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Cornell Outdoor Education Tree Climbing Manual Fall 09 CONTENTS CONTENTS . 2 SECTION A1: INTRODUCTION TO TREE CLIMBING . 5 CORNELL OUTDOOR EDUCATION MISSION STATEMENT . 5 RECREATIONAL TREE CLIMBING AT COE . 5 PURPOSE OF THIS MANUAL . 6 SECTION A2: COURSE PHILOSOPHY . 6 SECTION B1: TREE SELECTION AND ROPE PLACEMENT GUIDELINES . 7 WHERE TO LOOK FOR TREES. 7 HOW TO CHOOSE A TREE . 8 Location . 8 Species Considerations . 8 Judging Tree Health . 8 SECTION B2: GETTING THE ROPE INTO A TREE . 8 HOW TO CHOOSE A BRANCH FOR YOUR ROPE . 8 Judging Crotch Security . 9 Crotch Convenience . 9 GETTING YOU ROPE INTO THE TREE . 9 Coil Throw . 9 Throw Lines & Throw Weights . 10 Hand Tossing Throw Weights . 10 Big Shot Line Launcher . 11 Sling Shots and Bows . 12 REPOSITIONING THE THROW LINE . 12 ATTACHING YOUR CLIMBING LINE TO THE THROW LINE . 12 SECTION B3: IN-TREE ANCHORING OPTIONS . 13 FRICTION SAVERS . 14 WRAP-THREE-PULL-TWO . 14 RUNNING FIGURE-EIGHT ANCHOR LINES . 14 SECTION B4: ASCENDING

SYSTEMS. 15 SRT VERSUS DDRT . 15 Minimum Gear Required. 15 Inherent Mechanical Advantage . 15 Ascending Speed . 15 Force Applied to Branch . 15 Amount of Rope that Runs Over Branch. 16 Ease of Getting Multiple People into a Tree . 16 Ease of Lowering. 16 Canopy Movement . 16 SRT FULL CIRCLE ELEVATOR RIG . 17 Full Circle Ground Anchor. 17 Assembling the Secured Munter Mule Tie-off . 17 SRT ASCENDING . 18 Texas Kick. 18 Prusik Knot Climbing System . 20 The Frog System . 20 The Yo-Yo Method . 21 Footlocking. 22 2 SECTION D2: DOUBLED ROPE TECHNIQUES . 24 Blake’s Hitch . 24 The Motion Lanyard . 25 Moving Around the Canopy . 26 Flip Flopping Down a Tree . 26 SECTION B4: OTHER TREE FUN . 27 SECTION C1: BASIC TREE CLIMBING CLASS . 30 GOALS. 30 PRE-CLASS E-MAIL . 30 CLASS PROGRESSION. 31 Day 1: Hand-over-hand Climbing on Low Branched Trees . 31 Day 2: Throwing and Ascending on Full Circle (SRT) . 32 Day 3: Climb a Big Tree, Switch to Anchor Lines, Switch to Rappel . 35 Day 4/5: Alternate

Ascensions / Overnight . 36 SECTION C2: LIMITED GEAR ALTERNATE BASIC CLASS CURRICULUMS . 38 SRT CLIMBING CURRICULUM ONLY . 38 DDRT CLIMBING CURRICULUM ONLY . 38 SECTION C3: COSTA RICA TREE CLIMBING COURSE. 38 SECTION C4: RISK MANAGEMENT . 39 TREE CLIMBING RISKS AND MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES. 39 POLICIES . 39 PROCEDURES. 39 Single Point Failure . 39 Dealing with Single Point Failure . 39 PAPERWORK . 40 Medical Form . 40 Waivers . 40 Incident Reports . 40 New Hires . 40 Basic Skills Training . 41 Advanced Skills Training . 41 Role of the Senior Instructor . 41 First Aid Kits . 42 Minor Accidents . 42 Non Life-Threatening Serious Accidents . 42 Life Threatening Emergencies . 42 Emergency Coordinator and Communication . 42 APPENDIX A: GEAR LISTS . 44 Gear Needed by an Individual Participant . 44 Total Gear List for a Class of 8 Participants* . 44 BASIC TREE CLIMBING - SRT CURRICULUM ONLY . 44 Gear Needed by an Individual Participant . 44 Total Gear List for a Class of 8 Participants . 45 Gear

Needed by an Individual Participant . 45 Total Gear List for a Class of 8 Participants . 45 APPENDIX B: ROPE INFORMATION . 46 ROPE CONSTRUCTION . 46 Braid . 46 Rope Fibers . 46 Fibrillated polyolefin . 46 Milking . 46 3 ROPE CARE . 47 Electricity . 47 Chemicals . 47 ROPE STRENGTH . 47 Safe Working Load . 47 Diameter . 47 Bend Radius . 48 APPENDIX C: KNOTS . 49 SLIP KNOT BOWLINE . 49 PRUSIK . 49 APPENDIX D: TREE IDENTIFICATION . 50 ITHACA . 50 Northern Red Oak - Quercus rubra. 50 Tulip Poplar – Liriodendron tulipifera . 50 Sycamore – Platanus occidentalis. 50 Sugar Maple – Acer Saccharum . 50 American Beech – Fagus grandifolia . 50 White Ash - Fraxinus americana . 50 COSTA RICA . 50 Fruta Dorada – Virola koschnyi . 50 Ceiba – Ceiba pentandra . 50 Guacimo Colorado –Guazuma ulmifolia . 50 Guapinol – Hymenaea courbaril . 50 Guanacaste - Enterolobium cyclocarpum . 51 Higureon – Ficus genus . 51 Jabillio - Hura crepitans. 51 APPENDIX E: TREE BIOLOGY . 52 APPENDIX F:

TREE CLIMBING WAIVER . 53 RECOMMENDED BOOKS . 55 4 SECTION A THE TREE CLIMBING PROGRAM Section A1: Introduction to Tree Climbing Cornell Outd oor Ed ucation Mission Statem ent Cornell Outdoor Education develops teamwork, leadership, and growth through outdoor experience. We do so by: • Teaching outdoor skills and judgment for lifelong recreation and fitness. • Promoting environmental responsibility through personal connections to the natural world. • Empowering individuals and groups to move beyond self-imposed limitations. • Igniting a passion for experiential learning. • Enhancing initiative, self-reliance, and compassion for others. Recreational Tree Climbing at COE Founded in 1972, Cornell Outdoor Education is one of the largest college-based outdoor programs in the country, providing over 130 physical education courses in a wide range of disciplines, freshman wilderness orientation trips, and teamwork training on our ropes course - approximately 30,000

program days annually. However, in COE’s climbing program, the 22 courses we offered on our indoor climbing wall made us feel like we should more appropriately be called CIE. We found it hard to advance our environmental stewardship mission while climbing on plastic holds next to the aerobics classes. And although good rock climbing is abundant in New York, it is locally endangered; we have to drive three and a half hours to get to a good teaching venue. This was a major reason the administration was amenable when David Katz first started advocating for a technical tree climbing class. Programmatically, the prospects seemed good. Climbable trees are much more commonly available than climbable rocks in our area. Tree climbing is less weather dependent Compared with the congested climbing scene at the Gunks, a placid tree climb more directly supports our environmental mission. Unlike rock climbing, tree climbing has two direct industry outlets. Canopy research, a rapidly growing field

in science, requires trained climbers to conduct research in forest canopy. Arborists are in increasing demand as our native forests are injured by imported insects and disease. Although the team of instructors we put together for our first class had significant rope experience, we had a lot work to do before we could run a reasonable program. In particular we had the following questions to answer: Curriculum: Of the vast number of tree climbing techniques, which ones would be appropriate for a college level recreational tree climbing program? Risk Management: Can we find procedures and policies that can safely accommodate groups of 8 to 10 students? Gear: Can we create a tree climbing program using mainly rock climbing gear? What elements of tree climbing are best taught with tree specific gear? What is the cost of that investment? Impact: Can we offer climbing classes repeatedly in the same trees without damaging them? 5 We were highly motivated to add more outdoor opportunities

to our climbing program, but our equipment was limited to items we could cobble together from caving and rock climbing. If we could rely mainly on our rock gear the capital investment for our new tree program would be small. If we found good solutions to these issues, many other college programs could do the same. With our best guesses at answers to these questions, COE ran its first tree climbing course. It filled it to capacity within the first day of PE registration. The first class was a huge endeavor, planning class progressions, developing institutionally appropriate tree climbing methods, and finding and preparing trees for students. By the end of the course the instructor team had spent about 60 hours outside of class just preparing for the course. That’s quite a lot of work when you realize that the full course length was only 30 hours. In those days we discovered some of our answers to the above questions were great and some not so great. But in the end, it was worth it

