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Woodchopping champion reveals the trick to scaling trees

Peter Fegan
Article image for Woodchopping champion reveals the trick to scaling trees

If you’re like Laurel Edwards and have watched woodchopping at the Ekka, you would’ve wondered how small planks of wood can hold the weight of axemen. 

Tree felling events see axemen climb to the top of a tall wooden pole, or ‘tree’, by wedging wooden springboards into the sides to create new, taller platforms.

Speaking in the Agricultural Hall at the Ekka, champion axeman Gerald Youles gave Laurel, Gary and Mark a quick masterclass.

Laurel Edwards: “I always wonder how in the world you get to the top of, when you’ve got that big pole you’ve got to get to the top of.

“How does it take your weight?”

Gerald Youles: “Yeah, in them springboards, you have to cut what we call a ‘pocket’ into the tree and it’s got to be of a certain shape.

“It’s all about the shape and the angles that are on it.”

Press PLAY below to hear why the hole shape works

Peter Fegan
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