introduce myself

hey everyone

I wanted to introduce myself as a newcomer to the forum. I've been posting and reading for a short while but this past weekend took the basic climbing course with Treeman in Atlanta. He helped me break some bad habits and it was a wonderful experience to "hang" with the expert.

I climb DRT with a Tengu on posion ivy. For the past few months I had been using splittail on a beeline, but after the BTCC course I'm going back to DRT to refine that technique. I came home and did my first traverse between 2 trees which was a blast (you should have seen the look on my kids faces!) So anyway, I recommend that BTCC course to everyone who hasn't taken it!!

quick question; has anyone climbed the trees at LeConte Lodge? I'm heading there in a few weeks and trying to decide if I should leave some room in my pack for climbing gear???

Also, if anyone wants to join me in Atlanta in a few weeks for "beyond the basics" course, I'm jumping to learn more from the Ninja (and you know who I'm talking about!!)

I have lots of questions about splittail, SRT, and other techniques...but for now, I'll hold off while I spend some time refining DRT

thanks for reading and for sharing!!

Michael

mrand wrote:

I wanted to introduce myself as a newcomer to the forum. I've been posting and reading for a short while but this past weekend took the basic climbing course with Treeman in Atlanta. He helped me break some bad habits and it was a wonderful experience to "hang" with the expert.

Hi Michael, the board here seems pretty quiet lately. Activity here probably peaks in the Winter. Sounds like you are jumping into the sport with both feet. This board is probably the best one for "beginner" questions and usually there are a half-dozen regulars who check in here daily. The climbing instructors can usually be found at another forum: http://www.treeclimbercoalition.org/phpbb/ .
If you are interested in advanced techniques you might try to pick up a copy of the book "On Rope."

Just a quick couple of corrections.
The Prime Tree Climbing Instructor can be located right here: Peter Jenkins. The Founder of Recreational Tree Climbing and he teaches regular clases at their several locations in Atlanta.

On Rope deals with Rock Climbing techniques and not too much Tree Climbing Techniques. Several Rock Climbing Techniques have been modified by advanced climbers for tree climbing.

oldtimer wrote:

Just a quick couple of corrections.
The Prime Tree Climbing Instructor can be located right here: Peter Jenkins. The Founder of Recreational Tree Climbing and he teaches regular clases at their several locations in Atlanta.

Ok, I can believe that Peter is probably the most senior climbing instructor around, but I have not observed him as a daily participant in the forums here or elsewhere. Maybe that varies according to the season but I've only seen him post occasionally. Perhaps there is a way to look at his posting history?

Yes there is, and it looks like Peter made approximately 24 posts here in the past year. By comparison you made 194 posts here in the past year.

Oh! I see you mean "Posting" vs actually "Teaching" Classes.
Well in that case Moss and Oldtimer can be considered "professional" Teachers since we do most of the postings on tree different web sites - but consider this: I have officially trained in one class with 2 students in all my eight years of climbing life. Just because someone posts a lot does not mean (imho) that you are a trainer. Peter makes a living from this stuff and other Forestry Consulting work. The people posting at TCC are more active on daily postings and doing adventure climbing but very few of them do actual teaching on a regular daily basis. Abe W, Treeman, Old-Joe, Tengu, Viola and Genevieve S. Bill M. and others do regularly teach classes to students for pay. I still consider Treeman the premier teacher due to his experience and his business longevity of over 26 years now in the Rec Climbing Training - That is along time!

oldtimer wrote:

... but consider this: I have officially trained in one class with 2 students in all my eight years of climbing life.

Well, the OP, Michael, has just taken the introductory class with Peter and plans to take Peter's advanced class in a few weeks. I was just saying that he wasn't likely to get an answer from Peter here in the forums. He might be better off e-mailing Peter.

thanks Guys for all the clarification. yea I'm looking forward to the advanced course...trying to dive into BTCC more fully...at least for now.

updates: 3 good climbs since my course last weekend with peter. the favorite technique I learned: monkey fisting

question on that: if I'm tied in at 40 feet. and monkey fist the other end of my rope over a branch 20 feet up, what is the best way to get a cambium on that limb. I don't want to untie my first tie in, until I'm secure on the second. sure I can go ahead and tie all the knots, but doesn't make since if that rope saver is not in place on tie in #2

michael

I think I just answered my own question....put the rope saver on before I throw the monkey fist. any other thoughts on that?

mrand wrote:

I think I just answered my own question....put the rope saver on before I throw the monkey fist. any other thoughts on that?

That is correct. I pull enough rope through the sleeve so I'll be able to throw the monkey fist and have enough rope to come back to me after it goes over the branch. You can put a slip knot in front of the sleeve and clip the bight into your harness so the sleeve doesn't slide down and get into the way while you're throwing.
-moss