Today I had the chance to take my niece tree climbing for the first time. She rock climbs so was able to catch on fast and seemed to have a good time. Although, it wasn't the best tree. Oregon white oaks hold so much biomass and dirt on their limbs that its hard not to knock stuff into your own eyes, much less the person climbing below you. Also, I forgot several significant pieces of equipment, including my throw line and helmets. I had to Ddrt to the top from the lowest limb in order to set her line and we had to play it extra safe since we didn't have our brain buckets.

Here's her starting up the tree. I had her go SRT while I hoofed it up Ddrt for a second time.

Here she is again, obviously feeling pretty comfortable!

Ach! Our fearless leader slips on a branch. Will his brute strength alone be enough to hold him?

No matter how I say this, it’s going to sound judgmental, so I’ll just plow ahead: I’m not exactly well known for bighting my tongue.

It truly was risky to make that climb without helmets. One slip could have disabled you or your niece . . . not pleasant to have to live with that. Were you really that far from home that you couldn’t have gone back after proper gear?

Also, neither of you were wearing safety glasses, even though you knew there would be so much “biomass and dirt on their limbs that its [sic] hard not to knock stuff into your own eyes.” Please think about how easy it is to lose an eye.

Oh, I might as well go on and really leak people off at me: How on earth could you “forget” helmets and throw lines?! And safety glasses . . . and what else?

I’m really am glad you both had a fine time.

Please be aware, though, that the next time you might not have luck on your side. No professional would have done what you did.

Unlike Jim, I can't offer any particular complaints that Sitka and his niece were unsafe. A lot of people know that I occasionally climb without a helmet, and I lost my most recent pair of safety glasses a year or so back. I do wear helmets in certain situations, such as when there are a lot of dead or brittle limbs directly above my rope or when I'm helping to facilitate a youth climb (hey, I like to set a good example for the kids). (I also try to wear one when there are cameras in the area -- I don't want Peter Jenkins getting on my case for having an "unsafe" photo appear in the local media.)

And, I know several professionals who routinely climb without helmets and safety glasses -- particularly when they are not doing any chainsaw work in the tree. They do like for their ground crews to wear helmets, though.

I also think the fact that Sitka left his throw line at home is a very minor issue. Trees with a lot of lower limbs can easily be climbed with monkey fists. even though it takes a little longer (and more effort) to reach the upper canopy. In fact, I personally recommend that climbers go out and climb this way from time to time, for the practice and the experience. I know several professionals who don't even carry throw lines in their equipment bags.

While I personally think younger climbers should wear brain buckets, Sitka's niece appears to have a reasonable amount of experience in vertical pursuits and seems to understand the risks, and he was apparently being extra careful not to drop anything on her head.

It obviously would have been better if they had been wearing helmets and safety glasses, but I congratulate them on taking a difficult situation and turning it into a successful climb.