Climbing on log piles

Logs aren’t for climbing on, they’re for carrying.

On the log, GO!

FFS, flashback trauma! You owe me a counselling session!

Haha, wait until we start talking stretchers!

So I’ve worked in Forestry for 10 years or so.

In my region in that time there has been one child killed on a log pile.

Take that in the context very few people are misinformed enough to climb on them – and they are always well signed to keep off. So shit does happen.

I once dropped one log off a trailer, my feet slipped on the slimy concrete floor and the log fell all of a foot at most onto my leg.

I cried, a lot.

And it took about a month for the hematoma to go down and be able to walk further than the kitchen.

Tempting fate with a few hundred of the things is just stupidity.

Exactly. I’d look at it and think “see that big pile of massive logs that have settled into each other under their own massive weight, I doubt adding 40kg of child into the mix will make much difference to the overall stability”

And when they find the one log that’s finely balanced and rolls off, releasing the one next to it, and the next to it the 40kg bundle of Kath Kidston fabric and norovirus gets entwined with 400kg of moving logs pretty quickly.

I have yes, but I’d assumed they were more along the lines of organisational arse covering fun policing (like the signs telling people not to swim in reservoirs), than actual likely danger.

These sorts of notices tend to be written in blood.

That is so stupid.  Have they never tried to stack beer bottles neatly in the fridge?

Actually, come to think of it, I’d imagine no one in that video has had to put beers in a fridge recently.

So I’ve worked in Forestry for 10 years or so.

In my region in that time there has been one child killed on a log pile.

Take that in the context very few people are misinformed enough to climb on them – and they are always well signed to keep off. So shit does happen.

do you really think very few people climb on them?  Thats not my observation in busy areas, and I’ve never seen one move so whilst the risk is real and consequneces potentially high, the likelihood factor is actually fairly low.

40kg bundle of Kath Kidston fabric and norovirus

I genuinely “lol’d” at that!

Today’s internet frothing (I bet it’s not just STWers that’s bangin away at them keys): ROYAL CHILD DOES DANGER FING!

Live, Love, Logpile…

 ROYAL CHILD DOES DANGER FING!

While it would be unfortunate if the heir to the heir got smooshed, my main concern is the poor children of easily-influenced morons who see this happy frollicking on social media and are currently planning a lovely day out in the forest at the weekend.

Poor old Forestry Commission PR is probably hiding under their desk praying they don’t have to issue a statement criticising the sainted Kate.

Youtube recommended this video for me yesterday..

Bloke makes a shelter by piling loads of heavy logs on much thinner logs, and camps underneath.

No idea on carbon monoxide risk either.

Live, Love, Logpile…

I’m just waiting for the follow-up video making grain angels in the silos at Sandringham. Family fun!

I doubt adding 40kg of child into the mix…

’I doubt’ doing a lot of heavy lifting there. These things do collapse, people do get killed. I’m not sure ‘doubt’ is good enough for my own children.

BTW I’m not some sort of namby-pamby parent, my kids are outdoors and free-range in a lot of ways that would horrify most ‘urban’ parents. However, log piles are an unnecessary risk. There’s loads to do in a forest without resorting to that.

Coming up on Jeremy Vine, who’s gonna phone in??????????????

Bloke makes a shelter by piling loads of heavy logs on much thinner logs

Jeez, a hammock & tarp & he’d be set up in 5 minutes!

Jeez, a hammock & tarp & he’d be set up in 5 minutes!

Yeah but mediocre youtube content… you’ve got to think about likes/subscribes/algorithms…

As a kid, they look like a massive fun climbing frame, the risk is not evident. As an adult, the possible collapse mechanism is obvious.

perhaps the signs should give a bit of explanation as to why and how they are dangerous, rather than just “keep off”

Part of me wants to ride a (e)bike over them – with my theory that a collapsing stack of 30cm dia logs would not let a 29er wheel sink in… just don’t put a foot down…

As an adult, the possible collapse mechanism is obvious.

You would think.  From some replies on this thread it seems not.

my main concern is the poor children of easily-influenced morons who see this happy frollicking on social media

<HILARIOUS JOKE>You know the children will be morons too right? Don’t worry yourself 😉 </HILARIOUS JOKE>

Also quite enjoyed the video, in a ‘wtf did i just watch’ kinda way.

He spent hours building a camouflaged bivvy then finished by sticking up a shiny chimney and lighting a fire!!!!

