The attraction of a rope climber in tree.

What is it about a roped tree climber that can cause a traffic jam or crowd of onlookers? It really is a common experience to technical tree climbers when in the public eye. It is not like the climber is trying to attract attention. Quite the contrary! The climber is more often climbing like crazy to get out of sight. So what is it? The novelty? Rope envy? Plug in to childhood experiences?

I think it's the "what in the...." affect. It's just not something that they get to see everyday. For some of the people that wait for me when I descend a park tree, they are waiting to share they climb rocks, scaffolding, or stuff like that. So maybe half are people staring because it's so different, and the other half because they CAN relate to what you are doing.

love
nick

I agree w/Nick, novelty is a big part of it. Also people are trained by all the "reality" television to expect a disaster, watching someone do something they think is dangerous is very attractive. It's similar to the way people rubberneck at a traffic accident.

On the positive side some people immediately sense the excitement and joy of going up a tree. They've always wanted to visit where the squirrels and birds are and they're amazed to see it's possible for them to do the same.

It's like some kind of personality or "state of mind" test. I had a mother and her kid stop and watch me climb the other day. The mother was really excited and asked me a zillion questions. The kid was totally bored or at least acted that way. He complained that I was climbing too slow or wasn't going high enough. And once I was up there, when was I going to come down? Other kids who've watched me climb are totally thrilled and study every move I make.

The range of reaction from adults is really interesting. Some of the most unlikely strangers are so excited about it, while others glance quickly, show no reaction and keep on moving
-moss

Maybe the real question is should we, all climbers that is, go fully stealth to avoid the public completely or be somewhat obvious in order to promote the entire climbing culture so as to get the public to understand us and not seem so strange.
The climbing sport is growing by leaps and bounds, I think. Maybe we should be the forefathers of this sport that's so misunderstood and help plow the way for people to come to understand it better and us. And what the heck, if some little kid or mom thinks we're like Spider Man in the meantime, we'll just have to suck that up. Shouldn't be to hard, right?
Anyway what do you guys think? Go stealth or promote the sport in an obvious way?
CharlieB.

Hmm… Public acceptance of recreational climbing.
The thread that never dies and, one of my favorite subjects.

I’m to the point now that all this stealth garbage is actually fun. Getting to the climb-site undetected can be quite an adventure in itself. Camouflaging rope & gear. Making believe our backpacks are loaded with pots & pans, etc… <grin>

I’ve never had my backpack searched by a ranger but I’ll bet if it happened and he saw the climbing gear, I better HOPE I could convince him it was for rock climbing and not tree climbing.

I guess its kind of like sky diving…
Sure ya can do it, but your location and environment must be strictly controlled. Mix with the public and the authorities are going to be waiting for you when you touch down.

Gee, I’ll betcha’ I could get on TV if I climbed a tree in Central Park!
Hey Nick, been to Manhattan lately?
You climb it, I’ll film it. You In?

Treeman’
You mentioned “Rope Envy”.
You might very well be onto something here…
The rope envy theory. Any man who was ever a boy has it, no matter how much he try’s to hide it!

Impeccable psychology Sir.

As a boy I witnesses the first climb of the Diamond in Estes Park Colorado. IT took thee days to do the route. They wore mirrors on their back so you could see from a long distance a flash where there on the wall. Up to this point gear was confiscated from climbers who attempted this feat. When they finished the climb, they were lauded as hero’s and marched down the street with great fanfare. There is fame in bucking the establishment for sure. The players in the act are raised in status for having the courage to do such a thing.

So how does the community feel about hard core confrontation of pepple’s right to scale a large tree? Should we play mouse and sneak in to bag a climb in a public area or we be more gentle in our approach and ask permission to climb. I am talking about government land climbs, not private land climbs. In all accounts, tree climbing makes for some good storey telling on the news. How do we want to be portrayed? Hoodlum climbers or nice ask if OK folk’s?

Do you think a public display of intended use has more power than a concerted effort to get some on the bandwagon who has power on our side –the climbers? How far will climbers go to legitimize their climbing passions?

I’ve played both parts, and both parts have stimulation to offer. Get caught and told to come down climbs tickles my devious child nature. Asking permission and being nice strokes my rational climber notions. The both do well with my Mission Impossible movie track musical score that plays in my ears. Which track on this movie set do you lean towards. The Ninja climber or the rational climber? Or does it alternate from side to side?

THE Ninja Climber
The Rational Climber

I agree with Electrojake, I think rope envy is the thing. I may have the doctorate in psychology, but Treeman, my hat's off to you.

Nice. I've got my own soundtrack too!

Mine is a little ditty called "treeclimber" by Stellar Kart, y'all should check it out.

I hate being seen. Our worst climb was on semi-public land, and we were away from any sight. But the thought of a police officer just down the road working over what appeared to be a hunter kind of spooked us. Ruined what could have been a really great time.

I say be cool. Don't draw attention, and when applicable, ask first. Asking is the best way to spread comfort about what we do...

Climb Safe!
Icabod

Jeff Jepson and I were talking one time about entertaining kids. He maintains that kids will be fulfilled with three toys:

An old cardboard box, the bigger the better
A piece of rope
A pile of sand

The really funny part was that within an hour of that conversation his son, Luke, comes around and pulls out his piece of cord from his pocket Now Luke is working in Jeff's blacksmith shop.

Funny thing happened when we fell out of the trees,
Took a look around and straightened our knees.

-Colin Leyden

If we're knot careful we could get hoisted by our own petard. Watch out for the cop who knows how to make rope handcuffs

Tom