need to know should I make more videos like this god bless you guys

Channel: Stanley "Dirt Monkey" Genadek

Views: 1,010,047

Rating: 4.625257 out of 5

Keywords: tree work, arborist, tree climbing, tree workers, tree climbing gear, Tree gear, climbing spurs, tree climbing harness, tree climbing guide, how to, tree climbing knots, tree climbing spurs, tree climbing rope, tree climbing kits, tree climbing techniques, tree climbing equipment, tree climbing training, tree climbing harnesses, tree climbing schools, tree climbing kit, tree climbing spikes and belt, tree rigging, how to climb a tree, arborist gear, tree climbing rigging

Id: 3q6_TCT1NhU

Length: 23min 18sec (1398 seconds)

Published: Fri Jun 22 2018