New Climber From PA, USA

Hello,

Despite now being in my 40's, I've always been fairly active and adventurous. Cycling, hiking, camping, kayaking, and stuff like that. I’ve also always kind of liked climbing on things and goofing around. I’m always the adult on the monkey bars or up the tree with my kids, because, well, climbing stuff is just plain fun.

Having watched what some folks do on rocks and mountains I’ve often felt like it would be interesting to more seriously explore the sport of climbing. Unfortunately I live in rural Western Pennsylvania and there isn’t much opportunity for traditional rock climbing activities. Then one day I looked around and noticed all the trees (and maybe some very tempting towers…) just waiting to be climbed. So then I thought, “The heck with it, I’m going to go out there and start climbing things.”

I’m predominantly a cyclist now, but I really think climbing would be a great addition to my outdoor activities. I can’t work out in the traditional sense as I always hate it. I have to do something fun that counts as exercise. I feel like climbing would add all the upper body strength and coordination that my cycling is missing and really round out my activities and fitness.

I’ve been doing a little research and already feel myself diverging from convention. An arborist or utility worker has to get to the top of their climb and get a job done. They also have usually have the luxury of bringing in a lot of equipment, whatever it takes to get up where they need to be. I’m climbing for fun and fitness and feel like all the equipment and techniques they use are way to complex and effective. If I don’t make it to the top of some tree, it doesn’t really matter. I can continue to improve my strength and skills and try again later. Plus I may be cycling to the place I want to climb and want to limit the amount of gear I have to carry with me.

Basically, I’m starting to see the equipment as predominantly a safety feature, and not as climbing aids. There will be times when some gear is required, but for the most part I want to minimize and streamline the climbing process and rely on skill and strength to get up the trees.

One thing I really like about tree climbing is that it still seems to be developing. In much the same way rock climbing has developed all kinds of different styles, recreational tree climbing still has all kinds of room for innovation. From tree workers that need to get a job done and have a truck full of gear, to roving backpacking minimalist recreational climbers, there are a lot of different ways to climb a tree and lots of room to explore and help refine the techniques.

I mean, I’ve noticed that these boards seem kind of slow. However if I really get into this kind of climbing I might become a regular visitor. Eventually as I develop my own ideas and techniques, I could help influence other climbers and the progression of a growing sport. To me this makes tree climbing that much more exciting. Recreationally speaking it doesn’t feel anywhere near fully developed, and it will be cool to be a part of something as it evolves.

Anyway, that’s a little bit about me. Right now climbing has my interest and seems like something I could really get into. I hope to hang around and learn as much as I can, and also someday maybe be able to help others.

Sincerely,

Brian

Welcome Brian. Interesting thing about rope and saddle tree climbers is that the majority are very creative, it's one of the more individualistic outdoor technical activities going. I know when I started climbing I immediately started to customize my gear to solve problems I was encountering. The challenge is to find a balance between proven best practices and your creativity.

In regard to a basic approach/philosophy to tree climbing, rope and harness climbing on trees is so completely unlike rock climbing, it takes a mental shift adjust your expectations and practices. That mental shift occurs through climbing. Theoretical ideas about climbing are like diagrams on paper, when you're working your way up through a tree you quickly find out what's valid and what isn't. For example you mentioned developing upper body strength through tree climbing. That will certainly happen but I like to refer to rope and harness tree climbing as vertical swimming, the more you bring your legs and core muscles into play along with your upper body, the more capable and sustainable your climbing will be.

Looking forward to seeing your progress,
-AJ

The more I play around in trees the more I understand the techniques.  For example the simplest way to prevent a fall is with a rope thrown up above you.  Clip that back to your harness for simplicity and just like that you are set up for double rope technique.  Sure you can free climb, but you can also thrust and slide if you hit a difficult part.  Basically DRT is the simplest way to accomplish both protection and climbing aid when necessary.

I also spent a lot of time trying to figurexplain out ways to minimize reliance on rope climbing.  What I learned was that trees are pretty black and white.  Either you have usable branches or you don't.  Without climbing branches there is no reasonable pay to climb a section without using rope techniques.

All in all I'm finding that most of the standard climbing techniques often seem to be the only ways to tackle tree climbing, and there is limited room for deviation.  I mean how can you climb a pole section?  You either spike and flipline, or you throw over and rope ascend.  Unless you want to carry a bunch of straps to install those are really the only ways up.

What I'm actually doing now is using trees as a way to test techniques and gear that I may start to apply to rocks.  There is no rock climbing culture around me, but there are actually some climbable rock faces if you look around.  I'm going to start exploring that side of climbing in addition to trees.  It is fun and convenient to walk outside and climb a tree, but once you get the hang of it, it isn't that technically or physically challenging.  If I want to continue to learn and get stronger I have to branch out.  I don't even need any huge climbs, just enough to keep me in some kind of shape for an occasional road trip to an area with more climbing.

I'm glad I started with trees, and I'll always end up playing and testing in them.  However I'm definitely headed towards rock.  So that is where I'm at.

BrianF wrote: It is fun and convenient to walk outside and climb a tree, but once you get the hang of it, it isn't that technically or physically challenging.

I'll have to disagree with you there, I've been tree climbing with rope and harness over 11 years and only yesterday I performed a tree climb that was both technically challenging and extremely physically challenging. There's up and down in a simple to climb tree and there's accessing a super tall and difficult forest tree, and then there's advancing in the crown of yet another super challenging tree. Now start moving horizontally through the crown of a tree, try traversing in the forest from tree-to-tree, the challenges are immense and rewarding. I understand your perspective, all climbing disciplines have aesthetic aspects, climbing on rock appeals to some, trees appeal to others. My best tree climbing partner is also a rock climber, believe me I've seen him struggle through some challenging tree climbs. Other rock climbers I've facilitated in trees just don't like it. They're such different disciplines they're not really comparable.
-AJ