More than 30 climbers and instructors from throughout the eastern half of the United States took part last weekend in the first annual Technical Treeclimbing Workshop at Franklin D. Roosevelt State Park near Pine Mountain, Ga.
The Georgia Department of Natural Resources, the Treeclimber Coalition, Tree Climbing USA and TreeTrek Adventures sponsored the three-day event. It started Friday morning, Nov. 17, and ended Sunday evening, Nov. 19.
Jody Rice, a senior interpretive ranger for Georgia DNR’s division of State Parks and Historical Sites, said his agency would “look favorably†at hosting a similar event each year but that a final decision would have to be made by the agency’s management staff.
In addition to workshop programs, every climber had plenty of opportunities to climb the park’s hardwoods and pines, including a triple-trunked tulip poplar named the “Tree of Life†that soared 125 feet above the park lake, and a huge old red oak that was dubbed the “Sign of the Horse Tree.â€
The technical highlights of this year’s workshop were discussions and demonstrations on backcountry treeclimbing rescue, adaptive rigging for physically challenged and wheelchair-bound climbers, and new equipment and ideas.
There was also an open climb on Saturday morning for Georgia DNR rangers and law enforcement personnel that was set up by Abe Winters of TCUSA and Steve Waldorf of the South Georgia Tree Climbing Association. Several other climbers pitched in to rig the climbing tree and help facilitate the two-hour climb.
The adaptive rigging discussion and demonstration was presented by Dennis Furlong, Patrick Dimmer and Norb Leppanen from Arbor Quest in Michigan. They demonstrated how a specially designed torso positioning unit, built by New Tribe, could be adjusted to meet the needs of even the most physically challenged climber.
Beth Sayers from Project Adventure volunteered to play the part of the physically challenged climber for the demonstration. She was able to remain completely still in the unit while Leppanen hoisted her from a chair up 40 feet into a white oak, and Dimmer guided her through the canopy and onto limbs.
The backcountry treeclimbing rescue was presented by Bill Maher and Jeff Newman from TreeTrek Adventures, with a dialog from Joe Maher of the Treeclimber Coalition.
The technical rescue was built around the scenario of a hunter who has a heart attack while in a “climbing tree stand†– a seat-type apparatus which can be “levered†20 to 30 feet up a tree to provide a platform for hunters. A lone treeclimber spots the victim and determines that a rescue is immediately necessary.
Newman used the yo-yo method to reach Bill Maher in the tree stand. Newman unloaded and lowered the hunting weapon, checked the victim for visible injuries and a pulse, then set up a makeshift harness and pulley system to lift the victim from the tree stand and then lower him to the ground.
Rice said the scenario was all too familiar to Georgia DNR personnel, who have already rescued three injured hunters this fall from tree stands. Fortunately, Rice said, all three were in trees that were adjacent to dirt roads and could be reached by the park’s bucket truck.
Tobe Sherrill and Courtney Kilgore from Sherrill Inc. in Greensboro, N.C., demonstrated several pieces of new climbing equipment and techniques after the Saturday night treeclimbers’ barbecue banquet.
