Hello from Ottawa, Canada (near upper NY state)

Hello!

I haven't climbed a tree in years, and I'm actually not so keen on heights ... but I do believe in equipment and technique ... I'm hoping to conquer my fear and get into trees!

Now that I'm interested in climbing I notice how most of the trees around me are young and small; it makes me appreciate it when I find a "big ole tree!".

I'm from Ottawa, Canada, which is about 50 miles north of Ogdensburg, NY. I was pretty interested in taking a course from Cornell Tree Climbing, but I simply can't escape domestic life long enough. (I'm a dad!). Can anyone here offer an opinion on their course?

How about an opinion on the At Home BTCC?

Cheers,
Tom M.

I bought the at home course, as well as the Jeff Jepson books. Those definitely got me up in a tree with enough confidence to feel safe. So far, I have just climbed a tree in my yard, but starting small is definitely the way to go. You can see my posts in climbing reports. DEFINITELY practice knots a lot before you try your first climb.

I wound up buying the home course too. I'm at the stage of practicing my throwball throwing. The tree in my back yard (an eastern pine) is not the easiest to catch the right branch, but my kids are enjoying the practice in my (too small to climb) apple tree. I'll check out your log.

In the few minutes I had this weekend, I managed to set a rope in some coniferous tree with widely spaced branches. I didn't actually plan on climbing it as its in a city park.

In other news, we had a wicked windstorm on Friday; it blew done one of my big blue spruces. I had though I'd climb it one day, but I'm less inclined now that I saw how shallow the root system is (and besides, it's horizontal now)

I got myself a whole two feet off the ground! The piece of accessory cord that I ordered to use as a foot-assist prusik didn't come with the rest of my gear, so I had to hip-thrust my way up. Let me tell you, I don't have the arm-strength or perhaps the technique that the guys (and gals) on YouTube have. My rope was rubbing against a branch (below my anchor point), so there might have been pretty good friction there. In any case, it makes me want to get a foot ascender pronto. Which foot is normal to use?

My B-53 wasn't all that willing to descend. I found myself setting a safety knot and then giving the hitch a stronger pull than I expected to need to use.

[May 9]
It turns out I was thinking of the hand-ascenders which are cleared handed. Most of the foot ascenders don't seen to sold in left or right foot.

[May 15]
Now I have two more climbs under my belt. Maybe 10ft in my back yard, and 15ft in a local park. So far no acrophobia kicking in. I made myself a foot prusik but I didn't really need it. The latex-covered gloves made a huge difference. Now my daughter wants to climb too.

Two more climbs done. One in my usual pine tree (which I really must learn to identify) and the other in a beautiful big oak, where I was able to set two ropes, one for me and one for my daughter. My B-53 Is sliding more evenly now; I guess my rope is breaking in a bit. I almost did my first pitch up; I made a throwing knot and threw the other end of my rope up to the next branch, just 6 feet higher, got all my knots tied and then my phone rang ... had to go home!

Well, I completed my first pitch up into the big oak tree, "Mighty Mike". I managed to lose my throw bag while trying to set my up pitch, so I had to descend, fetch it and a spare and went back up. Fortunately that wasn't so far down and back up, maybe 15 ft.

Now I'm trying to figure out if I can do a second pitch up into this tree. It's not that big. There are branches, but not easy ones to isolate. I can see SRT my be helpful in solving that. Oh well, one step at a time.