Shoutout to the old climbing rope trick for a tight backyard removal

I had a tricky removal last week in a cramped Boston yard, a big silver maple with limbs over a garage. No room for a bucket truck, and the drop zone was maybe ten feet wide. I was about to set up a complex rigging system when I remembered something an old timer showed me years ago. Instead of just cutting and letting pieces fall, I tied a running bowline on a long climbing rope, threw it over a high branch on a neighboring oak, and used it as a live line to guide each cut limb right into the drop zone. Controlled the swing perfectly, saved the garage roof, and finished the job in half the time. It felt like cheating, but it worked. Anyone else have a simple rope trick that saved your skin on a tight job?

2 comments

2 Comments

taylorb9414d ago

Call that cheating, I call it getting paid.

wyatt93214d ago

Man, taylorb94, I felt that. My old boss tried to cut my overtime pay last year, said it was a "bookkeeping error." Had to show him the time logs and the labor law website. Got every penny.