tree climbing

[Elines]

Demographic - thanks for your comments.

Types of rope - I can't remember the exact reason but I understood there was a safety reason for not using climbing ropes in trees- it was something to do with the stretch as you imply

Type of harness - I agree a climbers harness could be used but as you say they get uncomfortable if you sit in it for too long. As a recreational climber I actually spend a lot of time just sitting there admiring the view, watching wildlife and just working out what the next best move is. So I think a proper (by which I suppose I really mean ‘comfortable&#8217 harness is important

On over-egging or not we may have to agree to differ. On the Tree Climbers International site one bloke (with 36 years tree climbing experience) was good enough to report on the sequence of things he did wrong that resulted in him falling 20’ from a willow. I cannot locate the original report but I do have a word version of it – if anyone is interested pse PM me.

Regarding kids climbing trees - perhaps this is a case of different experiences – when I was a kid I fell down one and just sprained an ankle – a friend of mine fell and badly broke his leg. So perhaps as a result I am more cautious

Building tree houses in the back garden. That’s point - you build a tree house in your own back garden – what you do with your own trees is up to you – the bloke in the original report was building in someone else’s tree without permission – that was the thing that got me, plus the fact that he was building a platform at all.

 

[demographic]

Demographic - thanks for your comments.

Types of rope - I can't remember the exact reason but I understood there was a safety reason for not using climbing ropes in trees- it was something to do with the stretch as you imply

Type of harness - I agree a climbers harness could be used but as you say they get uncomfortable if you sit in it for too long. As a recreational climber I actually spend a lot of time just sitting there admiring the view, watching wildlife and just working out what the next best move is. So I think a proper (by which I suppose I really mean ‘comfortable’) harness is important

On over-egging or not we may have to agree to differ. On the Tree Climbers International site one bloke (with 36 years tree climbing experience) was good enough to report on the sequence of things he did wrong that resulted in him falling 20’ from a willow. I cannot locate the original report but I do have a word version of it – if anyone is interested pse PM me.

Regarding kids climbing trees - perhaps this is a case of different experiences – when I was a kid I fell down one and just sprained an ankle – a friend of mine fell and badly broke his leg. So perhaps as a result I am more cautious

Building tree houses in the back garden. That’s point - you build a tree house in your own back garden – what you do with your own trees is up to you – the bloke in the original report was building in someone else’s tree without permission – that was the thing that got me, plus the fact that he was building a platform at all.

I kind of agree with a lot you are saying for the record, its just that I can't quite summon up a full on righteous indignation about someone doing something that comes quite naturally to most kids*, admittedly this chap might be a bit older than that but hell, if I had any decent trees of my own to do it in I reckon I would build a tree platform in it and I'm 38
I can see how the landowner wouldn't want metal bolts through their trees as it can make it dangerous if it goes through a sawmill and I understand that they can also provide a route for infection to get in the tree.
I won't mention how many high up parts of trees I carved my name into when I was a young spod though

Regards Scott.


*Well, the ones who aren't glued to their computer games that is.

 

[wattsy]

Demographic - thanks for your comments.

Types of rope - I can't remember the exact reason but I understood there was a safety reason for not using climbing ropes in trees- it was something to do with the stretch as you imply

Type of harness - I agree a climbers harness could be used but as you say they get uncomfortable if you sit in it for too long. As a recreational climber I actually spend a lot of time just sitting there admiring the view, watching wildlife and just working out what the next best move is. So I think a proper (by which I suppose I really mean ‘comfortable’) harness is important

On over-egging or not we may have to agree to differ. On the Tree Climbers International site one bloke (with 36 years tree climbing experience) was good enough to report on the sequence of things he did wrong that resulted in him falling 20’ from a willow. I cannot locate the original report but I do have a word version of it – if anyone is interested pse PM me.

Regarding kids climbing trees - perhaps this is a case of different experiences – when I was a kid I fell down one and just sprained an ankle – a friend of mine fell and badly broke his leg. So perhaps as a result I am more cautious

Building tree houses in the back garden. That’s point - you build a tree house in your own back garden – what you do with your own trees is up to you – the bloke in the original report was building in someone else’s tree without permission – that was the thing that got me, plus the fact that he was building a platform at all.

there's 2 types of climbing rope static and dynamic. static has little to no stretch so its easier to prussik and abseil on it because you don't bounce but on the down side if you take a big fall on it you'll probably break your back.
harnesses can be uncomfortable but not if you get a decent one mine's a wild country synchro elite and its almost as comfy as the chair i'm sitting in its the alpine style harnesses that really hurt the gentlemen vegetables.

 

[Elines]

Wattsy - thanks for clarifying

 

[Laurentius]

I suppose it is just different tools for different jobs.

If you remain suspended in a conventional climbing or safety harness with your legs dangling vertically for any lenght of time you might as well have the rope around your neck because it will kill you just as surely from orthostatic hypotension, that is why a harness you can sit in is essential if you are going to be dangling for any length of time, as in cleaning windows, or working on trees.

As for the rope, I guess you never get high enough in a tree for the stretch in the rope to break your fall before you hit the ground..

I note that the climbing site recommends safety glasses yet the kids in the picture are not wearing any. I think it gets a bit ridiculous, I don't wear safety glasses when I am on a bicycle, does anyone? but the hazard must be the same from wind blown debris.

As a kid I can recall shinning up scaffolding poles on the building site down the street from where I lived. Totally illegal and highly dangerous I am sure, but then as kids you just do it.

 

[Elines]

On glasses I suppose that again it is a matter of personal experience/circumstances.

