Who ever said that winter is a bad time to be climbing trees everyday? It just depends where you are.
I just got back from Maui where I had the honors of working with a group from the Maui Forest Bird Recovery Project. They have been studying and trying to figure out why the Maui Parrot Bills have been slowly declining over the years and what they can do to help raise their numbers.
I spent about 10 days teaching 9 students the art of technical tree climbing in the mountains just north of a small Hawaiian town called Makawao.

After leaving the upcountry of Maui, I headed over to Hana ( a small old _style_ hawaiian village) where I was to instruct an individual how to access her monkey pod trees as she starts pioneering the art of vertical gardening. She has a vision of planting Orchids high up into the canopy and creating a sort of arboreal rainbow. The view from her Monkey Pod trees were breathtaking, we watched the humpback whales from the canopy of the"PERFECT" training tree!
Not a bad day for winter tree climbing!

Enjoy the photos-
http://homepage.mac.com/treekster/PhotoAlbum25.html

I also made a great contact with an outdoor adventure group who is looking forward to sharing this passive activity with the public. Tree Climbing Hawaii is in the budding stages.

Great photos tengu! You were very, very lucky indeed to be climbing those big old koa and ohia trees. There are not too many of them left, merely the legacy of a once great forest. Did you see any parrotbills? I have yet to spot one.

Thanks for bringing more tree climbing adventures to Hawaii. We need it out here. Keep us updated, and if you ever need any support while in the islands please let me know. I am the vice president of the Aloha Arborist Association, and while we are a small organization we are very happy to promote people touching trees in any way that we can.

Wow! Wonderful people and superb trees, thanks for posting them!