Hello all. So i was present with a great oppurtunity. go to costa rica where my friend has a nature/reforestation preserve in the cloud forest. Many scientists and researches go to this place for research and projects. My project is to set up a rope system and place where scientists can easily study the canopy and animals and such in the canopy. They want me set up 4 locations wiht permanant ropes. The problem is some of the trees are huge oak, or im told they're oaks with no branches for a good ways up. How can i get to those branches and set up a rope that can be climbed with prussiks or jumars? And are porta ledges okay for trees? ive used them in climbing but is it okay for trees, i cant think why not. but if anyone could help me with this dilema that would be awesome..
Thank you so much
Adam

There are a variety of rope placement techniques usually involving throwbags and thin but strong line to create a high tie-in point (TIP) in a tree.

Experienced climbers can hand throw a weighted bag somewhere between 8-12 oz into the 80 ft. range and some even higher. The rest of us mere mortals will use a slingshot, crossbow, compound bow or other projectile launcing device to put a thin braided line or monofilament over a target branch. After a light line is over a branch the climbing rope is attached and pulled into place to form the TIP. With fishing line it has to be two-staged, first get the monofilment over the branch, then pull a heavier throwline over the branch and finally the climbing rope.

I've written a rudimentary summary of tree entry technique for high branches. I'd recommend picking up Jepson's Tree Climber's Companion, it has a good overview of tree entry/throwbag technique. I'd also recommend working on your hand-throwing technique on lower branches before going for the really high stuff. There's plenty to be learned about managing a throwbag in the canopy of a tree which needs to be acquired through practice. this applies to hand-throwing or device assisted throwing.

Keep asking questions, there is plenty of expertise on this message board.
-moss

so ill practice doing all that. but is there a way to climb really big trees with out throwing anything? like ive seen repairmen climb telephone poles where they sort of put a rope around the tree and flip it up and walk up aittle and keep flipping it up. ya know? any other techniques because id ont know how practical throwing a bean bag or getting a crossbow is although it could work ive just never done it. but would love to try


thanks

adam

It will be a lot easier and faster for you to learn how to thowball than it would be for you to learn how to climb up with just a flipline!

To do the technique you mentioned at the end, you pretty much have to wear spikes/gaffs. Not good for the trees.

Just get a throwline and start practicing.

I'm not trying to be condescending here, but if you don't know how to do all this, is it appropriate for you to be the one setting it all up for others to rely on?

Where in costa rica are you going?

love
nick

I just joined the forum and am new to tree climbing but I love it. This particular thread caught my eye because I have this exact problem - a bunch of pine trees in my yard that would be great for climbing, but many of the taller trees have no branches except in the top of the tree - about 50 or so feet at least.

Because the limbs are so high, I can't really evaluate them and hence can't trust them to hold me, so line throwing etc. is just not a feasible solution. Plus, these trees shed good sized limbs occassionally so that's even more reason not to trust the limbs.

I've tried two methods and a variation of one. The first was to use 1" tubular webbing in girth hitches around the tree. one anchored my double foot loops and the other, higher hitch, my seat harness. That method is sloooow and hard!

The next method is to use two hitches made of short lengths of PMI 11 mm Pit rope for the hitches around the tree. With this method, I actually climb the rope until my CMI Ultracender attached to my harness comes very close to the loop of the hitch. I then take the second piece of rope and form a hitch above the one I'm on by standing on the foot loops to gain just a bit more height. I then take a third CMI ascender (one is on my harness, the second on my foot loops) and attach my harness to the "new" rope. I raise the ascender as high as I can. I am now suspended by two ascenders, one on the lower rope and one on the higher rope.

To release the ascender on the lower rope that's attached to my harness, I first transfer my foot loop ascender to the higher rope. I stand in the foot loops, raise the harness ascender, sit on the harness and move the ascender that now has no weight on it to the higher rope.

I then remove the lower rope from the tree, hang it around my shoulders, and climb to the loop of the higher rope and repeat the process.

As complicated as it sounds to describe, the method actually is pretty efficient. I tried it for the first time yesterday and was surprised at how quickly I went up the tree. The real secret is SRT using three ascenders. I know that's expensive, but I need all the help I can get and this really worked well. The "pitches" are quite short -3 - 4 feet, but you get to rest while you transfer and overall I thought it worked fairly well.

Edited to add:
The efficiency of the method above relies on the ease of moving ascenders from rope to rope, hence, unfortunately the method becomes quite inefficient if implimented with prusiks instead of ascenders.

I tried a more agressive variation last weekend and it worked well also but it requires more equipment and it's kind of a hassle to implement. This method is the same as described above except I used two telescoping paint roller handles (4 ft to 8 ft) to advance the rope about 9' at a time. In the time it takes me to manipulate the the extensions and rope, I think I could have covered the same distance by the previous method and not have to mess with the extensions.

If anyone has any suggestions, I'm all ears!

Wow! I didn't mean to "talk" so much, sorry guys.

Thanks,
Ron

Photos? I can sort of imagine by your de_script_ion but a photo of you rigged up would be great.

You can assess the high branches for strength from the ground. Use binoculars to examine branch attachment to the trunk and then follow the branch out to the end to look for splits, fungus, rot, peeling bark etc. and of course are there needles on the end? Once you have a line in place and you're tied in do a bounce test.
-moss