Berger Free-Standing Towers-
Many of the Berger towers were free-standing (right on the ground) with the big 'foot' pad underneath, and guyline drums mounted right onto the tower itself, along with raising and telescoping drums.
The yarder carries the tower on top of it to the landing, stands it up with the raising line, telescopes with the telescoping line (if it telescopes), and tightens the guylines all with the 2 (1 hydraulic supply and 1 return) lines off the yarder engine-driven hydraulic pump. Then a pin or 2 (depending on the model) is pulled, and the yarder hoist pulled a few inches away from the tower for yarding. The tower is connected to the yarder ONLY by the 2 hydraulic lines, therefore none of the structural stresses (or vibrations) of the yarding process is transferred into the yarder hoist, carrier, or operator. Also- the tube can fall away from the yarder in any direction -except straight back- and not damage the yarder at all- only the tower. Still a bad day.
Since most Berger towers were big and heavy they needed to come off the yarder anyway to get legal for highway moves (all the drums with lines- guylines, raise, and telescope line is heavy and stays ON the tube), the hyd. lines had quick-couplers in them.
Usually the tubes were moved on a log truck with some bunk-logs down. it did require a big shovel to remove and re-install at both ends of the move.
After rig-up, if you un-pinned, un-coupled the hyd lines, and un-shackled the raising line- you could drive off the hill with the yarder and leave that tower standing there all by itself! No big deal.
Some of the bigger players had spare Berger towers and a Berger trailer without a hoist on it just for pre-rigging the towers. Simpson did this at Grisdale. The lowbed truck and trailer/tower would go in with a rig-up crew and stand the tower up using a big (higher flow) PTO setup on the truck. The tower would be standing there ready on a setting, (with haywire run up through all the sheaves and back down of course) ready for the yarder. The trailer was left down the road in a wide spot -or taken to get a tower from some other setting that had finnished up. Usually the rig-up crew also had a truck-mounted 2-drum hoist for pulling the haywire, guyline extensions, etc.
The moved-in-later yarder could be anything- even a triple-drum on a Cat D8, or a big Skagit on a tank, trailer, or a sled. Needless to say even at the Grisdale closing auction in 1984 the had alot more Berger towers than Berger yarders!
Sorry to ramble, but Berger (and the contractors/owners) did some really neat and innovative things to keep production up.
The 80' tower on on this T-23 (above) can stand there all by itself, yes.
Attached are 2 pics from a hydro-project where a Berger 110' telescoper was used as a tail-tree, all by itself, no yarder deal. Yarder/Tower was a Skagit BU-98 on the other side of the canyon, they were skylining 42" pipe.