Video’s

Sep

Single Rope Technique for Efficient Tree Climbing

Posted by admin at 9:11 pm

This is the page I’ll be updating with the results

During the early 1990′s, Graeme McMahon monitored the heart rates of climbers using various canopy access systems.
In comparing spurs, prussic, frog and yosemite, he found the single rope technique (SRT) systems were an efficient method of access.
This had been long known within the caving, rock climbing and other rope access industries.

The video was part of a presentation to Arboricultural Association of Australia (AAA), included was Graemes research.
In the coming weeks, I’ll be making a post on our website with the charts, tables and documentation as pdfs.

Tape was used in the systems, as part of the research was to compare the efficiency gains/losses of shortening and lengthening these. Modern systems are tailor made to the right length to reduce bulk.

Feb

Large Tree Felling Marysville

Posted by admin at 5:26 pm

We’ve been doing some work with the Department of Sustainability and Environment in Marysville, cabling mature Mountain Ash away from a public access area.

We used tree jacks for many of the trees, others we set large cables and winched over with the DSE D4. The object of the works was to make safe a walking track that passed below many of these dead trees. Graeme has decades of experience in mature tree felling, which makes the task of assessing and planning for works a lot easier in the forest environment.
In many of the below photos you will notice most of the trees are felled from boards. These are used in steep terrain where it is difficult to safely work on the tree.

Mar

Helicopter Tree Lopping

Posted by admin at 12:05 am

We had two interesting jobs on today – one at William Ricketts Sanctuary and another at Burnham Beeches.

This brief post is about the job at Burnham Beeches where we used a helicopter to remove some storm damaged limbs from the forth story roof of the building.

There was insufficient access to use a crane, and a large crane would still not do the job as efficiently. There were no significant highpoints within reach of the roof top, and extensive gardens either side of the building would not allow material to be thrown from the roof.

The sheer volume of the branches, spread over two storeys would have meant they would need to be propped to stop the branches from falling further and doing any more damage.

When we release a longer video, there will be a more in depth explanation of why we used a helicopter for tree lopping and storm damage in the circumstance – compared to conventional rigging or craning techniques.

Special thanks to Mike Dunn from Heli-Serv (www.heli-serv.com) and Tim Shannon.

Feb

Red Roo Chipper Dandenong Ranges

Posted by admin at 5:28 pm

We hired one of Red Roo’s 730X chippers for some work we were doing in the Alfred Nicolas Gardens which is part of the Dandenong Ranges. Jim Kerr from Red Roo kindly took some video of the chipper doing what it does best.

Dec

Removing Mountain Ash Mount Dandenong

Posted by admin at 8:13 pm

Similar to Grants Picnic Ground removal, Graeme hangs the tree upside down and then uses a crane from Campbell Cranes to lift the long limbs off.
Ace Tree and Ace Tower were there on the day helping us out with their chipper and 60m Tower. Once the limbs were removed, the heads were felled and the log sections lifted.

Dec

Felling The Head From An Ash

Posted by admin at 7:02 pm

A number of tree’s were vandalised in the Otway Ranges in an area called “Triplet Falls”. Sherbrooke Tree Service was engaged to safely remove the semi-mature mountain ash from the affected area with minimal damage to the under story below. In this short video, Graeme takes the top of the Eucalyptus regnans.

Dec

Large Stump Rips From Ground

Posted by admin at 6:47 pm

When removing two mature Mountain Ash (Eucalyptus regnans) from Tarabolga National Park, Graeme suspected that the defect would cause the stump to tear from the ground as the tree departed. A hazard many tree loppers and tree fallers need to place a lot more concern when dealing with tree falling in all operations.

Dec

Climbing a Dead Eucalyptus regnans

Posted by admin at 11:07 pm

This climbing video is also on youtube in HD!

Graeme descends onto a dead and rotten tree so that he can safely work on it. After lopping out the head, the rest of the tree is blocked down.
When the tree we are removing is too dangerous to climb or be attached to normally, tree loppers will often gain access from another high point. This particular Mountain Ash was over the top of a high visitation walking track, and was one of several dead Eucalyptus regnans that needed to be removed for public safety.

Nov

Tahune 2

Posted by admin at 1:16 am

On Sherbrooke Tree Services second visit to the Tahune Airwalk in Tasmania’s south-west, we removed a large dead Eucalyptus regnans from alongside the airwalk. There were a number of difficulties in climbing this tree, as it was so dead there was very little holding the tree up. The whole stem was oscillating as Graeme spur climbed it, and since there were no high points anywhere near the tree, access was very slow.

In the first video, the location of Tahune and some of the access difficulties are shown. Even with the top of the tree gone the stem still stood approximately 30m over the top of the 30m high platform.
Graeme lead climbed the trunk using ratchet straps. These provided a dual purpose; they held the tree from falling apart, and allowed Graeme to clip his climbing through.

In the second video, the tree is being blocked down. Scott Sharpe uses a pulley system to rig the trunk sections over as Graeme cut them. During this video, the stabilising lines can be clearly seen. These stabilising lines were pre tensioned to 1000kg, and were offset 90 degrees from each other.

Nov

Olinda Falls Head Fall

Posted by admin at 1:15 am

This large dead Eucalyptus regnans was threatening a viewing platform over the top of Olinda Falls in Yarra Ranges Shire. The tree had a bee’s nest, and had a thin shell at the base which had been burnt out in a previous bushfire. After using explosives to safely remove the large limbs, Graeme then fell the head away from the viewing platform into the forest.

Nov

Grants Picnic Reserve

Posted by admin at 1:14 am

Nov

Olinda Falls Blasting

Posted by admin at 1:13 am

The large dead Mountain Ash seen in this video was hanging precariously over the newly built Olinda Falls viewing platform. In particularly, three large limbs were pulling a lot of the trees weight.
At the base of the tree, the stump was so severely burnt out that only a small semi-circle shell around 80mm thick held the tree. This was extremely brittle and extended nearly 40′ above, where it formed back into a chimney.

Around 120′ from ground level was a large bee’s nest. The risk that was facing Parks Victoria meant something needed to be done to mitigate the hazard so as to allow visitors to use the platform as expected.
In this situation Graeme elected to pre-rig the three limbs, and then cut them with explosives. This had a number of safety advantages;
- No-one needed to be under the tree as it was shock loaded with the limb being cut-off
- Graeme didn’t need to be in the tree as it could potentially pull out of the ground, or snap off above him as the tree was loaded up by the branches
- The limbs were so long that traversing out and lopping was not an option given the tree’s condition
- Long term exposure at 80′ was likely to attract unwanted attention from the Bee’s nest

The video shows one limb being severed with explosives, and then being caught on rope.

Nov

Tahune Day 3

Posted by admin at 1:12 am

Sep

Helmet Cam

Posted by admin at 12:41 am

Sep

First Limb, Main Entrance

Posted by admin at 12:26 am

In the main entrance to Sherbrooke Forest, there was a large Eucalyptus regnans which had three 120′ long branches overhanging the car parking area. Graeme removed these by lopping each and catching it onto itself in order to protect the facilities below. To do this safely, Graeme needed to be able to egress from the departing limb and stay clear of the spar. The video shown is the first of three.