That semester saw huge advances in our rigging and teaching strategies. We now have a compendium of procedures and policies that are (relatively) safe and effective and a good idea in what order to present these skills. Even so, there was some initial skepticism. Staff members said, “Is anyone really going to want to do this?” What we know now is that for some reason or other, people love being in trees. We have never offered a class which did not fill. Purpose of this Manual This manual was primarily written to serve as a guide to new tree climbing instructors. For you this mean less preparation time, better teaching, and less mucking about with dangerous things that don’t work. Prior to teaching the first course, Dave and Keith would frequently find themselves sitting on branches thinking something like, “Wow, I really hope I don’t fall to the left, because the ground sure is far away. Please God, if I fall, let me fall to the right of this branch.” Fortunately, we all

survived our tree climbing childhood and can pass on our advice in this manual To date, we’ve taught many local and international tree climbing classes, all with excellent reviews and no climbing-related injuries. We think our methods are good enough to write down, but we’re always looking for ways to make our classes better and teaching styles more efficient. Climbing on your own is the best way to try out new techniques and find better tricks to get things done in the canopy. When you discover that new technique, share it with everyone and help us all improve. This manual provides an overview of many aspects of COE’s current tree climbing courses. There’s information on logistics, teaching, core curriculum guidelines, class progressions, risk management policies, suggested activities and some idea of what skills are required to teach each climbing course. Section A2: Course Philosophy Almost all of our students come to the first class with no knowledge of rope systems. For

this reason, our classes begin with the basics. Our students are not likely to become experts in the time we have them for a local class or even in the ten days of the Costa Rica Tree Climbing class. In addition to basic skills, we also hope to teach some hazard assessment and judgment - keeping in mind the possibility that after the class is over our students might actually go out and try to do this on their own. In their present states, our courses should be viewed as comparable to a Basic Rock Climbing class in scope. These courses both provide only a fraction of the skills required to lead a trip. They do, however, give the students the skills needed to participate in these activities with a minimal amount of supervision from a trip leader. Many people’s perceptions of tree climbers involve men wielding a chainsaws while swinging from a rope. Students should understand that our course is in no way meant to teach them about tree trimming and this for two reasons: Firstly, COE

strictly adheres to Leave No Trace policies. With the exception of our platform trees, we try to impact our climbing trees as little as possible. Secondly, and more importantly, COE doesn’t have the proper gear required to teach tree removal, nor are our instructors qualified to teach it. 6 SECTION B Recreational Tree Climbing Skills Section B1: Tree Selection and Rope Placement Guidelines Where to Look for Trees When thinking of where you may find some good trees to climb, two types of areas generally come to mind: fields and forests. Whether you are looking for tall trees or broad trees will dictate where you should start your search When a seedling sprouts in the forest, it will start growing into a tree as fast as it can, hoping to reach the sunlight as fast as possible. For this reason, you will typically find tall trees with nearly vertical branches in forests Moving around in these trees usually means going straight up. Unfortunately, you will rarely get a chance to look

out over the canopy in a forest, as most forest trees will grow to the same height as those around it. Every once in a while you stumble across an emergent tree that spreads its canopy well above its surroundings. This emergent growth strategy is common place in the tropics The view from an emergent’s canopy is nothing less than stunning. Fields are another place to find great trees to climb. Often you can find trees on farms that were originally used to mark property lines or to provide shade for livestock. These trees were lucky enough to grow without competition for sunlight and usually have wide, spreading canopies with nearly horizontal branches. Pasture trees can provide endless hours of entertainment through limb walking and other lateral canopy movement. Naturally spreading trees can also be found on flood plains. Flood plains, such as those found on the inside of river bends, provide moist and rich soils for trees to grow quickly. However, frequent flooding can remove the

existing understory and leave behind large trees with plenty of room to spread their canopies. Tree on right (field) has spreading branches, due to less light competition. The trees on the left (forest) have light competition from other trees and therefore grow up higher with less spread in their canopies. 7 H ow to Choose a Tree Aside from finding a tree of that will permit the desired type of climbing, care must be taken to ensure that a tree is safe to climb. Location Arborists removing trees from a client’s property are often required to work around phone and electrical wires. Recreational tree climbers are under no such obligation! We avoid any tree within throwing distance of utility wires. Species Considerations Unless you’re lucky enough to live near some giant redwoods or sequoias, throwing your rope over the sappy branch of a conifer probably isn’t worth the effort. In our area the largest branches of such trees are brittle and not stout enough to hold your

weight. Sticky tree sap is also incredibly hard to remove from a climbing rope without using nasty chemicals or hot water, both of which will reduce the lifespan of your rope. Eastern Hemlocks tend to be more pleasant to climb that White Pine, if you are still curious. There is a lot less sap, and the cute little cones make fun pictures Some of our favorite species to climb are Northern Red Oaks and American Beech. With its wide branches you are ensured a good place to hang around. Strong, heavy wood makes for safe climbing Sugar Maples tend to have more v-shaped branching, which makes standing around a little tiring, but the wood is strong and in the fall the colors are great. We have a nice local stand of Tulip Poplar in Trumansburg They are huge and really fun to climb However, Tulip is a fast-growing species are therefore the branches are weak and generally only large crotches are to be trusted. Really large sycamores grow near the lake around Ithaca, and have fun canopies in which

to swing around. Be gentle with these trees. Sycamores have very thin outer bark and the tree is easily damaged with repeated roped climbing Ash trees are fun to climb, but also have v-shaped crotches and the branches also tend to be relatively weak. Judging Tree Health For obvious reasons you don’t want the limb your rope is over to break. You need to make sure the tree you are climbing is healthy and will support a lot of weight. We have listed a few aspects of tree health below Make sure you look at the big and small picture. You want to take it all in Look at the ground around the tree. Is the soil newly raised or cracked? The tree might be getting ready to fall over. Are there lots of branches on the ground, which may suggest dead branches in the tree? Take a look up at the canopy. Can you see many dead, leafless branches? Leafless tips of branches may indicate that the tree is unhealthy Leaves changing color and falling prematurely is another bad sign. Finally, take a look at

the trunk of the tree Does it have wounds or fungus on it? The presence of any of these signs means you should probably look for another tree to climb. In general your tree should:  be alive. This is easy to tell in spring, summer or fall, but harder in winter  not have large dead sections of wood in the canopy that could fall on you.  not have poison ivy or other nasty things on the tree (snakes, spikes, ants, bees, wasps nests).  not have a huge pile of dead branches near the base of the tree.  not have raised of cracked soil around the roots.  root fungus. This can be tricky, but big mushrooms on the base are a tell-tale sign  not be leaning like the tower of Pisa.  not have a scar or cavity in the trunk. Think Greek columns not Swiss cheese  have strong unions between the main stems It is important to note that most of the time the first ascent tends to be the most dangerous part of the climbing process. This is especially true in the tropics where

