Tree boats and facilitated climbs

After seeing John Gathright's presentation at the 'vous I decided to make tree boats a more prominent part of my facilitated climbs. I've set them up a couple of times for past group climbs but the extra time that it usually takes me to install one puts some stress on setup time.

On two recent group climbs I put a treeboat in and found (no surprise) that it created a richer experience for the climbers, both as a goal to reach and as a great reward for work put in climbing. It's well worth the pre-climb effort to put one or two in the tree.

This is a climb for a family on Aquidneck Island just north of Newport, RI. They are fortunate to have a really fine multi-trunk American Beech in the backyard. From the crown you can see the ocean. The look on this climber's face sums it up:



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This is a climb for the staff of an urban woodlands advocacy organization, everyone had a chance to hang in the boat:



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-moss

PS: I'm awaiting flames for the kid without a helmet in the boat At this point in the climb I was in the tree with just two climbers, no climbers or deadwood above the boat. I gave permission to take the helmet off on request from the climber. The helmet is clipped to his harness. Just covering the bases. On guided climbs I use my judgment to respond to specific situations. On large ground-based group climbs (many climbers on rope, facilitator on the ground) there is no room for that kind of flexibility, helmets stay on the climbers heads throughout the climb.

Related to that, for my personal climbs, I don't wear a helmet when I'm sleeping in a boat, don't wear shoes either

Hey Moss,

Great photos!

As a rule of thumb I have a tree boat installed on every facilitated climb. It DOES make a difference. Every person has a reaction of some kind to it, and even if they think it looks scary it gives the climb one more dimension. Some sit and contemplate while others are in and out within the minute!

All the best

Paul

A tree boat was right at the top of my Christmas list this year until my computer started to go south. Now that I've ordered a new Mac Book, I'll prob. have to wait a while. Maybe I can work something out with the misses...

I can guess that in addition to providing a goal, a roughly person-sized object up in the tree would help new climbers appreciate how high they will be going and what they will look like from the ground when they reach it.

Good to hear from you Paul. I don't know why it's taken me so long to realize I should put one in the tree for every group climb.
-moss

treemacca wrote:

Hey Moss,

Great photos!

As a rule of thumb I have a tree boat installed on every facilitated climb. It DOES make a difference. Every person has a reaction of some kind to it, and even if they think it looks scary it gives the climb one more dimension. Some sit and contemplate while others are in and out within the minute!

All the best

Paul

It could be. Once a new climber is up in the tree you don't have to convince them how high they are. Beginners can gain a tremendous sense of comfort and safety when they lean back into a boat. Getting out of the boat can be a challenge because it feels like jumping off a cliff to some. That's also true when a new climber moves from standing on the tree to hanging on the rope at height, pretty much the same phenomenon.
-moss


Davej wrote:

I can guess that in addition to providing a goal, a roughly person-sized object up in the tree would help new climbers appreciate how high they will be going and what they will look like from the ground when they reach it.