“Here, you hold it.”

Rigging in tree work can be summed up with that one simple statement. It’s the simple action of anchoring a limb to a rope controlled from the ground. If a climber or bucket operator can hold it one-handed, chances are a ground person can hold it simply with a rope through a union above or at the cut. We don’t have to complicate the action. Rigged pieces don’t have to run to the ground on every rig. Many times, forces involved are exaggerated by fast runs followed by hard stops. We can simplify the rigging process by simply holding the piece.

How do we just hold it? It depends. If we’re rigging, there’s a good chance there are targets below or in striking distance. All photos courtesy of the author.

Justifying holding it
How do we just hold it? We’ve been taught from early on in our careers, the idea of “let it run.” A ground person on the ropes, working in perfect sync with the climber or bucket operator and the rigged piece, letting the ropes glide through their hands smoothly and applying the buttery-smooth brakes. The problem is, we’ve got one shot to make it all work out.

If we’re rigging, there’s a good chance there are targets below or in striking distance. There is a person (climber/bucket operator) in close proximity to the piece of tree now swinging and flying through the air. Pieces swinging uncontrolled through the air smash siding, break windows and injure people. Yes, it’s a thing of beauty when we execute this operation perfectly, but day after day, cut after cut, we are putting way too much faith in ourselves if we think mistakes won’t happen. The more control and predictability we can add to our days, the longer this awesome career in arboriculture can last!

Positive vs. negative rigging
The term “rigging” in our industry often refers specifically to negative rigging, the practice of the piece entering the rigging system from above the rigging point. The forces involved range from exponentially increased loads at the rigging point to many times violent, harsh impact forces as the rigged piece slams back into the tree. Just “holding” pieces like this can be incredibly dangerous to all personnel involved. Most often, the only way to make this operation safer is to “let it run.”

While negative rigging is sometimes unavoidable, more often than not we put ourselves in this situation with our rigging plan – the plan that should be made on the ground, together with the whole team, before anything else. It’s during the planning portion that we can locate a main rigging point. One that gets rigged pieces away from targets and brings them to an area where they can be lowered. That preplanned rigging point can (should) be high up in the crown, offering more favorable rope angles for accomplishing our goals.

This is different from the common rigging practice of a climber or operator moving the rigging point repeatedly for each cut, relying completely on negative rigging and rope running. A high-terminal rigging point offers us “positive-rigging” situations. With the rigging point above, the system can be preloaded with rope tension, allowing us to slowly introduce the force as opposed to the rapid introduction of force associated with negative rigging.

Using rigging redirects, we can direct the rope to load trees appropriately.

Take control
We also can use this high rigging point to better manipulate low limbs close to structures with different
rigging-rope attachment points. Tip ties and mid-balance ties can generate those nice sideways swings, parallel to the targets and the ground. And now we can incorporate secondary rigging, such as butt control, and essentially catch rigged pieces between two points. Now we’re putting ourselves and our co-workers in better, less-stressful positions. Now we can “just hold it.”

Just holding it can be as basic or as complicated as we want to make it, but as we can see, the concept is always simple. Smaller limbs can be handled between two rigging points with very little gear. With two different systems holding the weight, we’ve put less stress on the gear and the tree, as well as eliminated the need to execute a number of synchronized actions for a good result. Butt-control lines can be repurposed as taglines after the initial action, and can aid ground control in positioning and laying pieces down in the drop zone.

If and when – it’s always a “when” in this business – things don’t go according to plan, we still have a stationary piece of tree with a tagline attached to it, and options to get things to the ground safely. These “tip-tie and butt-tie” and “mid-tie and butt-tie” combinations don’t take more than a few extra minutes to set up. And they add more control, reduce stress and lend themselves to allowing us to take bigger pieces, increasing efficiency.

A high-terminal rigging point offers us “positive-rigging” situations.

Pre-tension is key
Pre-tension is a key ingredient to “Here, you hold it.” The ability to slowly introduce some – or in some scenarios, all – of the expected force into the system prior to cutting drastically reduces the dynamic results of rigging. It can help influence the initial direction of the soon-to-be-rigged pieces of tree, which – maybe it goes without saying – can be advantageous.

Pre-tension can be accomplished as simply as having a couple of crew members loading a rope on a port-a-wrap, or it can involve more advanced gear like a Good Rigging Control System (GRCS) with a drill, like the Milwaukee SuperHawg right-angle drill, to pre-
tension a line. Larger pieces require higher amounts of pre-tension, and most often – but not always – involve more expensive and advanced gear.

Arborists can be creative, using mechanical advantage to tension a rope to a “porty,” or finding budget-friendly gear options like the CMI Rope Jack. These other options can be very effective in the hands of a skilled crew, and are very viable tools for increasing how much pre-tension can be reasonably achieved. How much pre-tension does it take? That number is completely different in every situation, and the decision-makers should consider the size of the anticipated piece, the orientation of said piece and the position of the piece relative to the rigging point and obstacles.

Most important though, we need to consider the strength and condition of the tree and the strength and condition of the rigging point. Using rigging redirects, we can direct the rope to load trees appropriately. But ultimately, the entirety of the system needs to be able to handle everything we are planning on doing, but also unexpected dynamic loading if things don’t go exactly according to plan.

Teamwork
There is a common, underlying theme with all this rigging stuff – teamwork. When our approach to trees over and around targets is the trusty (or, honestly, untrustworthy) “cut and chuck” method, we’re operating as individuals. It’s one person – on many crews, always the same person – dicing the tree into tiny bits, while several ground personnel watch the work, keeping the drop zone clear. Then, after the mess is good and made, it’s time for the ground personnel to work, while the climber/operator watches. With rigging, we get the whole team involved.

Crew members get specific roles to play, like operating the lowering device, operating machinery, landing the piece and cutting the piece up for processing. The whole team works together on each piece to get the job done, versus taking turns watching each other work. Rigging also tends to promote two-handed chain-saw use, since both hands of the climber or operator are freed up to cut, rather than one extremity being reserved for the handling of the piece.

Pre-tension is a key ingredient to “Here, you hold it.” It can be as simple as loading a rope on a port-a-wrap, or can involve more advanced gear.

“Cut and chuck” is exactly how a homeowner thinks we’re going to do the job. We just roll up with our cherry picker and dice away. Job sites with rigging involved just plain look more professional. A job site where crews work in sync with each other while large sections of tree are controlled (seemingly) effortlessly is a sight to behold, and will most certainly garner extra attention from neighbors and passersby. It will build camaraderie within the crew and leave crew members feeling less exhausted and frustrated throughout the day.

Final cut
There are so many different ways to safely remove a tree, and even more ways to unsafely remove that tree. So remember, when in doubt, rig it out.

Zachary Richards, ISA Certified Arborist, is a contract climber and a trainer with Noble Oak Safety & Training, a six-year TCIA corporate member company based in Frenchtown, New Jersey. He also is an ambassador for Milwaukee, Yale and Arbortec, and a field tester for FTC Tree.

This article is based on his presentation on the same subject during TCI EXPO ’24 in Baltimore, Maryland.