Nate Ditto’s bucket truck wasn’t quite tall enough to reach the 50-foot-tall tree he was trimming over on Warren Avenue in Cheyenne Monday night, in balmy 6-degree weather.
But that little problem didn’t faze Ditto any more than the near subzero weather, stiffened by a little Wyoming breeze. He just jumped out of the bucket of the boom lift, with his harness at the ready, and climbed the rest of the way to the tree’s top.
“I prefer to climb,” he told Cowboy State Daily. “Sometimes you feel safer in a bucket, but sometimes it’s just faster and easier (to climb) and it sure is refreshing to be climbing and hanging on for dear life. You kind of forget how much you enjoy that sometimes.”
The cold, he added, wasn’t a big deal.
“It kind of just comes with the territory,” he said. “Conditions outside aren’t great all the time, and we do outdoor maintenance year-round.”
Still, the coldest temperatures aren’t normally favored for tree trimming, even for Ditto, who is the owner of EnvisiaCare Tree & Lawn Services. He was trying to beat the incoming storm that dumped 7.1 inches of snow on Cheyenne.
“I figured if we didn’t finish before that, we’d have to put it off for a day or two,” Ditto said. “It wasn’t too bad. We haven’t gotten into the heated gloves yet or anything.”
Cold Isn’t The Worst
Strange getups kind of come with the territory for Ditto, who works in all kinds of weather, and in all kinds of situations.
In winter, his attire generally includes a layer of winter thermals and a variety of other layers over that, depending on how cold it is.
“When you’re climbing and working, that usually keeps you pretty warm too,” he said. “So, you don’t want to have too many layers, and sometimes you can get too hot, especially with having a helmet on.”
Sunglasses usually complete the outfit, to protect his eyes from becoming snow blind, along with a layer of cut-resistant clothing.
“That way if you accidentally come into contact with your leg with the chain saw, it will bind the saw up and prevent or decrease the damage that you do,” he explained.
Ditto wears cut-resistant clothing all year for the safety aspect, even when it’s quite warm.
Sometimes in the summer, though, you might see Ditto sort of floating up high in a tree, a bit like some sort of odd, white cloud. That’s because he’s wearing a bee suit.
“Hornets sometimes have nests up in the tops of the trees,” he said.
And things can get mighty interesting very quickly the minute a chainsaw starts when there are hornets around.
The bee suit, Ditto admitted, is much more uncomfortable than cold weather.
Especially when combined with cut resistant pants.
“It’s got a face mask, arms, legs — everything’s covered,” he said. “And with the heat of summer, it’s certainly not comfortable.”
Up Where The World Looks Different
Winter’s not a bad time to cut trees, Ditto added, from a tree’s perspective anyway. Trees go dormant in the winter, so, while it might not be a human’s favorite time to trim trees, it’s actually better for them.
But despite all the discomforts that tree-trimming can bring with it for every season of the year, Ditto loves his job.
“I love climbing, I love adrenaline, and, chainsaws, playing with those,” he said. “So, it’s kind of fun, dangerous, and a pretty good business. And it keeps me healthy to some degree and active.”
Ditto’s tree-trimming business grew out of a lawn mowing business he started a year out of high school. At first, it was pretty minor stuff. Trimming some shrubs here, lopping off a few low-hanging limbs there.
Gradually, the jobs got more complicated though, and Ditto realized he’d have to get an actual license to take some of the jobs he was being offered. That means he’s taken an actual written test, as well as tree trimming classes.
He’s also watched a lot of YouTube videos, which have served as a kind of mentor.
“Once you’ve seen all of the scariest YouTube videos about how you can die doing tree work, then you can enjoy yourself a little more,” he said.
Felling large trees does pay well, Ditto added, but as a business owner, any extra money he makes usually goes right back into supporting his business.
“I don’t know that you take more home at the end of the day,” he said. “But I think it’s important to enjoy what you do, in addition to what you make out of it.”
Looking down on the world from 60 foot up in a tree offers an uncommon view, Ditto said. The Wyoming Capitol stands out “like a beacon,” plus new projects, as well as windmills and mountains off in the distance.
“It’s always refreshing to get a different perspective on things,” Ditto said. “You can see all of Cheyenne really, the whole city.”
Renée Jean can be reached at renee@cowboystatedaily.com.