For me the issue isn’t just wind-blown debris. When I started (and please don’t think I am trying to make myself out to be an expert on this lot, I just want to pass on what experience I can) I didn’t wear any safety glasses as I already wear spectacles and I thought they would do. However I can only see out of one eye and one day, when climbing, a small twig poked me in the ‘bad’ eye. It made me realise what a difficult position I would have been in if it had been my ‘good’ eye and I was up a tree and couldn’t see. Ever since then I wear safety goggles when climbing.

I agree that if TCI is recommending safety glasses then they should ensure kids under their training are wearing them.

 

[wattsy]

that only happens if your unconscious when your conscious you shift around when you get uncomfortable which increases the blood flow. i've spent 5 hours at a time sat in harnesses cleaning off new climbing routes and i've still got both my legs

 

[SOAR]

When climbing trees you should never have slack in your system, so if you do fall you only ever take a swing, thats why there is the difference between the ropes, tree climbing rope being static, the rope tends to be 13mm SRT is about 10mm or 11mm.

 

[Chance]

... it should only be used as a reminder of the training already received – and not as a ‘Teach yourself tree climbing’ book.

Too late !
That just what I did last year; for home arborism more than recreation (although all gardening is recreation). My old bouldering harness does remind me of my gender, but it's enough to get me and a pruning saw into more precarious situations than before I got a fancy tree rope.

Training's great, and usually a laugh as well; but for all skills, we have to remember the man who wrote the first manual. Who trained him ?
Or woman and her.

 

[chickenofthewoods]

The first person learns the hard way, then teaches everyone else so they don't have to?

 

[addo]

Most of the time your tree rope if used regularly is constantly abraded by the bark and gets muck ground into it so they are a few mm thicker, plus the low stretch is handy so that if you slip your less likely to hit that branch below you. I can happily sit in a Komet butterfly harness all day all week, just like being on the park swing.
For fun we used to put the rope on the back of the harness and rig up the rope into the top of a large tree and do supermans, with a guy on the ground pulling a rope dangling below you, to get up the swing

Glasses are very handy when topping out the tree with a saw, and the wind is blowing about the side of the mesh visor. Shaded ones as a second pair too if its sunny, plus they look cool! Twigs are always trying to stick you in the eye.

Climbing as a kid i'd pick managable trees to climb now and then, but working in all manor of trees daily accessing the dodgy branches and removing sections, is a whole different ball game, and kit is important.

Im not ruling out rock climbing gear as it'll get you up and around a tree, but if starting out rec tree climbing you might as well get the gear that works better and costs about the same.

 

[Chance]

The first person learns the hard way, then teaches everyone else so they don't have to?

Copy that - I'm not knocking training; just warning against unquestioning adherence (of which I'm accusing no-one, by the way). Or excusing myself as an autodidact, anyway: almost every BC technique I've picked up has been something I've read rather than seen demonstrated on a course.
Using first aid as an example, how often has CPR changed, as the community learns ? If you scuba, you may happen across the occasional experienced bubble-head who dives (whisper it) without a buddy; despite all that the manual says.

Metal in trees bad and avoidable, to get the thread back on track.

 

[davefish]

Thanks Every one you have been most helpful. I will most likely print this out (at least the relevant discussion points (names excluded), laminate it and tie it found the trunk of the tree the chap was using so that when he comes back he can take a look for himself.

 

[Tengu]

I doubt hes the sort to care

 

[woodspirits]

the majority on here seem to express concern over h&s issues and the legality of him being there at all, and i would go along with that.
but i dont regret one second of my own attempts as a child living in the country of scouring the hedgerows and woods for a couple of levelish branches!... and then i grew up

 

[RAPPLEBY2000]

a question along similar lines:

a friend and came across a large what can only be described as a "bunker" which had been fashioned from cut logs.
We assume the builder/s of the bunker did the collecting and cutting (possibly felling?) as the bunker was a good 500 yards from the nearest road..

the bunker was sat in an open area of the middle of some woods, easy to see, easy for kids and dogs to get into, possibly designed for Airsoft use?

The bunker was about the size of a double bed at the base and had a flat earth roof about 6ft up. the actual roof had about 6" of packed earth on plastic then rows of cut logs.
so sort of looking like a bus shelter from a distance but made from big vertical logs and a flat roof.

My friend and I both looked at it and considered..."was it safe"?
both of us have made many natural shelters before, enjoyed it and moved on, and we try not to leave a mess or any evidence of ourselves. and I've found a deer sleeping in a shelter i made once, which was nice!

After closely inspecting the construction (cause i don't like to spoil someones fun) we decided to demolished it.

someone had used baler twine to hold several 8" x 6ft thick logs to the tree, the roof was around 6ft x 4 with 6" of soil on top, held up with blue nylon rope you get for tarpaulins.
the rope was liberally knotted with nothing coming close to a recognizable knots and the ends were nailed to the 4 trees the shelter was part of.

basically if someone was under the roof (or even the sides) if it collapsed they would die!

We don't like to be a kill-joy's but occasionally My friend and I try to make things safer.

(I'm not saying where or when it was done, if it was right or wrong, i just seemed the safe thing to do at the time).

 

[Chance]

Found something similar, years ago - called in the authorities (who dismantled it).
It was during more Troubled times.

 

[Laurentius]

Came across this last night:

"On top of the tallest tree in Britain"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PTXsnMZucYw

considering the height, some 200ft up you can see the need for a few more safety precautions than Fred Dibnah was wont to take when working on chimneys at a similar height.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3R3-YwDZrzg

 

[drewdunnrespect]

fed Dibnah now theres a man who didnt have vertigo problems lol

 

[Laurentius]

Died in bed too, never fell off, there's one for the elfin safety blokes.