This is how the very best Christmas trees get started!

It's also very typical of how the Georgian workers collect cones. Without safety equipment, and from the very top of Nordmann firs that are some 30 m (100') tall.

This way of earning a living – one of the few available in this underdeveloped area – is not without risk. In 1997 a 31-year old collector, Namgaladze, fell to his death while collecting cones. The very next collecting season, the 55-year old Kobaxidze suffered the same fate. There have been numerous other non-fatal accidents, but the statistics are suppressed.

Bols Xmas Tree Fund is committed to protecting the lives and livelihood of the Ambrolauri workers by a strict safety awareness programme supported by training and the provision of correct climbing harnesses.

The next video show how Danish foresters use correct safety equipment for their assignments:



High on the list of priorities of the Bols Xmas Tree Fund is improving wages and working conditions for the forest workers.

It is essential that the cone pickers should have correct climbing equipment (according to high Danish standards), and that they are put through special courses in Georgia and Denmark.