getting the rope where you want it in the canopy can be a very difficult process. It is always the best to isolate a safe crotch from the ground, even if it means not climbing that day, week or month. Climbing on weak branches is extremely dangerous Another hazard for the subsequent climbers is the risk of the falling branches. If the first climber reaches the canopy and sees hazard branches, these branches need to be removed before the following climbers can continue. Notify your ground people and tell them to go to a safe place, and remove the hazard branches if you are qualified to do so. Section B2: Getting the Rope into a Tree H ow to Choose a Branch for Your Rope Once you’ve found your ideal tree, it’s time to figure out which branch you want to put your climbing rope 8 over. There are two main aspects of a rope placement to consider: security and convenience Judging Crotch Security It is close to impossible to estimate the actual strength of a single crotch in a tree,

however it is generally assumed the a safe crotch will hold more than 5000lbs. Wood strength, tree health, season, leverage and branch diameter are all important factors in estimating what the branch will hold. While working as an arborist David has watched incredible loads placed on single crotches of hardwood trees. That said, David has also accidentally snapped canopy-level branches off redwood trees from 200’ feet from the ground merely by stepping on them. Caution is recommended. Any branch you chose to support you should be capable of holding well over the highest forces that you can create. We use the “Rule of Thigh”: All branches used for life support should be larger than your thigh If you need a tape measure to see if a branch passes the test, it’s too small. For the first ascent you want to make sure that the rope is as close to the main trunk as possible. Bouncing around on a rope placed 12 feet out on a limb can create dangerously high bending forces near the

trunk. Once you are in the tree and can inspect the crotches more closely, you may chose to place an ascending line farther from the trunk to minimize bark scaling by subsequent climbers. Additionally, the crotch that joins your branch and tree should be a healthy and strong one. The angle that the branch makes with the trunk is not as important as judging if the limb is strongly joined to the tree. One way you can judge this is to look at the stem bark ridge. Between a branch and the trunk of the tree, or between co-dominant stems (what we sometimes call a main split or first large crotch) there is an area where the bark of the branch connects with the bark of the tree. In a crotch with a strong union there will be a ridge of bark that sticks up where the two meet If the spot where the bark joins turns down, including bark inside the union, the union will be weak. In the northeast soggy wet crotches with other seedlings sprouting in them are also suspect. It is even harder to estimate

the strength of a crotch that your rope is over if you cannot see the crotch from the ground. Our advice is to pull your throw line back down and find a new crotch or tree Remember, if the limb you are ascending on brakes, the consequences for you will be serious. Twice Mark has ascended on branches he couldn’t see The first time it turned out to be a soggy dead limb about the circumference of his arm. The second time he emerged from the understory to see that the rope did not run over a branch at all. Rather, it ran through a single carabiner attached to a branch by a lone crusty sling draped in lichens and damp earthy green rain forest schmutz. It was a rig Dave had left in the jungle a couple years ago and had forgotten about! If for some reason you find yourself doubting the strength of a crotch you are about to climb on, listen to your intuition and find another place to put the rope. If for some reason you are compelled to climb using that crotch you can gain a measure of

confidence in it by tying off one end of the rope and bouncing around on the other, preferably with your co-instructor bouncing along with you. This system stresses the trees and therefore should only be used in a research environment and never in fragile forests. Crotch Convenience The crotch that you aim for should be high in the tree. Spending extra time on the ground to select a convenient crotch is usually more time efficient than settling for the first crotch you hit and repositioning the rope once you get into the tree. Placing your rope high in the canopy allows access to most of the tree without repositioning the rope. Sometimes you will have to use a branch low in the tree, either because your rope isn’t long enough to make it high into the canopy or because you don’t have the means to get a rope any higher. In this case, using the lowest branch of the tree should be avoided at all costs. Because there aren’t any limbs below it to stand on, using the lowest crotch in a

tree generally involves hanging in your harness for a long time while you try to get the rope over the next highest crotch. If at all possible, make sure you’ll have a branch to stand on once you get into the tree Getting you rope into the tree Coil Throw The simplest method to get your rope into a tree is by throwing a tightly wound coil of rope over a crotch. If you do not tie your coil with a knot or hitch, the rope will unravel after going over the crotch. Although the rope must be recoiled for every attempt, using this type of coil will prevent the rope from getting knotted or snagged in the tree. A good coil should have an amount of rope in it about equal to the distance the target crotch is from you. Start the coil using the common technique of wrapping the rope around your hand and elbow, or bring the rope together in a series of small bunches. (If you do not allow the rope to rotate, the bunches will naturally form little figure eights) Make the coil tight by wrapping the

rope horizontally, gathering the bunch of coils together. To finish the coil, pass a bight of rope through the coils for use as a hand hold. The bight through the coils is not tied off in any way When the coil is tossed, the bight will slide back out and the bunches will unravel. 9 Throw Lines & Throw Weights For any crotch higher than about 20 feet, you’ll need to use a throw bag and throw line. The throw bag (also called a throw weight) is generally a vinyl pouch filled with lead shot, featuring a small metal ring onto which the light and slippery throw line is attached. Throw bags commonly range in weight from 8oz to 20oz. The weight used for a given application is affected by tree height, bark properties, throwing ability, and the type of throw line used. A lighter bag can be thrown higher, but is less likely to glide back down. A very heavy bag might always return, but you might not be able to launch it over the highest trees. COE currently uses 14oz weights. There are

three primary models of throw lines: Zing-It, Fling-It, and Slick Line. Zing-It and Fling-It are practically equivalent Both are sold in 1.75mm and 22mm diameters and are made of essentially the same material (Technically, Zing-It is made of Dyneema and Fling-It is made of Spectra, both of which are high performance polyethylene). Zing-It and Fling-It are incredibly strong, with breaking strengths between 400 and 600 pounds, depending on diameter. Slick Line is an inexpensive alternative to Spectra throw lines. Made of 1/8” braided polyethylene, Slick Line is only about half the price (and strength) of Zing-It. COE currently uses 180 foot lengths of 2.2mm Zing-it line There are a lot of types of small diameter nylon cord available that could be used as a throw line, but we don’t recommend using them. Nylon fibers create much more friction than Spectra fibers do when running over bark- often enough to prevent your throw weight from returning to the ground. Accessory cord and

parachute cord also have relatively loose weaves compared to the tight braids of throw lines. However, nylon cord does have its use in tree climbing. At a fraction of the cost of throw lines, parachute cord can be bought in bulk to leave in trees after they have been climbed. This allows you to easily gain access to your favorite trees without having to throw for the good crotch again. The practice of pre-rigging trees saves a lot of time while running a course, or returning to a favorite tree for a recreational climb. Whichever throw line you choose, take care to store it properly to prevent kinks and knots. Throw lines should always be flaked in some type of stuff sack or bucket. If you put your throw line on the ground it will become tangled in the undergrowth and debris. Also, don’t try to coil your throw line (Or if you are one of those experiential learners, coil it once. After you spend an hour trying to untangle it, you’ll never do it again) Storing your line in a bucket

