Dr. Cornwallis
ArboristSite Member
I'm new to recreational tree climbing and climbing in general, however I am familiar with ropes, knots and descent techniques from my job at the fire department. I'm looking to learn to climb partly for fun and also partly to trim some large oak trees on my property.
1. I am familiar with the CMC Rescue harness as we use them at work, would this be a suitable harness for tree climbing? I feel like it would as it's rated for serious hard use rescue applications and is intended to be sat in for long periods of time.
2. What is the best rescource for learning ascent techniques? I'm interested in SRT as it seems the most simple to me.
3. Because I'm more familiar with the use of ropes for emergency egress from structures, are there any unique aspects to tree climbing that may be vastly different than techniques used in the Fire Rescue application? Looking around a little here and elsewhere online it appears that all the basic stuff is the same such as the use of carabiners, 8 plates, various knots and anchors. For example, I see that one way to anchor a rope for SRT is with tubular webbing wrapped around the tree. I actually carry two pieces of tubular webbing in my bunker gear for many uses, one of which is as a means to anchor my rope to something in case of emergency egress.
4. Am I a retard for trying this stuff alone without serious formal instruction? I would obviously mess around at low heights before getting serious but, sometimes you don't know what you don't know. I am very methodical and never rush things but I don't want to bite off more than I can chew and swallow.
1. I am familiar with the CMC Rescue harness as we use them at work, would this be a suitable harness for tree climbing? I feel like it would as it's rated for serious hard use rescue applications and is intended to be sat in for long periods of time.
2. What is the best rescource for learning ascent techniques? I'm interested in SRT as it seems the most simple to me.
3. Because I'm more familiar with the use of ropes for emergency egress from structures, are there any unique aspects to tree climbing that may be vastly different than techniques used in the Fire Rescue application? Looking around a little here and elsewhere online it appears that all the basic stuff is the same such as the use of carabiners, 8 plates, various knots and anchors. For example, I see that one way to anchor a rope for SRT is with tubular webbing wrapped around the tree. I actually carry two pieces of tubular webbing in my bunker gear for many uses, one of which is as a means to anchor my rope to something in case of emergency egress.
4. Am I a retard for trying this stuff alone without serious formal instruction? I would obviously mess around at low heights before getting serious but, sometimes you don't know what you don't know. I am very methodical and never rush things but I don't want to bite off more than I can chew and swallow.