Since I'm not a work climber it's rare to impossible to find me climbing a topped tree with sucker regrowth. Definitely can run into sucker growth or epicormics on wild trees. I just avoid hanging my rope on them. Usually I'm getting my first pitch lower in a woods tree so I can always find a decent limb to hang my life on. When working up to the top of say (what else?) a white pine I can assess any tie-ins near regrown areas up close.

So... I guess the answer is what you're probably already doing, don't set a line from the ground on anything resembling sucker growth, hang your rope on something good then work up to the sucker growth if you need to go there.

Nick posted this photo on facebook depicting his dismay after realizing he just climbed a crappy TIP on a regrown topped leader.

I guess it depends where his rope was, I wouldn't hesitate to climb on a rope through the middle of that mess. If the rope was isolated on one of the little ones next to the hollow, not so good.


-AJ