Ha ha ha ha ha ha

This will go down great at work.
Forever telling contractors to sort their signage who are like what’s the point? public just ignore it all anyway. There we go, assume the expensive educations rule out illiteracy?

Also know the Duchy forester, so tempted to drop him a message about missing signs, but he’s probably chucked his phone out the window by now.

^^Username checks out

So……purely theoretically you understand…..for those of us of a republican disposition.

If the log pile had done it’s thing – who’d be in line for the birthright gig now? Harry the spare? Or has he forfeit his chance with the **** off to the states shenanigans?

IHN – never seen the signs? “do not climb on the log piles” IME they are all over forestry operations
I have yes, but I’d assumed they were more along the lines of organisational arse covering fun policing (like the signs telling people not to swim in reservoirs), than actual likely danger.

Well, clearly not. You might be able to, bit other peoples brains are wired differently and may not be able to tell. If you are not asking yourself the question ‘could this pile collapse’ many wouldn’t consider it. Why would they?
Exactly. I’d look at it and think “see that big pile of massive logs that have settled into each other under their own massive weight, I doubt adding 40kg of child into the mix will make much difference to the overall stability”

West Woods near Marlborough regularly have long stacks of logs along the access roads throughout the woods, they ALWAYS have signs, because the woods attract lots of visitors who walk through them, especially at Bluebell time. Another place I walk regularly has an open area where a track leads down into the valley and tree clearing often takes place and the cut logs ALWAYS have signs on them!

You have absolutely no idea, nor does anyone else, as to what it might take to dislodge a log, causing a chain reaction that could result in someone having their legs crushed, or even worse.

Not only are you ignorant as to the dangers inherent in several hundred tons of logs sitting in the open, often on surfaces that are anything but level, but wilfully ignorant, and almost proud to display that ignorance!
People like you shouldn’t be allowed out into the woods and countryside, without a minder keeping you on a leash to prevent you risking yourself and others!

Anyone can see these stacks would be perfectly fine to clamber over…

I remember being hysterical getting my head stuck between two logs in a logpile – super early memory, I might have been five or something. I’ve long reflected on how terribly wrong that could have gone.

Is it ok to let your bike climb on them

Only when accompanied by a responsible larger bike.

Noting here that I’ve never seen a sign about climbing log piles in my local forestry… They actually close* the whole area to public access when there’s felling and stacking to avoid any of this risk.

*mainly put signs up telling you to bugger off but sometimes they have checkpoints.

Where the chuff is he going to play cricket? Why is he walking around with a bat and ball. ” No officer I didn’t bludgeon her to death, she got caught in the log pile. Dangerous things don’t you know.”

I’m getting some logs delivered this morning, they are going to tip them onto the road in a pile and then I’ll wheelbarrow them to the log store and stack them. Will I die if I have a little climb on them first?

Hmm… <thinks back to when every ride that went through Grizedale forest had a competition between us to see who could get the furthest across each log pile encountered, technique was go as fast as possible, pull up and monster truck as far as you could over the logs>

I’m just waiting for the follow-up video

I’m not because these I am cancer-free reveals tend to only go one way in my family’s experience. I hope that the treatment has been successful. But is a bastard of a disease that hits all the family.

And “Do not climb on the log pile. It may collapse at any moment”, is a better sign than “Keep Off”. Context is no bad thing.

If the log pile had done it’s thing – who’d be in line for the birthright gig now? Harry the spare? Or has he forfeit his chance with the **** off to the states shenanigans?

In those tragic circumstances, the first thing would be to closely check the family trees to see who had survived

And “Do not climb on the log pile. It may collapse at any moment”, is a better sign than “Keep Off”

Yeah, just in case someone thinks it may be for other reasons

Shirley I’m not the only one to remember the episode from The Waltons where one of the kids breaks her legs playing on a logpile?!

The Ordeal

It warned me off for life

On the log, GO!

That’s a specialised piece of training apparatus not a log. Speaking as one who did his Saturdays & Sundays training in Woolwich with a large piece of tree, fell over and spent 10 days having to unstick knees from sheets every morning.

In those tragic circumstances, the first thing would be to closely check the family trees to see who had survived

Post of the week, right there!

The wife that dies at the beginning of the movie

I’m glad that I’m not the only one who enjoyed that reference to Gladiator, but was puzzled by it – when will she be fighting the tigers?

Can we report her to social services for endangering the life of a child?