Tool Tuesday - Fliplines & Positioning Lanyards
It’s Tuesday! Which means it’s time for another look at the tools Red Mountain Rigging uses to get the job done!
Today we’re looking at Fliplines and Positioning Lanyards. These pieces of equipment are vital to a climbing arborist, allowing us to obtain optimal work positioning within the tree.
Aerial work positioning is covered within ANSI Z133, which describes safety requirements for arborist operations. As an important point of safety, a flipline or lanyard should never be relied on alone while cutting or working at heights as a primary tie-in point. A vast majority of the trees we climb and remove in our area are spruce. Once all of the limbs are removed, we’re left working on a ‘spar’ - essentially a tall pole. A flipline alone is not enough to secure a climber to the spar, and a cinching system must be utilized using the main climb line. It’s absolutely critical that any tree service company you hire be familiar with ANSI Z133 and follow it’s requirements.
So then if fliplines and lanyards aren’t really for tying in to the tree, just what the heck are they for?? The key is efficient work positioning. Imagine hanging off kilter from a rope, trying to run a chainsaw over one shoulder while trying to make proper cuts so as not to bring pieces of a tree down where you don’t want them to fall. Not overly efficient... that’s where fliplines and lanyards come in to play. They allow us to maintain an upright and maximized position within the tree to make things more efficient. A properly positioned climber can far better manipulate a chainsaw and ensure the tree does what they want it to.
Fliplines and lanyards are typically made of rope or a rope sheath over an interior wire core. Each style has its pros and cons, making it an appropriate selection for certain situations and not others. Rope lanyards are flexible and can be better utilized for positioning from overhead limbs or tight natural crotches within the tree. Wire-core lanyards are more ridged by design and therefore are easier to ‘flip’ up the tree as you advance. Trees such as spruce in which we climb the main stem with spurs and remove limbs as we advance are great environments for wire-core lanyards, as the lanyard can stay attached and flipped higher as we climb, ensuring a constant beneficial work position as we work up the tree.
Regardless of selection, appropriate tie-in with a main climbing line and the use of lanyards to maximize work positioning within the tree is the critical combo to ensuring safe and efficient operations within a tree.
Written by Sean Sterna - The Rocky Mountain Arborist & Used with Permission
