Blocking out the stem once a tree has been limbed out puts the arborists in a precarious position, the climber needs to be close enough to safely make the cut, but runs the risk of the reaction forces from dropping a large piece of wood flipping the lanyard and climbing line off the end of the stem. Rip demonstrates techniques to secure yourself before making the cut, and how to set up your climbing line as an emergency life line.

Ken and Rip intentionally create a worse case rigging scenario to test the forces ropes and equipment can be subjected to in the second part of the Dynamometer drop tests.

Ken and Rip demonstrate the dramatic amount of force created when dropping large pieces into a rigging system. Using dynamometers to measure at both the anchor point and at the in tree rigging point.

Peter Donzelli explains the many variables that go into the amount of force a rigging system is subjected to on the job, and how understanding these variables can be used to determine the best way to reduce the force on a system.

Rip Tompkins finishes safely removing a large piece of stem using an arborist’s block rigged directly below the cut. The available quiz covers the episodes: Speedline with redirect and ground anchor, knotless rigging, knotless rigging and speedline, and basic blocking parts 1 & 2 (A,T,Bp)

Ken Palmer and Pete Donzelli demonstrate, with dramatic results, the forces a rigging line can sustain when loaded with a large limb.

Piecing out a large stem with no rigging points above the work requires the proper use of ropes and blocks. Rip Tompkins walks you through part one of Basic Blocking Techniques.

Efficiency and speed are the end results of combining knotless rigging with a speedline in removing small to medium size limbs. Rip Thompkins walks you through this time and energy saving combo of techniques

Looking to increase your efficiency dropping small or medium limbs? How about eliminating one time consuming steps; tying knots. Rip Thompkins walks you through a knotless rigging system.

This Climbing and Rigging Podcast has two parts: 1. Rip demonstrates how a mismatch cut can help to remove a branch that’s too big to handle on your own, but too small to set up rigging by using a mismatch cut. 2. Rip and Ken show some of the cautions about using a classic drop cut for removing a large limb.