will ensure that it is always ready for use and will pay out (for the most part) without tangling. There are many throw line bags or “mugs” commercially available for neatly storing a throwing kit on your harness. Remember to secure the other end of the throw line to your bucket. We tie the one end through a hole in the bottom of our line buckets Securing the end of the line helps prevent knots from forming, and also makes sure that the line won’t get away from you with a very long toss. Hand Tossing Throw Weights Hand tossing throw weights into trees is the most common way to gain access to the canopy. Start by attaching your line to the weight’s ring with a secure knot that will be easy to remove. A bowline works well for this purpose. A knotted loop large enough to fit over the weight can also be attached to the ring using a girth hitch. Any knot can be used to create this loop (overhand, figure 8, bowline), as it will not have to be untied. Now pass a bight of throw line

through the ring. This allows you to hold onto the bight with one hand, and the standing end with the other hand. If desired, you can pass another bight back through the ring to provide a finger loop for each hand. Adjust your grip on the line to allow the weight to be suspended equally by both hands and to hang at shin level. 10 With your back to the crotch you’re aiming for, tilt your head straight back until you can see your target. If looking back that far hurts your neck, your probably too far from the tree. Initially, it can help to have someone tell you if your shoulders are lined up with the tree. With your arms extended, swiftly swing the weight from between your legs, up and backwards over your head. Release the line with both hands at once so the weight travels in the desired direction. Once you get good at this, try facing the target crotch with the throw line bucket in front of you Students generally find this harder, but the best throwers in the world toss this

way. Often you will miss your target on the first try, but still get the weight over an undesirable branch. Rather than pulling it back over the branch, it’s better to lower the weight and untie it from the throw line. Retrieving a throw line can go from effortless to impossible if the throw bag wraps around a branch or gets jammed in a crotch. The saying “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure,” certainly applies here. In a tree with highly textured bark or when using a nylon throw line, weights can get suspended in the canopy solely by the friction of the line on the bark. In these situations you will have to coax the weight back to you. You might even have to promise to take it to dinner and buy it flowers. Retrieving the weight requires plucking the throw line like a bowstring. The goal of plucking is to momentarily give the line enough tension to make the bag bounce up, then immediately release all tension so the bag has as little resistance as possible on the

downward portion of its bounce. It is a skill that requires some practice to develop. If you pluck too softly, the bag doesn’t move at all. If you pluck too hard or don’t release all the tension afterwards, you’ll usually see the weight move up rather than down. In tricky situations, downward progress of the weight can be as little as an inch at a time, if at all. Using Zing-It or Fling-It will eliminate the need to pluck the line in all but the most challenging of trees. If you cannot coax the bag down by “bowstringing” try again. And again. Then give your co-instructor a try at it Once everyone and their dog has had a crack at it, you might end up having to pull the throw bag back over the limb. Be cautious and go slowly If you pull the bag back to fast it might flip around the branch from which it is suspended. (It’s a conservation of momentum thing Think of a pendulum whose string is getting pulled. As the pendulum gets shorter the swinging get pretty wild.) If the bag

gets caught up in the canopy you can put a little extra tension on the line by adding a carabiner with which to pull. (Try tying a munter hitch in the throw line – a knot will just get impossibly tight around the carabiner.) As you become more frustrated and yank ever harder on the throw line, watch out that the bag doesn’t suddenly come loose and fly out of the tree. Guess what direction it will be headed? Correct! Right at you! Almost a pound of lead going that fast hurts when it smacks into your little toe. (Can you hear the voice of experience?) If you must pull hard, you can gain a measure of safety by redirecting your pull around the trunk of an adjacent tree. But remember, the throw line is relatively expensive you don’t want to break it Also, don’t go crazy pulling hard on an irretrievably stuck throw bag; Keith still carries the scar on his hand from the recoil of a broken line. Big Shot Line Launcher If you have your eye on a really tall tree or a tree that requires

accurate line placement, the Big Shot is your solution. Essentially a 11 sling shot atop an 8 foot pruning pole, the Big Shot will easily and accurately send a throw bag over 100 feet high. Even for smaller trees the Bigshot offers a distinct advantage. It tosses the bag with a very flat trajectory compared to what you can generally achieve by hand tossing. This is particularly good when the tree is congested with branches You can blast the throw bag through the brush and over the perfect crotch. The Big Shot can be used with the same throw weights and throw lines used for hand tossing, although the bullet shaped throw bags fit better into the Bigshot pouch. While a version is available that collapses into 4 foot sections, the Big Shot is still bulky and awkward to carry- especially for those trees buried deep in the forest. We generally reserve the big shot for times when it is required or when time is limited. In Costa Rica, we’ve avoided carrying the pruning poles, and

harvested some local bamboo poles and tied the launching head to the bamboo poles. The Bigshot is a great big time saver, but it can also give you a great big injury. When launching, always wear eye protection and a helmet The rubber slings break after a while (we’re on our third in as many years), and when they do they could potentially recoil in you face. The throw bag also may recoil if the throw line gets tangled. Place the throw bag in the Bigshot pouch so that the center of gravity of the bag is in the center of the pouch. It is essential to have your throw line stacked in an open bucket or bag made for this purpose. Throw line stacked on the ground will invariably pick up sticks, twigs and leaves. The bucket should be placed in front of the Bigshot to prevent you from getting tangled in the rapidly moving line. Sling Shots and Bows Many people have come up with methods to set lines using hunting bows or wrist braced sling shots. Due to the lack of a commercially available

product, the best of these inventions have most likely not proven to be reliable or user friendly enough to market. Sling shots and bows work optimally in conjunction with lightweight fishing line on an open face real, as the weight of traditional throw line compared to the weight of the projectile severely affects range and accuracy. New Tribe, a company dedicated mainly to outfitting recreational tree climbers, sells blunt tip arrows and a reel mount for compound bows so you can experiment with your own systems. Before pulling your main climbing rope up, you first need to pull up a heavier cord as the fishing line will not be strong enough to pull the rope over a branch. Hand tossing and the Bigshot are sufficient for all current COE course offerings. Repositioning the Throw Line When you successfully place your throw line over the desired branch, the line will usually run over neighboring branches too. Frequently it is necessary to isolate the rope over a single branch or just get

the throw line off of a suspect branch. When repositioning throw lines, it can be helpful to have an extra throw line and weight Repositioning the throw line can be as simple as pulling the throw bag back over a branch. This method is used often when the throw bag goes over the desired branch and a smaller branch behind it. Isolating the larger branch will avoid damage to the smaller branch and provide a safer climb, as breaking a supporting branch can suddenly introduce a dangerous amount of slack into the system. Branches can easily be deselected from either end of the line by attaching the throw weight to the appropriate side of the throw line. Sometimes when you pull a weight back over branch it will get caught in a crotch. If the bag is no longer hanging, you probably won’t be able to get the bag back in either direction. You can avoid this situation by tying a second throw line to the weight. There is often another loop on the throw bag put there for this purpose With a line on

both sides of the bag you can pull in two different directions. If the bag won’t go over a limb you can pull the bag back to the ground with the other line, untie it, retrieve the line and try throwing for a different position. Attaching Your Climbing Line to the Throw Line There are many possible ways to tie your climbing line to you throw line. All of the methods use some sort of streamlined strategy that allows the lines to be joined without a bulky knot. Most depend on some variant of a half, clove, or friction hitch. We used these methods for years and they work perfectly wellmost of the time All it takes, however, is that one time when you spend all day throwing for the perfect crotch only to have your friction hitch subsequently stripped off the climbing rope like insulation off a wire and you will curse the hitch methods for all eternity. These days we use a method that is common on ropes courses We take a hot nail and melt a hole through the rope about one inch from the

