Starting out climbing

[Swish]

Hello,

First post so I apologize for not having all the etiquette of this site down yet.

Currently I have been climbing trees and the highest I have been comfortable working from is 20-25 feet. I would like to get more formal tree climbing training as I currently have been relying on rock climbing techniques from working at camps/gyms. What programs/training would you recommend? What kind of pricing should these cost? Currently I have only found 2-3 day modular courses that cost between $600-900CAD, is this reasonable at $300/day? It seems pretty expensive to other rock climbing programs I have been a part of.

I have a 50+ foot elm in my yard that I thought would be a great tree to practice on to build confidence. I hear of a lot of climbing accidents each year and want to make sure I am fit, practiced enough and have the proper training equipment to avoid that from happening. I would like to get to the point where I am comfortable climbing 50-60 feet every day. How much damage would climbing spurs cause to the tree over time? Are there any alternatives that you guys practice on?

Our group would definitely be considered novices and by no means profess to be experts but would like to work towards it and seek advice from those who are. There are only six tree service companies in our area with only a couple of them carrying proper insurance. We get a lot of requests for work as we carry insurance but usually only pick up enough work to cover our costs as we all have regular day jobs and just do this in our spare time because we enjoy it and it helps our neighbours and friends out.

Any advice or feedback is greatly appreciated.

 

[Tree94]

Search the topic. It has been asked many many times and there's lots of good information in some threads.

But to sum up what everyone is going to say:

"You're an idiot"
"hire a climber, learn from him"
"watch youtube videos"
"buy tree climbers companion"
"don't do it"
"get a job climbing at local tree service first"

something like that...

btw, rock climbing vs tree climbing is significantly different.....
good luck

 

[Swish]

Obviously it is very different and much more dangerous IMO climbing trees to those heights vs a rock face.

Would love to get a job at a local service climbing... around here but they use buckets and mostly don't do the jobs if they can't reach it with a bucket, also we have long winters so most jobs that do come up are very seasonal. As for not doing it, we are not going to shy away from growing/learning just because we don't know everything. In my first business if I turned away and quit every time it was hard/dangerous/called an idiot, we would have closed up the first week and never would have become a sustainable part of the community. That is why I am seeking out more advice/information and training/experience. Right now I am just learning/developing but I actually think we could start a tree service eventually with enough experience and totally agree that hiring some more experienced climbers/staff is a great place to start.

I would rather learn from others mistakes/experience than on my own.

There is a lot of work that gets turned down around here because the other companies cant work in back yards or tight to reach places with their lifts. Regardless climbing trees is still a skill I am interested in pursuing for myself even if I am not cutting down/pruning trees.

Thanks for the comment I have already found some good info in here and will continue trying to learn more.

 

[mountainman1888]

Check out the TCIA, lots of formal training, very cheap, can do distance ed on your computer. You do really need to start out on the ground till you understand completely how to operate safely. Then it is important to have a mentor teach you the ropes literally. Its one thing to botch a cut or something on the ground and use your escape route, but you wont have that once you are at height. Instead you will be pinned or worse waiting for a rescue that may not even be realistic. Additionally, things like your size up are way more important at height. Is the tree rotten and decayed? Is your anchor good? Is there a backlean? What about your gear, is it for tree work? Do you have rated ropes (not dynamic rock climbing rope), rated slings? Food for thought.

 

[Matt J Leppek]

Read through this thread: http://www.arboristsite.com/community/threads/any-self-taught-climbers.293865/

Also, never use Spurs to climb a tree if you are practicing/pruning/or climbing for recreation. The Spurs will leave scars and traumatize the tree.

Learn how to ddrt well before you put Spurs on.

 

[BC WetCoast]

Where in Canada are you? It's a pretty big place I hear, so tough to generalize. Everybody in our office except the spray tech and secretary can climb to at least 100' spurless. Some of the junior groundies don't really know what to do when they get there except deadwood, but they are up there.

Learn to climb spurless, the switchover to spurs is easier. You can recreational climb spurless, can't with spurs.

 

[RajElectric]

Yes, knowing what city you are in would help.

 

[Swish]

Great advice. I do have rated ropes at bp 5400lbs (is this standard for tree use?) but need some additional gear to do DdRT.

Got it no spurs

I am located in southern Saskatchewan. I know we don't have a lot of trees. In town most are 50-100 yrs old though, lots of poplar, elm, spruce, scotch pine and some birch. We have very severe storms every year so there is always lots of clean up work in the spring/summer.

 

[Smithy]

This probably isn't what you want to hear, but, youtube offers a wealth of help and information on this. That and what mountainman has referred to should hopefully help a fair amount.

 

[derwoodii]

climbing trees is fun & not too hard, climbing and using a chainsaw aloft to prune and dismantle a tree brings dynamics very hard to anticipate or learn from a book, go get up your elm with a saw slung off harness and practice starting stopping and thinking how would i do this or that with rope rigging and confined space limb control then if can find and watch experienced climbers do their thing you'll pick up many handy hints without any harm

bat on

 

[Swish]

Thanks I have been watching a lot of videos and am planning to take a few courses. TCIA has tons of stuff thank you for pointing me in that direction!