Climbing in the rain

I have climbed in light sprinkles, and have climbed after the rain, but yesterday was my first baptism (as Tengu called it). My buddy, Gary, and I spent about four hours at 100-130 feet up a young redwood in the rain. (The tree is less than 200 years old, and probably about 180 feet tall.) Gary is getting ready to move some solar panels from the ground up into the tree, so that's what we were working on.

I was amazed at how many new things we learned trying to accomplish a specific task on rope. I was also amazed at how different the tree was in the rain! I didn't notice any difference in how any of the equipment or rope behaved, but we took it slow anyway.

I'm not eager to climb in the rain again soon (and am looking forward to getting my living room back, which currently has stuff draped out everywhere drying) but it's nice to know that I CAN climb in the rain if I want to, have to, or get caught in it!

Sounds like a good experience after all.

I meant to end my first post with this question:

Do you have any stories or advice about climbing in the rain?
Curious new climbers wanna know! (At least this one does!)

As a person who has worked all my life with tools, working in the wet makes things different. Stuff slips out of your hands, your feet slip on wet surfaces. Also, nylon rope loses a significant amount of strength when it's wet. Be careful!

Those conduit sleeves get rusty if they get wet.

I watched a mate climb in steady rain once, not heavy enough to soak him through
After a while in the tree he dried out pretty well, only to cop a thorough soaking on the way down
His hitch squeezed all the water out of the rope right into his lap

Tree-D wrote: I meant to end my first post with this question:

Do you have any stories or advice about climbing in the rain?
Curious new climbers wanna know! (At least this one does!)

Normally when it rains, the bark on any tree simply becomes too slippery for any kind of firm grip, even with rubber sole shoes, and normally, trying to climb in the rain will cause you to slide right back down the trunk. Of course, far more dangerous is climbing trees when there is lightning in the vicinity. And you certainly don't ever want to be up in a tree when there's a tornado!

Davej wrote: Those conduit sleeves get rusty if they get wet.

I had rustig troubles with some gears, Hitch Hiker and Unicender. But never with Dan House rope sleeves used in same conditions, neither with the european version we got here. These conduits are expensive because they are complex but also because they have to resist to rust. It's made of inox or allumium, something like that, it doesn't rust at all.

By the way i kind of like climbing in rainy conditions. I dislike being wet and cold so i prefer it a lot in tropical climates, but i like how friction knots reacts. I can descend faster without burning them and that's a pleasure to me.

A gear problem i got, beside crapy metals rusting, is the weigh of the rope absorbing water. Allways remember when you have to take a plane is you may come back with way more weight because of that. And it can be pretty expensive if you were close to the weight limit when you arrived.

I wont forget when i came back from past rendezvous... i had to throw clothes to get back under the limit.

Davej wrote: Those conduit sleeves get rusty if they get wet.

I get rusty when I get wet! That's because I'm from Oregon, people there rust, they don't tan.

Leather sleeves warp and get deformed if they stay wet. They mold too!

Forget branch walking in wet trees. Slippery business.

I had a lightning strike hit a tree a block over while I was in a tree top. The spirits were telling me to back off my greed. I had one last dead branch to prune while watching a storm come at me. I just had to get that last cut in so I could get paid. Well..........after seeing the neighboring tree get smoked with a strike I never tempted fate again. I fused/destroyed my climbing rope coming down from that tree too. Dumbo me!! These were in my younger days when I was an owner/operator doing tree work. I am wiser now...and older too.

Try a climb in a broad leaf tree and listen to some mighty fine audio as the rain drops hit the leaves. Ya got to hear it to believe it.

Hang your rope up immediately after the climb. Nothing is worse than moldy/stinky ropes.

nice to learn that ... hope one day I can also climb on tree as high as I can

yoyoman wrote:

Davej wrote: Those conduit sleeves get rusty if they get wet.

I get rusty when I get wet! That's because I'm from Oregon, people there rust, they don't tan.

LOL!

You could go inside the tree

Ho Ho, What a tree!

She sure is a beauty!!!
I'm putting a trip report together, so stay tunes for more fuzzy photos;)