end. We then tie a short length of parachute cord through the hole and shrink wrap or duct tape the whole lot of it together with just a bit of the parachute cord sticking out. We have found this type of connection to be very strong and reliable. We no longer hear the depressing sound of our rope and throw line cascading to the 12 ground on either side of the tree! To pull up your climbing line, untie the throw bag and put it in your line bucket. Resist the urge to toss it on the ground! We have lost more gear this way than we care to admit. Tie your throw line to the loop of parachute cord (the haul loop) with a bowline and start pulling. As the rope goes up it will get heavier and heavier until the climbing line hits the crotch. At this point the friction will probably increase even more as your climbing line drags over the crotch. Hold on tightly and pull hard. The line will probably come along over the branch. If it doesn’t, try walking backwards away from the trunk of the

tree to change the angle of pull. This is particularly effective if you can walk uphill. Alternately, you can munter-hitch a carabiner to the throw line to use as a handhold for more tension. Grab the spine of the carabineer and the throw line in one hand and pull hard (not too hard, remember. Snapped lines will recoil right at you), then slide the munter-hitch up higher up the throw line As the throw line comes down, stack it carefully back in your throw line bucket. If the rope is really stuck, try lowering your rope and tying it onto the other side of the throw line. Sometimes the geometry of the crotch creates a barrier in one direction and not the other. Here’s a general flow of events for getting your rope into the tree: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. Identify potential hazards (tree health, power lines, etc) Pick a good crotch, high enough to give access to tree, branches bigger than one’s thigh. Shoot your throw line over a desired crotch. Untie your weight Tie the throw line to the

haul loop with a bowline. Pull the throw line and simultaneously stuff the throw line back in the bucket. Section B3: In-Tree Anchoring Options Once you have a throw line in the tree it’s time to consider your options for anchoring the line and eventually anchoring your students in the tree. Anchoring is a very well developed science in the rock climbing world There are complex issues of equalization, redundancy, angles and forces and so on. Tree climbing has some of these concerns in common, but there are three significant differences. First, the points we attach ourselves to the tree are generally very strong and reliable. There are plenty of opportunities to select an idea point, and no necessity to make the best of a nonideal placement Second, because we are not falling dynamically on our anchor points, the expected forces are lower And lastly, the points to which we attach ourselves are smooth, round and relatively soft. It is very unlikely that a sling will abrade through as

can happen on a sharp rock in a cliff setting. For this reason, basket hitches, which you almost never see in the rock climbing world, are perfectly acceptable in the tree climbing world. However, this does mean that single point failure is a more common consideration. Before you get too worried, realize that single point failure occurs commonly in all climbing settings. You rock climb with one rope, one carabiner linking your one belay device to your one harness. In tree climbing you are also probably climbing on one crotch or one sling around that crotch. Two ways we deal with the serious consequences of single point failure are overbuilding the anchors and establishing protocols to double check the security of key points. If we over build our anchors, we are less likely to ever approach the breaking strength of the attachment. If we double check the entire climbing system every time anyone makes a transition, we are likely to catch errors before they become accidents. 13

Friction Savers COE uses three anchoring systems for the tops of trees. The first, called a “friction saver” is commonly used in the tree care industry to prevent damage to the tree’s cambium and to your ropes. It consists of durable doubled and stitched nylon webbing with aluminum and steel rings. Both type of ring are sufficiently strong Aluminum wears more rapidly, but dissipates heat more efficiently, which is important when lowering on the friction saver with a high load, as in the case of a rescue with two people on the main ascension line. Friction Savers can also be wrapped around a stem for use as a “false crotch” where no natural crotch exists over which to run a line. We use Buckingham friction savers in the 48 and 72 inch lengths. (You will need a friction saver that is longer around than the limb to which you are anchoring.) Interestingly, though it seems impossible, especially to rock climbers who don’t think in these terms, you can install the friction saver

in a tree entirely from the ground with nothing but a throw bag and weight. Wrap-Three-Pull-Tw o The second type of attachment we sometimes use is the wrap-three-pull-two (W3P2) webbing anchor. As the name suggests, we take a long piece of 1 inch tubular nylon webbing, wrap it three times around the crotch and tie it with a water knot. (Remember that a water knot should have at least 3 inch tails.) We then pull out two of the wraps, tightening the third against the crotch, and add two locking carabiners with their gates opposite and opposed. One could also use three nonlocking carabiners opposite and opposed to each other, but there are so few times we use a non-locking carabiner, it just makes sense to leave them home and use the locking ones. We use W3P2 for a rope anchor anywhere there is a chance our pre-rigged trees will be raided and the gear stolen. Two carabiners and a long sling are a lot cheaper than a manufactured friction saver! Although this method is not redundant, the

likelihood of the sling severing while on a round limb is small. The strength of the rig is roughly four times the static breaking strength of the webbing. If the water knot is tied to be inside the third loop, we estimate the strength to be upwards of 5,000 lbs. Running Figure-Eight Anchor lines Lastly, we frequently run into the need for a system to anchor a bunch of participants in the tree temporarily, as they transfer between climbing and rappelling, for example, or sit around on the deck of our platform tree. If your students don’t need to move very far, you can employ a running figure eight in the middle of a 40 foot chunk of climbing line. The running eight is installed in a high crotch and the two lengths that extend below are available to students to transfer their ascenders to when they reach the tree top. For additional piece of mind, we tie a figure eight on a bight and clip it back to the participant’s harness while they are on these lines. 14 Section B4:

Ascending Systems Once you have your rope in the tree you have a multitude of options for climbing it. The options can be broadly grouped into two strategies, Single Rope Technique (SRT) and Doubled Rope Technique (DdRT). At a basic level, single rope technique is comparable to climbing up a single rope as high school kids do in gym class. Imagine a draped rope with both ends of the ground and the middle in the tree. Tie one side of the rope to the ground and climb up the other side. Doubled rope technique is comparable to hauling yourself up a rope using a 2:1 pulley system. Imagine again a draped rope in a tree. Tie one side of the rope to you and pull down on the other side Climbing hardware, friction knots, and accessories are added in real SRT and DdRT systems to provide certain levels of safety. SRT versus Dd RT So which technique is better? SRT and DdRT both have their advantages and disadvantages, and each has its shining moments. Almost every tree climbing school in the

country teaches DdRT However, we start with single rope technique. To understand why this is, we need to know more about both techniques Minimum Gear Required DdRT uses significantly less gear. However, for a university program with a rock climbing program, your initial gear expense might not be as large if you chose to use SRT. SRT utilizes gear already present in any rock climber’s cache: a rope, slings, carabiners and ascenders (or prusiks). While a static rope is preferred, a dynamic rope will also get the job done. At a minimum, DdRT requires an arborist rope to utilize rope-on-rope friction hitches. However, once you invest in an arborist rope, most DdRT systems only require one additional steel D-link. All arborist ropes will work with prusiks, and many are specifically designed to withstand the abuse of toothed ascenders - making them compatible with SRT techniques. Inherent Mechanical Advantage SRT doesn’t provide any mechanical advantage for upward movement, while DdRT

provides a nominal 2:1 advantage. However, this does not mean that DdRT is always easier. Many people have some difficulty getting the idea of the hip thrusting and foot-locking techniques often used in DdRT, although adding a foot loop makes this method trivial. SRT techniques are generally more strenuous, especially for overweight or top heavy people. However, of the many SRT climbing methods, some are easier than others. We have found that using the “Frog Style” ascending method anyone can handle SRT. Ascending Speed Because of mechanical advantage, DdRT is generally slower than SRT. But just as people find one method easier than the other, ascension speed will depend on technique and strength. Force Applied to Branch A simple analysis of the physics of each system will show that SRT nominally applies twice the climber’s weight to the branch, while DdRT doesn’t provide any force multiplication. Keith says, “If I ever trusted my life to a 15 branch small enough to

