Alvar Del Castillo works his way into the crown of a dead monkey puzzle tree in Roslyn. Photo by Gerard O'Brien.
A dead monkey puzzle tree posed ''one of the hardest jobs'' Dunedin arborist Alvar Del Castillo has faced.
Mr Del Castillo, an Otago Polytechnic arboriculture lecturer, tackled the challenge on a private property in Roslyn this week. Cutting down the tree doubled as a practical session for his students.
''With a tree like that you can't attach your rope to any higher branches because you don't know which ones are dead or rotten.
''It's a slow process and you have to be very, very careful,'' he said.
''You can't put too much tension on your rope and can't make any abrupt movements.''
Mr Del Castillo said the tree was the only one of its kind he had chopped down in Dunedin.
