lurking women, care to introduce yourselves?

[Marie Muma]

A book that I was attracted to a long time ago was, Growing Old Is Not For Sissies. In there, and a lot of other places, I have always noticed people over 65 - sometimes well over, doing sports activities that relatively few do.

Swimming in the ocean near San Francisco, a woman starting into mountain climbing in her 70's was interviewed at 89 or so, 70 year old male body builder that was building muscle and bone as well as 30 year olds and looked the envy of most men.

Doing tree work through life I have always enjoyed hearing peoples personal stories. One thing I have noticed is that people who keep using their bodies - putting demand on it, keep in pretty good working order right up close to the day of their death.

So true!! Strength training is a major factor in living not just longer but with more vigor!!

 

[Merle Nelson]

Yes.

People usually focus on living longer with regard to healthy lifestyle choices. In my opinion living longer is actually the least of it. It's living far better each day that you do live that has more shine for me.

 

[GregManning]

I turned 70 on March 7th of this year and soon thereafter stumbled on the sport of Recreational Tree Climbing. I contacted David Stice of Wesspur as well as my local arborist here in Port Townsend, WA. By early September, I had a climbing line in our garage rafters and had purchased a recommended set-up for RADS/YoYo technique: CMC clutch, Petzl Left Hand Ascender, carabiner with pulley (for extra mechanical advantage), New Tribe Twist Saddle (after trying about 8 other ones), Petzl Dyneema foot loop as well as 300 feet of climbing rope (basal anchor with Petzl I’D Belay).
We had our local arborist install a Buckingham Friction Saver 70 feet up in our chosen Douglas Fir Tree (giving us a water view from our 3.5 acre mostly forested home). Finally on Oct 24, we were able to hire a certified arborist trainer (recommended by Dave Stice) to come out for one full day of training. By then, we were already making partial ascents and Tyler “tweaked” our technique and took us up to the very top where we were finally able to see Protection Island for ourselves!!!
We now climb every 2 days, weather permitting. We have a permanent Chain Friction Saver that Tyler replaced for us. We have one other tree with a similar set up that awaits us when we feel like it.
Our purpose for embarking on this sport is exercise, nature viewing, and mood-enhancement. We also plan to install a series of zip lines in the future, finding a great device that has a brake on it and is sold by a guy out near Portland, Oregon.
The climbing rope and retrieval line are both stored on our little deck. We take the climbing rope down after each climb.
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Good on You !
Welcome to the Buzz.
I'm 71.

 

[Epiphyte]

Well, it's a hell of a necro but I suppose I'll put my introduction here . I'm Ryouko 30f lead climber for a company here in knoxville tn. Been climbing trees professionally for the past 3 years. I grew up caving and have been climbing various forms of srt for 16 years (don't try the RRP in a cave, it sucks). As far as trees go I do it all, from big removals to chasing vines out to the skinny tips. Just don't ask me to back a trailer, I'm gay

 

[Merle Nelson]

Welcome. Tons of interaction available if you don't mind that no one cares what sex we are. Passion for trees and tree work seem to be the thing.

Search function for any topic your interested in. Years of gold stored.

 

[Webfoot]

(don't try the RRP in a cave, it sucks)

I would like to hear more about that, and in general the crossover between caving and tree-climbing gear.

 

[Epiphyte]

I would like to hear more about that, and in general the crossover between caving and tree-climbing gear.

There's tons of crossover! If I'm not mistaken cavers are the originators of srt and what they figured out in the 60s has become the basis for the majority of modern rope access.

First you kind of need to understand that there are two very distinct schools of cave rigging: Alpine style (thin ropes - 10mm is thick in alpine, no contact with cave surfaces, lots of technical maneuver like rebelays, j hangs, guided rappels, etc. ) and American style AKA indestructible rope technique (11mm rope with extremely tight sheath is the norm, very few to no technical maneuvers, rope allowed to contact cave surfaces, protected by rope pads in particularly bad spots)

As a whole caving rope gear is simple, entirely mechanical, and generalist, we tend to use either frog systems(sit stand systems based on a footloop/hand ascender and a chest acender) these are the standard for alpine style; or OG rope walking setups like the double bungee or the Mitchell. Decsenders tend to either be racks(American style) or bobins(alpine).

We're very limited on how much gear we can bring and how much that gear can weigh. We're also very limited by the wet and sometimes Extremely Muddy conditions we encounter.

Also, in many caves known to cavers there are bolts that must be aided or free climbed inorder to install a line. These generally have a line that is left in place. Because of this cavers must be able to operate on a wide variety of rope diameters (this is one of the major downsides to the rrp, oftentimes you need a vastly different amount of Friction in one descent)

If you're particularly interested in cave style rope work I'd strongly recommend you read Alpine Caving Techniques (you may be able to tell at this point what style I prefer )