require DdRT, you’d find someone right next to me holding a gun to my head forcing me to do so.” The difference in branch loading is interesting to know, but you should never come close to using a branch small enough for it to matter. Amount of Rope that Runs Over Branch In SRT, the only rope movement over the supporting branch is caused by rope stretch, which is less than a foot or two with static rope. In DdRT, the rope moves with you If you climb 50 feet, the rope runs 50 feet In this way there is much more potential for DdRT to damage the tree. This is a especially concern for the institutional setting as we tend to operate in the same trees over and over again. To reduce damage to the tree, any rope that will abrade the tree should be used in conjunction with a false crotch or cambium saving type of device. Ease of Getting Multiple People into a Tree An SRT system is like an escalator. As soon as one person is up a little ways, another may get on A DdRT system is then more

like an elevator with a one person capacity. Once someone gets off the DdRT at the top, like an elevator the rope must be sent down to the ground floor to pick up another person. For this reason, getting multiple people into a canopy via DdRT is impractical unless each person has his own rope and crotch. With ten students this starts to spread the class out of a large area, a situation whose safety is more difficult to manage. Ease of Lowering There are a number of circumstances where you might want to be able to get your student back down to the ground in a hurry. A student can get scared, exhausted, or their equipment may jam or fail. If a student is knocked silly by falling gear or water bottle, it is imperative that we be able to put them on the ground immediately. We have had more than one instance of insect attacks while ascending in tropical trees. Lowering yourself on a DdRT system is trivial. Lowering someone else on their doubled rope system requires that you get within reach

of him or her in order to tend to his Blake’s Hitch. This can take time In the SRT system a student lowering themselves is a complicated process. Generally it involves a multi-step changeover to rappel, definitely not something that a new student will master in a basic class, or will be able to perform while exhausted, scared, or while being stung by 100 bees. On the face of it, lowering someone else on their SRT system also seems complicated and impractical. However, we use a SRT rope configuration called the Full Circle which allows an instructor to put a student on the ground in seconds. In a basic class where students have only basic skills, this rig is essential for safety Canopy Movement Doubled rope technique is the best method for canopy movement, hands down. The ease of lateral movement provided by using a Blake’s Hitch is vastly superior to the clunky methods required when using ascenders and belay devices. Here’s how the SRT/DdRT comparison stacks up in our

circumstances: Attribute Gear How strenuous? Speed Tree Impact Multiple people? Lowering an injured person? Lateral Movement in Tree Doubled Rope Technique Single Rope Technique Specialized for tree Easiest with foot power assist Slower Potentially High Hard to Manage Slower Superb Available from Rock Manageable with Frog System Faster Probably Low Easier to Manage Faster Terrible 16 For an organization like ours, using rock climbing gear reduced our initial investment. Being able to move a lot of people up into a tree in a small amount of time, using the same trees again and again with minimal impact, and being able to get an injured or scared climber back to the ground very rapidly all argued strongly for the use of Single Rope Technique. After running two or three courses this way we realized that although people liked to be able to get into a big tree, the very next thing they wanted to do was to move around. Doubled Rope Technique is vastly superior for this, so in the end

we compromised. To get into trees we teach SRT Once people are familiar with harnesses, ropes, knots, anchors and height, we introduce Doubled Rope Technique. The bottom line: If you have rock gear, the quickest and cheapest way to start tree climbing is SRT. If you do not have rock gear, you might consider starting from scratch with DdRT, especially if you have some durable trees or want to invest in some friction savers. If you want to provide a good overview of all the techniques used in recreational tree climbing, you will probably end up teaching aspects of both. SRT Full Circle Elevator Rig The Full Circle Rig is a SRT rope geometry we use for our main ascension line. It is a standard length (60meter) static climbing rope tied in a circle with a Flemish Bend. The loop of rope is tied to a ground anchor with a secured munter mule knot. We place the Flemish bend just above the secured munter mule knot If a student ascending needs to come back down, we merely untie the mule portion

of the secured munter mule and lower the participant on the munter hitch. The Full Circle gives us several important advantages. First, it is a lowerable system This has proven valuable on numerous occasions when students became exhausted, scared, had gear failure, or were attacked by insects. Compared to the complicated “pick off” or “cut away” type rescues of a hanging climber the advantages are obvious. It’s quick, easy, cheap, safe and anyone can do it. The Full Circle rig also eliminates the chance of lowering someone off the end of the rope, as there is no end of the rope off which to be lowered. Finally, it maximizes the height you can safely ascend with a single rope. If we had to retain 1/3 of the length of the rope on the ground for a traditional lowerable single rope rig, we would not be able to reach the tops of the trees in New York with our standard length climbing lines. Full Circle Ground Anchor The Full Circle rig requires a ground anchor for the secured

munter mule. We wrap a 20 foot length of webbing around the base of the same or an adjacent tree and tie the ends together with a figure eight on a bight. When the system is weighted the multiple wraps tighten on the base of the tree. Flat webbing helps spread the pressure on the tree cambium. If the tree is very large, we use 40 foot pieces of static climbing rope for the same purpose (This is solely because we happen to have those lengths available to us from the rock climbing program. We could as easily tie two 20 ft pieces of webbing in the same way.) One often sees girth hitch-like tie-offs to make a ground anchor, because they very effectively grabbing the base of the tree. Although the forces we are likely to encounter are small, we avoid using this system as it needlessly amplifies the force on the anchor line. Also, as students bounce on the ascending line, the motion is occasionally transmitted down the rope to the hitch. If the girth hitch is tied rope on rope is can cause

abrasion. Assembling the Secured Munter Mule Tie-off For security and redundancy’s sake, we add two carabiners to the figure eight on a bight on our ground anchor. We then locate the Flemish Bend joining the ends of the rope. We position this just above the ground anchor and tie a munter hitch. The munter hitch functions which ever way the rope runs. When the rope direction changes the hitch inverts through the carabiners. (It is still the same hitch, merely flipped 17 over.) Cinch up the rope so the Flemish bend is close to the ground anchor, then pull upward to flip the munter hitch to the orientation it would have in lowering the climber. (As the system was tightened it would probably suck in some slack and invert anyhow, so it’s a good idea to set it that way to begin with.) Tie off the munter hitch with a mule knot. The mule knot is essentially a slip knot tied around the rope It is this slippery character that makes it useful; one can untie the mule knot merely by

grasping the brake side of the rope and pulling. If we used an overhand on a bight, for example, untying it would involve being very careful one had a hold of the correct strand as one unthreaded the other. The mule knot is also slightly tricky. It is very stable in the correct orientation, and not very stable at all in the incorrect orientation. Be sure you learn which is correct! For extra security, we finish the tie-off with an overhand backup and clip the end back to the main line with a locking carabiner. Make sure that the lead instructor examines this vital tie off before anyone begins to ascend SRT Ascending The crux of all technical tree climbing is learning to climb the rope safely. There are probably 100 different ways one can do so. On Rope has a nice tabulated side by side comparison of the most popular methods in caving and rock climbing. The basic safety principles all revolve around two ideas: the rope grab and resting. You need a way to grab the rope and you need a

safe way to rest. A harness is essential for the resting aspect, but there are a few different methods for creating a rope grab. Arborists use friction hitches (Blake’s, Taughtline, Distel, Schwabisch, etc.) that provide ropeon-rope friction Mountaineers, big-wall rock climbers and cavers generally use toothed-cam mechanical ascenders. The most basic system simply involves a seat harness, and some loops of accessory cord tied with prusik knots. The fanciest systems employed by cavers who need to climb out of 300m deep pits involve many mechanical ascenders, various pulleys, a chest harness and elastic cords. In our tree climbing courses at COE we rely mainly on the Texas Kick system for SRT. If our participants find this mode challenging, we switch to the Frog System. On our alternate ascensions day we introduce other SRT climbing methods before we switch to DdRT and practice the Blake’s Hitch split tail system. Texas Kick The Texas Kick is a simple system and robust rope climbing

