Why did he put the notch in the tree up so high? If anything, that just minimized any form of leverage he had with the ropes.
Is the notch more than half-way through the trunk?
Did you or he hear any 'snap-snap' as he was cutting the notch?
Even if he is able to make the cut above the notch in order to get the tree to fall the right way, the bottom part of the trunk is going to vibrate him off the ladder so fast, he won't know what hit him!
There's a ton of stored up energy in that situation - like a taunt garage spring, only 50x worse!
He needs to realize he is in over his head and it's time to call a tree service.
Can you setup a webcam for us?
-Z-man.