Little Treepeople

Mik_Ravn

Mik_Ravn

Location
Aalborg, Denmark
I had a bunch of kids from a local school out climbing today. It was a beatiful sunny day, these beech trees had just come into leaf. What a way to make a living! After the school children had left, my four year old son Jakob proclaimed that he wanted to make it to the top of the rope ladder. The rope ladder (which took me ages to splice) is 50 feet, and I thought to myself 'yeah right' as he usually backs out once he's a few feet off the ground. Anyway, I put his full-body harness on him, tied him in, and a couple of minutes later he was at the top. I was blown away!
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He was smiling and giggling all the way, that was my biggest climbing experience in a long time.

Can you spot him in the picture?
 

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Great photos Mik, really beautiful location small wood, or forest?
Now all you need is to teach him soem Gilman image the minor end reduction pruning he could get to with his small body weight
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Seriously though he doesn't seem to have any issues about the height at all, he'll be hooked pretty soon if not already.
 
It's quite a big forest by danish standards, and the scenery is just great... A small lake nearby, peace and quiet, and that delicate green colour on the fresh beech foliage, places like these really calm you down like nothing else - I love it!

You've got a point, maybe I should start bringing him along on the trickier jobs, instead of using all the redirect bulll*cks. The missus might disagree though...
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Thanks for sharing Mik, I agree, Sweet ladder. What an ideal day! Is that harness a (wee-teet-si)? If not what is it. I'm getting one. My son is almost 4...
 
That is deffinatly a sweet rope lader. I'm also jelous of the location and the trees. Not to mention, wish I could claim I have been climbing 90 feet since I was 4.
 
Thanks guys...
The rope ladder is made of 3 strand pp rope, which is inexpensive and lightweight. I pulled som plastic tubing over the steps for a comfortable grip, and to put some space between the two standing parts. The splicing... whew, it took me a couple of hours every evening for a week to finish that, I think there are 94 splices in all.

The harness is a 'FIXE', don't quite know the model, but a lot of companies make that kind of harness, including Petzl. It's a full-body harness, cuz kids haven't really got large hip-bones to keep them in a tradtional saddle. + the tie-in point is sitting quite high, so they cannot capsize. It's adjustable so it will fit kids between 4 and 10.

I'm trying hard to make treeclimbing a family-thing. It's the ideal pastime: You get a work-out, you go somewhere not many people go, you see flora and fauna which is not present at ground-level, and you get to know your own strengths and limitations. Kids aren't build to be in front of an x-box all day!! (and neither are we)
 
Mik, great photos,

Does your wife know how high you had the kid up the tree!!??
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and he wasn't fazed by it at all??

that's pretty incredible.

mini hardhat next time!!
 
Grover, it was the wife who took the photos, and yes she got a bit like "ok, that's enough!"
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About that hard hat (well seen, btw). I've got a helmet which sort of fits him, but like I said, I really didn't expect him to go higher than 4-5 feet, and after that it was packing up and going home so... Yes, he should've worn that hat! For kids, bike helmets make good climbing helmets too. It's not like we have falling rocks in the trees, the helmet is just there to prevent them bumping their heads on overhead branches and stuff. If you have prepped the tree properly, you've already removed all the major dead branches.

Nick, by popular demand here's a close up of the ladder. It's straight forward, but a lot of work. I think those 50 feet of ladder cost me 50-60 $ in materials, which is cheap IMO.
If anyone wants to go for it and make their own ladder please note: You have to rotate the standing part of the rope about 1/2 a revolution against the strands to remove some torque, prior to inserting the first strand of the step. Otherwise the ladder is going to twist like a strand of DNA, all helix-like. Mine does that on the lowest 20 feet. Doesn't really matter, but it makes me look like a hack.
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Btw, I didn't get around to cutting all the residual stubs exiting the splices. It kinda bothers me but:
94 splices X 3 stubs = 282 stubs, which leaves me sniffing PP fumes for ages... One if these days I'll do it though.
 
Nice post Mik, wish there was more of this.

I too took the wee ones climbing recently, what a blast this is!! Saturday I spotted a sweet white oak in a friend of my 6-year old's yard. His parents approved a climb in exchange for deadwood removal (what I consider a double bonus). My son, who's climbed before jumped into his saddle and thrusted to the top (63 feet) within 10-15 minutes. He was really proud of himself and showed absolutly no fear. Then he taught his friend the moves. His friend is clearly better in soccer and simply more coordinated but he didn't come close to reaching the top. I reassured him that it takes a few climbs to master "the moves." The comment fell on my sons deaf ears, he was clearly now feeling a little cocky. Kids thrive on this kind of accomplishment, it's relly good for their spirit. Remember?

After the kids finished I climbed and proceeded to launch a few fatties onto the lawn below (75+ feet) with the family watching from a safe distance. If you saw the movid The Incredibles then you'd recognize the spirit in which four kids jumped into the air screaming "THAT WAS TOTALLY WICKED!!" each time a dody limb exploded on the ground. That evening the father offered us tickets to our first indoor football game for "the work" I did. I love summer. I'll try to add a pic but see no option below. Cheers Mik and... nice rope ladder.
 

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Cool... Nice pic, you can tell it's a triumph to him!

I once removed an acacia in a kindergarten. 40 or so kids were lined up, acting in the manner you just described. At those occasions you do your best to not screw something up, because they'll be quick to let you know!!

Oh, and about that ladder: If you're quick you can be the sole distributor
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as soon as I outsource the production to China
 
"Kids thrive on this kind of accomplishment, it's relly good for their spirit. Remember?"

Absolutely. On some occasions I've been volunteering for the red cross summercamps for kids. Some of these kids haven't been treated too well by their parents, to put it mildly, and they really need to experience that they can trust adults. Treeclimbing is excellent for this purpose. Sometimes I'll belay them from the top of the tree, because it makes them feel safer that they are climbing up to join me, instead of being up there alone.

Btw, the kid in the photo was not affiliated in any way with the red cross summercamp. It's just an example. And, no, he is not wearing a helmet, even though he should have. And yes, i've just bought three helmets for that purpose. Just to clarify.
 

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