What's difficult about watching a pro work? Climbing with a rope is safer than using ladders. I did the same work the video shows except back in the '60s there were no chain brakes, carabiners in use, helmets or ear or eye protection; and worst of all the brush chippers screamed at a head pounding pitch. They had a cylindrical drum with razor sharp blades bolted to the drum and NO safety bar to grab if one was being dragged to their death by the machine.
You'll notice the climber has spikes on his boots to climb the tree, then tie in with his climbing line. Next he goes from leader to leader limbing and dropping the leaders and branches, with a loop of rope he wraps around the leader/limb. This he connects to his lowering line, which in this tree he has running through a pulley to speed up the lowering process.
This type of work is a lot safer today with the equipment upgrades the climbers use today. In most instances, in a residential yard, if one is climbing to thin or prune and not drop an entire tree, the initial climbing from the ground is done without spikes so there is no bark damage. Instead the climber tosses a bag with some weight to get a rope into the tree, then pulls himself up to a point where he can climb higher and so on.
Rock Crawler is spot on. The company I worked for was the largest independent service in Bergen County, NJ, in the day. We had 2, 100 foot telescoping cranes, a bunch of
chipper trucks and a few stump grinders. And so many Stihl saws you couldn't count them! A bunch of climbers, including me, and a bunch of ground crew guys. Flatbeds and dumpers for loading logs and hauling chips, etc. We worked everywhere and the head owner and his brother spent countless hours quoting jobs, every day.
It was grueling, back breaking work, and it kept us busy as bird-dogs. Most of the guys were Nam Vets, and really good guys to work with. I started on the ground and worked my way to the tree climbing. My training was on the job, and watching the guys with experience. I was given a climbing line and told to go home one weekend and practice climbing with spikes. I was scared ****eless when I came to work on Monday. They told me to climb a tree, and I told them to leave me alone and not to say a word. I eventually climbed up, slowly, shaking like a leaf. I sweat out several gallons of water from my pores and then gradually became a climber over that summer. Once I got the hang of it I was alright, but still got scared when I had to work really high at places where I was alone with no ground crew. I nearly got chipped up a couple of times by myself - a feeling you never forget, fighting getting pulled into the shoot with branches trying to drag you to a gruesome death. I was between 14-18 during my pro tree work stint. It was good money, but no amount is worth dying for.
They did advertise, and had signs all over every truck, crane truck, etc. The phone never ever stopped ringing, ever. It was nutz! No web, no cell phones, etc, so we had to return calls and book jobs, but we were weeks out at an absolute minimum. Referrals and commercial jobs got top priority, then everyone else, first come, first served. The outfit now does all of Rockland county, NY AND the 5 boroughs of NYC now too.
