Just saying hi

Welcome to the TreeBuzz forum, Darrell R! I hope you enjoy your time here, and learn a lot.

Have you started to acquire any climbing gear yet, or do your interests in this forum fall into a different area?

Have fun!

Tim
 
Thank You Tim
I have already picked up some tips from the discussions I have read. As far as climbing gear I have acquired more than I ever intended to. Every piece I buy I believe will be my last one, then as soon as I start using it I think of something else I "should" have. I think I have a hardware addiction. Living about 7 miles from Bartlett Arborist Supply helps enable this addiction LOL.
 
So, have you tried to climb, yet? One of the most important cautions that gets repeated all the time like a mantra is to be sure to use all new climbing equipment "low and slow", at first. This is to help assure that you understand how the gear works before climbing up to a height at which a fall could mean killing or maiming yourself.

Also, (and this is just my own personal approach to things) I think it is highly advisable to have more than a single means of attachment to your climbing rope or ropes. This prevents (hopefully) the possibility of having a single failure mode cause your demise. The more backups you have to a primary ascent system, the less likely it is that any one failure could result in a fall from height. I must confess here that I'm not a pro production climber, so when I do climb, I get to take as much time as I feel I need to in setting up to feel safe and comfortable with what I'm about to do. Production climbers might feel more pressure just to get up into the tree in order to show some kind of progress is being made.

I know some folks don't like the idea, but I am a big fan of DSRT, which means climbing using SRT techniques, but doubling up on it by using two separate ropes and two separate climbing systems. This provides robust redundancy of climbing systems, plus it makes it much easier to move around in broad spreading trees, in my humble opinion.

My safety objective is to try to eliminate the possibility that any single point of failure could cause a fall.

Stay safe, and have fun.

Tim
 
Hi again Tim. I do climb, I actually just got out of a tree and came in for lunch. I would consider myself an experienced newbie. What I mean by that is I am not a professional climber, but I have been at it for maybe a year and a half or so now. I started with DRT using a Blakes hitch. I have worked my way through various climbing systems such as split tails, the hitch climber set-up, o-rig, and more, but I won't bore you with it all. I have recently started using SRT and most recently started using a SAKA (bought new). Like you I am huge on safety especially as I climb by myself. I buy all of my equipment new, I have studied the tree climbers manual, I spend LOTS of time online researching at various sites, I have attended one training seminar, studied vector forces on angles and so on. Bottom line is I have a considerable amount of head knowledge but not as much experience as I would like. Fortunately I have a great resource as I only live a few miles from Bartlett supply and every time I go in there I get to pick the brain of a professional climber. Those guys are great, I wish everyone was as fortunate as me in that aspect. They also invited me to a recreational climb taking place next weekend made up mostly of pro climbers. This will be a great learning experience for me. My climbing basically consist of going straight up the middle of the tree and dead wooding it. Some limb walking, but very little. I try to have multiple tie ins when I can and I always am tied in with two systems when running the saw. I have all day to get done whatever it is I need to do so I never get in a hurry. I try to have as many redundant safety features as I can. With all of that said i KNOW that there is a ton of stuff that i don't know and that this will be a constant learning experience for as long as I do it. Sorry I rambled on so long, but it sounded like you might be looking for a little background concerning my experience. I really appreciate any input you or anyone else can give me.
 
Hi Darrell R, welcome to treebuzz. Reading what you wrote I had to smile because it was like reading my own story. Treebuzz is an absolute wealth of knowledge going far beyond what I ever imagined. You said you just got into srt. What system are you running?
 
Darrell R said:
Hi again Tim. I do climb, I actually just got out of a tree and came in for lunch. I would consider myself an experienced newbie. What I mean by that is I am not a professional climber, but I have been at it for maybe a year and a half or so now. I started with DRT using a Blakes hitch. I have worked my way through various climbing systems such as split tails, the hitch climber set-up, o-rig, and more, but I won't bore you with it all. I have recently started using SRT and most recently started using a SAKA (bought new). Like you I am huge on safety especially as I climb by myself. I buy all of my equipment new, I have studied the tree climbers manual, I spend LOTS of time online researching at various sites, I have attended one training seminar, studied vector forces on angles and so on. Bottom line is I have a considerable amount of head knowledge but not as much experience as I would like. Fortunately I have a great resource as I only live a few miles from Bartlett supply and every time I go in there I get to pick the brain of a professional climber. Those guys are great, I wish everyone was as fortunate as me in that aspect. They also invited me to a recreational climb taking place next weekend made up mostly of pro climbers. This will be a great learning experience for me. My climbing basically consist of going straight up the middle of the tree and dead wooding it. Some limb walking, but very little. I try to have multiple tie ins when I can and I always am tied in with two systems when running the saw. I have all day to get done whatever it is I need to do so I never get in a hurry. I try to have as many redundant safety features as I can. With all of that said i KNOW that there is a ton of stuff that i don't know and that this will be a constant learning experience for as long as I do it. Sorry I rambled on so long, but it sounded like you might be looking for a little background concerning my experience. I really appreciate any input you or anyone else can give me.
Click to expand...

Hey, Darrell! Good stuff! No rambling on happening here, brother; everything you said was good, solid information. It sounds like you have your head on straight, and try to climb as safely as possible.

It's really cool that you have access to so many pro climbers, so close to home. I hope you have a blast at the recreational climb next weekend. I'd love to hear how it all goes once the dust settles.

Tim
 
Hello Bhard 47
Thanks for the welcome. For SRT I am using 150' Blue Moon rope with the rope wrench and hitch climber pulley. Originally I started with just a CT foot ascdender and hand advancing the hitch. I just added the Saka to go with it about a week ago. I now use a chest box harness to advance the pulley which works well, but now I am concerned as I find myself leaning back on the chest harness a lot and it is not rated. I am thinking about upgrading the harness to something that is rated as I appear to be a top heavy guy. Before the SAKA I looked like an overweight 46 year old climbing a tree, now I look like an overweight 46 year old climbing a tree with a SAKA.
 
TreeBuzz went live on June 1, 2001.

Over the years a lot of discussions have gone on. By going back in the various forums and reading archived threads you'll see what has evolved.

By using the search feature you can find threads relevant to what you're interested in.
 
Tom Dunlap said:
TreeBuzz went live on June 1, 2001.

Over the years a lot of discussions have gone on. By going back in the various forums and reading archived threads you'll see what has evolved.

By using the search feature you can find threads relevant to what you're interested in.
Click to expand...

This one of the single best tips. These's so much info and knowledge shared from great people here that you can to learn from. It's like unlimited wishes from a genie.
 
I'm pretty close to Treetools, my local arb shop. Very dangerous, that 25min drive.

I have two lists, needs and wants. I keep adding to both, but focus on showing my wife the ticks off the needs list. She's really supportive of climbing sport interests.

Check out my local and you'll see why it's so good for my lists. I can only imagine how cool it would be to have Bartletts as my local.

http://on.bubb.li/289221auiuw9iuhs7chscfd
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

New threads New posts

Kask Stihl NORTHEASTERN Arborists Wesspur TreeStuff.com Teufelberger Westminster X-Rigging Teufelberger
Back
Top Bottom