We deliberated in deciding if the clip below was too dodgy to present on the Treetools blog. Yes, we know, this sounds very pompous but these days one cannot be too careful.
Michael Spraggon's M-System YouTube clip has been floating around since late last month.Treetools receives a daily dose of similar videos from all around the world, sent to us by ever loyal blog readers (thank you guys) and the M-System video was another one in our daily viewing routine earlier this month.
Initially we moved the M-System to 'interesting' for later review.
Then, as other other more relevant videos piled in behind it, we relegated the M-System to the 'trash'.
But, as your old dad will tell you - never say never.
Over the last few weeks a reasonable level of interest has started to develop in the M-System, particularly from the tree climbing community.
For the record, our initial observations stand; any tree climber worth his (or her) salt will see a number of serious - read unsafe - deficiencies in Mr Spraggon's M-System (bless his soul).
Apart from the safety issues our biggest gripe is this: the M-System is seriously off target.
The use of a single line in tree climbing has already moved on, from fast Ascent to Work Positioning.
The tried-and-true 'frog' systems currently available are efficient enough but they do not allow aerial arborists to Work Position safely in the tree.
In our view, the real development in SRT is coming from the work positioning angle - ascend, descend and generally move about the canopy safely.
Everything else is almost superfluous - certainly passe.
View for amusement; otherwise, please ignore this video!