moss
ArboristSite Guru
The question: Can a working climber rec climb?
Well... yes of course. But is it rec climbing? What I'm getting at is after you've spent all week, all month or the last 12 years as a working climber what happens when you climb a tree for the fun of it? You carry all of your work habits with you. This is very important, your work habits are part of what keeps you safe in the tree. But what about the ingrained "time is money" part of work climbing? Or the "get in and get out of the tree as fast as possible" part of work climbing. Or the "don't relax in the tree, it's the edge of fear that keeps me safe and keeps me moving from task to task" part of work climbing?
I'm not a work climber but I've climbed with many arborists and I've done my share of work in trees that I climb. I've rigged some good size limbs out of trees and bombed them out and some of it at night (another story). I've climbed in the wind, rain and snow, I climb in the dark a lot. The point being that I've had a taste of how challenging tree work is and how dog tired you can be after many hours working in a tree. I couldn't handle it 5 days a week. I have no where near the skill and endurance of a good working climber.
The followup question is this: can you get into a tree and relax? Maybe even fall asleep. Maybe climb for 5 hours and not notice the time passing. Rec climbers call it "tree time". Instead of dominating the tree you form a partnership and sometimes let the tree lead the way. Maybe it's an internal dialog with the tree and nature. All your daily concerns and worries take a healthy vacation, at least until you get out of the tree.
There it is, a different way of being in the tree. This is some of what rec climbing can offer. I know work climbers who understand this and I know other work climbers who are getting there, and others who just want to puke at hearing tree climbing described this way
It's not talked about much, just want to air it out. What do you think?
-moss
Well... yes of course. But is it rec climbing? What I'm getting at is after you've spent all week, all month or the last 12 years as a working climber what happens when you climb a tree for the fun of it? You carry all of your work habits with you. This is very important, your work habits are part of what keeps you safe in the tree. But what about the ingrained "time is money" part of work climbing? Or the "get in and get out of the tree as fast as possible" part of work climbing. Or the "don't relax in the tree, it's the edge of fear that keeps me safe and keeps me moving from task to task" part of work climbing?
I'm not a work climber but I've climbed with many arborists and I've done my share of work in trees that I climb. I've rigged some good size limbs out of trees and bombed them out and some of it at night (another story). I've climbed in the wind, rain and snow, I climb in the dark a lot. The point being that I've had a taste of how challenging tree work is and how dog tired you can be after many hours working in a tree. I couldn't handle it 5 days a week. I have no where near the skill and endurance of a good working climber.
The followup question is this: can you get into a tree and relax? Maybe even fall asleep. Maybe climb for 5 hours and not notice the time passing. Rec climbers call it "tree time". Instead of dominating the tree you form a partnership and sometimes let the tree lead the way. Maybe it's an internal dialog with the tree and nature. All your daily concerns and worries take a healthy vacation, at least until you get out of the tree.
There it is, a different way of being in the tree. This is some of what rec climbing can offer. I know work climbers who understand this and I know other work climbers who are getting there, and others who just want to puke at hearing tree climbing described this way
It's not talked about much, just want to air it out. What do you think?-moss
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) Maybe this would get more of a response in the commercial thread???