system, easy to learn, accessible for most students, and easy to transition on and off of. When used with the full circle elevator, it is substantially safer than climbing a mountaineering-style fixed line. The Texas Kick uses:    Three webbing slings (two short, one long) Two ascenders A sit harness Ascending slings We join our ascenders to our harnesses with 1 inch wide tubular webbing tied into a loop with a water knot. They are used solely for this purpose. We made all these ascension slings yellow as an easy way for students to identify them. Rotate the sling so the water knot is close to the top of the loop and girth hitch it through a lower hole in the ascender. Girth hitch the other end through the leg loops and waist loop of your harness if using the rock climbing style, or through your tie in point on an arborist style harness. Girth hitching adds strain to the webbing, but being 18 stationary in this case the girth hitch doesn’t abrade. And, really, it is

just too darn convenient not to use for this purpose. These slings should never experience much more than body weight loading, so the additional strain should be inconsequential. The length of the ascending sling to the upper ascender is important. Too short and the system will be inefficient, limiting the student to short steps (or a short “throw”, as we call each upward stroke of the ascenders). Too long and the upper ascender will go out of reach. The length of ascension sling to the lower ascender is not as critical It acts as a backup connection to your harness in case the upper ascender should come off the rope. We find that 80 inches tied into a loop 36 inches long is a good length for the ascending slings when used in conjunction with a rock climbing style harness. Tall people will be able to use the sling without modifications. Tying an overhand or two in the sling will shorten it up for shorter people. When estimating the appropriate length, remember that when you sit

down in your harness, the waist loop with bulge upward a few inches. We find that a good length ascension sling puts the ascender at about chin height while you are standing on the ground and about forehead height when you are hanging on the rope. Foot Sling The third sling is also a piece of 1 inch tubular webbing. We use 10 foot lengths that we borrow from the rock climbing program. A more convenient length would be 96 inches. When doubled, the foot slings should measure about 40 inches. The foot sling is girth hitched to the lower ascender If the participant steps into the sling and holds the girth hitched ascender up, their elbow should be at about a 90 degree bend. Putting It All together Before ascending the Full Circle, double-check the ground anchor, the full circle tie-off, harness, water knots, and girth hitches. Try using the ABC’s list for reminders of all the components: ABCDEFGH Safety Check for Ascending A – Ascenders: Is the webbing tied correctly together, to your

harness, and to your ascenders? B – Belay Device: Do you have one with you to get back down? C – Carabiners: Do you have at least two locking carabiners to use for anchoring and rappelling? D – Doubled Back: Is your harness doubled back? E – Eight Knot: Is the figure eight knot joining the ropes tied correctly? F – Full Circle: Is the full circle tied off correctly? (secured munter mule) GH – Got Helmet: Do you have your helmet on? To start climbing up the rope attach both ascenders to the climbing rope. The upper ascender will only link the rope and your harness. The lower ascender joins the rope to your harness and also has a hanging foot loop. Pull as much slack through you ascenders as possible. (It will help for you to do this for a first time ascending student.) Sit down in your harness, and let your upper ascender take your weight. Then slide the lower ascender up as high as is comfortable. Then stand up in the sling attached to the lower ascender. This will release

the weight on the top ascender, allowing you to slide it up the rope. As soon as the upper ascender reaches its limit, sit back down. New students tend to linger in the stand up portion of the kick, tiring out their arms prematurely. Repeat the sit-stand process and you will inch your way up the rope. The rhythm is “Stand, Shove, Sit” Sometimes when a climber is close to the ground, the lower ascender won’t pull up smoothly on the rope. It is helpful to put tension on the rope until your student is about 20 feet off the ground. After that point, there is enough weight hanging below the lower ascender for it to feed properly. Alternatively you can attach weight (often called a “pig”) to help hold the rope down. When you are teaching students at first to climb the rope, coaching is essential. Encourage them to use their 19 legs as much as possible. Make sure they get their legs under their butt instead of out in front of them as they stand up They can put both feet in the

slings if they want. Tell them to face the soles of their shoes together; it will be easier to stand and also makes them look like a frog. Double plus It is not necessary to tie backup figure eight knots below you as you climb, a practice known as “tying in short”. Both ascenders are not likely to come off a vertical rope in a dry environment However, one should never climb above the point where your ascenders connected to the rope. A fall of this type onto ascenders is dangerous The ascender cam will bite into the rope and rip off the sheath. Prusik Knot Climbing System If you do not have ascenders, or if you are on a tight budget, you can build the same Texas Kick system with two prusik loops. The upper connection to the rope is tied with a standard length prusik loop and attaches directly to your harness with a locking carabiner. The lower attachment for your feet is tied with a longer length of accessory cord. When the prusik knot is tied in the “open orientation” two ends

are available. One goes to your harness, the other to your foot. This system is one of the cheapest ways of climbing a rope. All that is needed is about 25 feet of accessory cord and a couple carabiners. We introduce it to our students on the day we teach alternative ascension method. If the prusik knots become very tight they will be difficult to advance. Pushing on the bridge of the prusik will loosen it enough to continue on. One should always take precautions against falling onto the prusik. Unlike other friction knot systems, the prusik is not likely to slip on the rope under high load. Rather, the utility cord will snap near the knot and leave you with no connection to the rope. NOTE: It is fairly common practice for rock climber to ascend with only one prusik joining the harness to the rope. If you are ascending this way, with the second prusik only for your foot and not connected to your harness, make sure to tie backup knots every eight feet on the rope below you. (You can use

a clove hitch which you can advance without untying, or you can use two figure eight on a bight knots and switch them out.) The Frog System If you have a weak or overweight participant who has difficulty with the Texas Kick, we recommend trying the Frog Style climbing scheme. The Frog system, named for the frog like motion of this method, uses both hands and feet for the upward motion. For people who are top-heavy this system saves a lot of energy because it holds their upper body close to the rope, reducing strain on the abdominal muscles. The Frog system uses:      One handled ascender One non-handled ascender Two or three slings Two carabiners (or a steel link) Chest harness The ascender without a handle (a Petzl Croll or Basic) is attached as low as possible to your seat harness. The lower it is attached, the longer the stroke and more efficient the technique will be. The lower ascender is also attached to a chest harness. As you stand up, the chest harness will

hold the lower ascender in the correct orientation and drag it up the rope. To get the tension just right an adjustable chest harness is highly desirable You can 20 rig up a chest harness with webbing, but we recommend a commercial adjustable one intended for this purpose. A nonadjustable home made chest harness will either be too loose while you are hanging on rope, or painfully tight when you are not. The second ascender is placed on the rope above the chest ascender. It is also attached to the harness by a length of webbing. The length of this webbing is not critical, but should be long enough for you to stretch your arms up to their full length (about 30 inches). If you join your chest ascender and upper ascender with the same link to you harness, you should do so with a steel link. (Aluminum carabiners are susceptible to cross loading when more than two points are joined.) Alternately, you can girth hitch your upper ascender as you do with the Texas Kick The upper ascender

also should have one or two foot loops long enough to reach from your feet to just above the chest ascender. It is essential for this method to have a small amount of tension on the rope below the climber. This will help the rope feed smoothly through the chest ascender. A small weight (it can be anything, really – some rope, or a backpack) can be tied to the end of the ascending rope just above the ground. This weight is often referred to as a “pig”, hence the expression, “Every frog needs a pig.” To ascend the rope, install both ascenders. Reach up with both arms and legs and pull/step down As you go upward the chest ascender should capture the slack. As with a Texas Kick, don’t linger at the top of the stroke Just sit right back down the in the harness. The rhythm is “Everything up, everything down” This system is very efficient, but is a little difficult to detach when another climber is on the same rope below. Compared to the Texas kick, which gives the user about

