The Oak Triplet – Part 3

After having taken care of the first two of the triplets there were two things reasonably clear. How to get onto the tree, and roughly how to rig the load to make sure the limbs would come done smoothly. Seb was already back home in Rebstein when I got up early on Sunday and started a little cleanup. I put at least a few of the limbs in their place until I finally brought up the courage to go for the last of the triplet.
It was a beautiful day the sun was shining but it was also quite humid. I put on my climbing belt threw the line and carefully climbed into the tree. It took me a while to position and secure myself sufficiently well so I would be ready to go. I started with one of the smaller limbs and it went down easy. Ana was standing by making sure the kids would not get in the way and I had her there to help me in case I would need help. While taking care of the remaining smaller limbs using the hand saw I already broke a sweat and noted that the heat and humidity in conjunction with the physical work was rather strenuous. Little did I suspect though of how exhausted I would be when finishing my work up there.
When I finish all but the last large limb, the continuation of the main trunk, my T-shirt was already quite wet and Ana brought me a fresh water bottle to keep me hydrated. After a little break I searched the best spot where to cut the main trunk, large enough to make it worth my while but still not too large so I would be able to control it. I secured my new position that was not exactly ideal but ultimately it never is. Once I had the limb rigged and started sawing away I realized that it would take a while to chop through that one the somewhat awkward position making the sawing and the standing rather strenuous. It took me a long time to get through this one. Usually I do not like to interrupt once started but on this cut I had to stop many, many times. It was one of those situations where you ask yourself how in heaven’s name the limb could still not break away while you had already cut so far. I am not sure but it might have taken me an hour … well at least over half an hour in the blazing sun until finally I heard the liberating ‘crack’ from the limb indicating it was about to go down. What was to follow was probably the most exciting tree work action yet… Imagine me standing on the limb which maybe a meter from me was about to tilt down. I was roughly at the height of the tip of our roof nothing around me but the bushy limb that was about to go down. After a few more back-and-fourths with the saw the second ‘crack’ came, I quickly put away the saw and focused on holding the rigging rope. The big limb went down abruptly making the trunk I was standing on spurt upwards for a little while until the weight fell right back onto the trunk causing a sudden jolt…. A pure adrenaline rush! Lowering the limb I do not remember well and somehow I made it down in one piece. When I was back on the ground I was barely able to take off all the equipment. I went into the kitchen, drank a chug of water and had to retreat to the coach, where I slept at least an hour before I was able to get up again. I finished of the remaining trunk while Ana went shopping and I barely beat the rain setting in in the evening.
It felt good in the evening to discuss the amazing success of having cut down the big oak triplet. I was very impressed that I had been able to do this without a major incident. When before that day I had considered to hire someone to take care of the big branch over our tree I was growing more confident I could even accomplish this much more tricky task…. still I was far from certain as I had to use a new technique called ‘limb walking’ to reach my working position and the rigging was definitively more complex as the branch was quite close to our roof. Anyway that was for another day and Ana and I enjoyed the large patch of sky that had opened up above our backyard.