Had a close call with a rotten limb in a backyard in Tacoma

I was doing a basic prune on a big maple last week, maybe 40 feet up. I set my line on what looked like a solid branch, but when I put weight on it, I heard this loud crack. The whole thing gave way, maybe 6 feet of it just snapped off. I had my second tie-in, thank god, but it swung me hard into the trunk. My shoulder is still sore. I should have probed it first, but I was in a hurry. Anyone have a good method for checking for rot when the bark still looks okay?

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3 Comments

iris_mason886mo ago

You say you should have probed it first, but sometimes you just have to trust your initial assessment. Probing every single branch can make a simple job take forever, and the bark looked fine. That hurry you were in is just the reality of getting work done.

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olivia_webb6mo ago

My assessment skills are clearly top notch, lol.

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clairem816mo ago

But that "hurry" is why @olivia_webb's point about checking first is actually the safer way to work.

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