Arborist Speed Line Kit with Carabiners

This speed line kit gives you the line and connectors to run brush and light wood down a tensioned rope from the canopy to a drop zone away from the tree. It is the setup arborists reach for when the landing area is full of roofs, fences and gardens.

What a speedline does

A speedline is a rope run at an angle from a high anchor in the tree to a low anchor on the ground away from the tree. The climber clips cut brush to the line with a carabiner or pulley and it slides down to the landing zone. Ground crew unclip it and drag it to the chipper.

It turns a tight backyard removal into a steady flow of brush to one spot. Instead of lowering every limb to a crowded drop zone under the tree, you send it over the shed and onto the driveway.

Rigging the line

Anchor the high end in a sound part of the tree above the work. Anchor the low end to a solid object: another tree, a stump, or the truck if your company allows it. Tension the line with a mechanical advantage system or by taking wraps on a lowering device. Too tight and you overload anchors; too slack and loads drag through the targets.

Use locking carabiners or a pulley to ride the line. A few loads in, check the anchors and retension. For a ready-to-go system from a known maker, compare this with the Weaver speed line kit.

Pick the angle with care. Too steep and loads arrive fast and hit hard; too shallow and they stall halfway. A controlled line, where a ground worker can hold a friction wrap on the low end, gives you the option to slow or stop a load.

Attaching loads

Clip the carabiner to the line first, then to the brush, usually through a sling or around the butt of the branch. Keep loads small enough for the line and the anchors. Heavy wood on a speedline puts high forces on the top anchor.

Have a tag line or control line on anything that could swing. Ground crew stays clear of the line's path and the landing zone until the load stops.

Small, frequent loads are the rule. Several light bundles put far less stress on the anchors than one large limb, and they are easier for the ground crew to handle at the landing zone. Strip side branches from bulky brush so it rides cleanly instead of dragging through shrubs on the way down.

Keep extra carabiners on the line so the climber can send the next load while the ground crew is still unhooking the last one. A rope bag or bucket at the bottom collects returned connectors.

Safety

A speedline is rigging, not life support. Never clip yourself to it. Inspect rope, slings and carabiners before use and retire damaged gear. Work to ANSI Z133 and get trained on speedline setup before you run one over targets.

Brief the ground crew before the first load. Agree on calls for sending, clear and stop, and keep everyone out from under the line while brush is moving.