Since I was a rock climber in my 20s and relatively fearless then, I also trimmed trees sometimes for money especially in Mt. Shasta so I know something about tree trimming. I'm watching this man with spurs on for climbing trees and telephone poles cut off all the limbs as he goes up the tree. Because I'm not comfortable with trees spurs on, this would scare the hell out of me to do this and I wouldn't have done this even in my 20s. But, everyone is different. At one point my climbing partner in Yosemite and I trimmed two large pine trees for the owner of some land in Mt. Shasta and he chose the method the man is using today which is to take off each limb from the bottom to the top of the tree. The other thing you need to know is that Eucalyptus trees are not safe to step on the limbs to put your weight on them. The limbs are brittle. So, on one level doing this makes sense. But, then you are on a huge pole with no limbs and then all you have is your spurs and hopefully a rope to save you.
Anyway, this reminds me of the day my friend went up a tree next to me and cut the limbs off from the bottom up like this man is doing. And I did the opposite. I climbed the tree because I don't like spurs and trimmed the limbs from the top down so I would have limbs to hold onto and to climb up as well as down on the large large pine trees in Mt. Shasta.
The biggest problem I ran into cutting the limbs from the top down was that sometimes branches could get stuck on other branches still attached to the tree on their way down. However, there is no way I would have worn spurs because of friend's stories of gaffing their legs on trees by missing the tree and getting their calves with the spurs. So, I felt safe doing it my way. But, it's true everyone is different in what they feel safe and comfortable doing. If you are going to be 100 to 200 feet in the air in a tree it's important to be comfortable and focused in your own skin or else you shouldn't be doing what you are doing anyway.
The point of this whole story for me is:
I liked my own way without spurs and just climbing the pine tree I was trimming. Also, I wasn't bringing the whole tree down just trimming limbs that were dead so they wouldn't fall on the owners of the property or their cars, Trucks or things like this. I never really liked the idea of tree spurs at all because of the awful stories people told me when they made mistakes with them. So, I always avoided spurs and never used them as a direct result.
Instead I always used ladders and ropes and tree limbs for climbing the trees I trimmed in the early to late 1970s.
Also, this wasn't something I did all the time, only to make money and have fun at the same time once in a while and as a favor to friends of mine because I could do this safely then. I always was very happy climbing trees from the time I was about 5 years old in Washington and California where I grew up.
My older daughter was always like me and happiest in trees too growing up. This way no adults or bad kids could get me
and I had time to think and watch the clouds go by and talk to God and Nature. I felt peace always in trees growing up.
But, the other side of this today is: "IT's not safe to climb eucalyptus trees usually", so maybe the tree trimmers choice was the best one for this specific tree he was bringing down before it potentially fell down in 100 mph winds off the ocean one day and took out a house or a person. This tree was well over 100 feet tall and could have even been 150 to 200 feet tall. So, it was one of the biggest trees in our area in the coastal forest we live in in Northern California.
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