That sugar maple I tried to save by myself last March

I was out in a backyard in Nashua, NH around 7 PM trying to do a crown reduction on a sugar maple that had some deadwood. I had my climbing gear set up and everything, but I forgot to check my lanyard's wear point before going up. About 15 feet off the ground, the lanyard slipped on a wet branch and I dropped my chainsaw from my harness (thank goodness for the safety tether, but still). It landed on a guy's patio umbrella and shattered the plastic hub, so I had to come down, apologize to the homeowner, and finish the job with a handsaw from the ground. The whole thing took 2 extra hours because I was being too hasty and not inspecting my gear first. Has anyone else had a close call like that from rushing a pre-climb check?

2 comments

2 Comments

abby_robinson5823d ago

Oh man, that line about the patio umbrella got me. Last fall I was rushing to get a limb down before a storm hit and my chainsaw kicked back and put a gash right through my neighbor's brand new aluminum shed. Had to buy him a whole new one and the job took three times as long because I kept second-guessing every cut after that.

the_henry22d ago

... and then you know you can't even be mad at yourself because it was the rush that did it, not the saw. My buddy Mike had that same thing happen but with a neighbor's fiberglass hot tub cover, of all things. He was just trying to trim a branch that was hanging over and the saw slipped and carved a nice long scratch right across the top. Had to chip in for a replacement and the neighbor was cool about it but Mike still brings it up every time we fire up the saws, like that moment's burned into his brain forever. It's wild how one bad split second can make you second-guess every cut after it, @abby_robinson58.