15 inches of flexibility between the rope and the person, the Frog System supplies almost none. If you have a student who is using this system, be careful in how you plan to land them in the tree after they have reached the top. It is a good idea to either wait until the person using the Frog has detached themselves from the elevator before sending up the second student, or send the Frog person up last. The Yo-Yo Method Every once in a while we’ll introduce the Yo-Yo method, mainly as a novelty, as it is gear intensive and can only be used by one person at a time. You are most likely to use it on your own while rigging a shorter tree for class The Yo-Yo system uses:      One Petzl auto locking belay device called a “GriGri” One handled ascender Two carabineers One micro pulley One 60 inch sling Attach the GriGri to your climbing line and to your harness with a carabineer through your tie-in points. This keeps the Grigri as low as possible on the harness, the

throw longer, and the efficiency better. Attach your handled ascender above your Grigri. The upper ascender should have a 60 inch foot loop girth hitched through one of the ascender attachment points. We regard the Grigri as a sufficiently reliable connection to the rope, but if you want you can also join the upper ascender to your harness. (Before you object, recall that you are making the same assumption anytime you are belayed by this device!) To the other attachment point add a carabiner and micro pulley. Redirect the brake strand from the Grigri up through the micro pulley. It might take a moment to arrange all the components so they are properly aligned. At first glance the Yo-Yo Method seems to have a 2:1 mechanical advantage. However, in practice the 2:1 aspect is only active when capturing slack. The lift is accomplished with pressure on the upper ascender and foot loops, just as in the Frog System. The slack is then captured with the Grigri Because the Grigri reverses the

direction of the ascending rope, it is ergonomically convenient to redirect it back down by a micro pulley on your upper ascender. To ascend, put one hand on the downstream side of the rope, one hand on the upper ascender, and one foot in 21 the foot sling. Raise these three points, and then pull/step down with all three points The rhythm is the same as the Frog, “Everything up, everything down.” A distinct advantage to this system is its reversibility. To retreat, one only has to remove the upper ascender and lower away on the Grigri. (David once escaped a swarm of bees by this very mechanism) A distinct disadvantage is that as you advance the upper ascender, you need to pick up all the rope hanging below you. This is inconsequential on a short climb, but after 100 feet, it gets laborious. . Footlocking In SRT or DdRT the simplest way to grab the rope is with your own two feet! “Footlocking,” as this is called, is a bit of an art-form. Some students require a lot of

practice while others pick it up immediately. In essence, you using the friction of rope wrapped around your feet to substitute for a mechanical ascender or friction knot. Allow the rope to run down the outside of either foot, then scoop the rope up with your other foot and bring it under the first. With the heel of the second foot, press the rope against the top of your first. (Plastic arches on running shoes make this technique almost impossible because the rope slides easily on plastic. Rubber soled boots are better) This method should give you enough purchase on the rope to stand up without your feet skidding down the rope, and is quick and easy to reset. Practice this technique by hanging a rope from a tree, and grabbing both strands of the rope as high as you can reach. Pick up your weight off the ground, and use your feet like scissors to grab the weight and transfer your from your hands to your feet. This is called “unsecured foot locking”. Be careful not to get higher than

a few feet off the ground! A similar method uses a prusik (or two ascenders back to back) to provide a way of resting on the rope. This system, called “secured foot-locking” is one of the simplest rope climbing systems. It generally wins the fastest rope climbing systems in the tree competitions, however we tend not use it in an institutional setting. You can also employ this method in various other contexts in place of an ascender. SRT Descending The main technique we use to go down in SRT mode is rappelling. It is arguably the most dangerous thing we do in tree climbing. Rappelling happens at the end of the day when we are sometimes tired, late, or hurrying to escape a lightning storm. Unlike ascending, we start already high off the ground. For these reasons, we have detailed protocols for getting down. Rappelling is accomplished with a tube style belay/rappel device. We use this in preference to a figure eight style descender because the descending line cannot invert into a

girth hitch if it should happen to rub up against the tree. A bight of rope is pinched into the tube and along with the belay device’s keeper loop, clipped to a locking carabiner of the belay loop of the climber’s harness. Because the rappel device is attached this way, the orientation of the brake side is directly 22 downward between the climber’s legs, not off to the side on the hip as your uncle learned in the Boy Scouts (and as we still see all too often). Once all the safety protocols have been executed (see below), the rappeller leans back against the rope and slowly allows slack to slide through the device. There are several key elements of safety to consider. First, it is crucial to determine the correct side of the Full Circle Rope to use. Make sure to put the rappel device on the side opposite that tied to the ground anchor Next, install the rappel device and pull all the stretch out of the rope confirming that the other side of the rope tightens against the ground

anchor. If you do not pull out this slack, rope stretch will carry you down a few disconcerting feet before it comes tight. Before you disconnect yourself from your anchor in the tree, slack off on your ascenders and weight the rappel device. If something is rigged incorrectly and comes apart, you are still attached to you anchor line Once you have established that you are correctly attached to the rope, there are two remaining issues we need to guard against: First, the rappel might become jammed. Check that all dangling ropes, hair, jewelry, and helmet chin straps are secured away from the rappel device. (If, despite our best efforts to prevent it, the rappel becomes jammed, you can always release the secured munter mule and lower the participant to the ground.) Second, the climber may lose control of their brake hand. To guard against this, call to the ground instructor and request a Fireman’s Belay By putting pressure on the downstream side of the rope a ground instructor can

hold the rappeller in position. (If you are on your own, or have no ground instructor, you can guard against dropping your brake hand by using an autobock.) Communication between the air and ground instructors is important during a rappel. If there are two Full Circle lines in one tree, use first names. For example, the in-tree instructor requests: “Fireman’s Belay on Johnny?” After the ground instructor gets a good grip on rope and is paying attention, the ground instructor replies “Fireman’s Belay on Steve!” Rappel Standard Procedure 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. Pull out the slack in the Full Circle line. Attach your rappel device and locking carabiner to the Full Circle line. Attach the ATC and carabiner to the belay loop of the harness, and lock the carabiner. Transfer weight to the rappel without disconnecting the anchors to tree. CRASH TESTeD safety double check. Call for fireman’s belay with, “Belay on?” Look for fireman’s belay, and listen for

“Belay on!” Call “On Rappel”. Rappel to ground. Detach the rappel device from the Full Circle line. Yell up to air instructor “Off Rappel” CRASH TEST(e)D Safety Check for Rappel C - CARABINER: Is the carabiner locked? R - RAPPEL: Is the rappel device threaded correctly? A - ANCHOR: Is the ground anchor tied correctly and ready to go? S - SIDE: Are we on the correct side of the rope? H - HARNESS: Is the harness doubled back? T - TEST: Did we test the rappel before disconnecting from our anchor lines? D - DANGLING: Did we put away/secure all the dangling stuff? Sometimes instructors will need to transfer directly to rappel on the Full Circle from hanging in their ascenders. This is a complicated sequence that requires practice under the supervision of your lead instructor: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. Reach down 10 feet in the line and tie a figure eight on a bight and clip it to your harness. Slide the bottom ascender down rope (keeping it attached). Thread the belay device,

and lock the carabiner. Pull out the slack in the rope to make the rappel device tight. Call down to be held by a fireman’s belay, or tie an autoblock Slide lower ascender up until it is about 6 inches below your belay device. Stand up in your lower ascender and remove your top ascender. Sit back down, and your weight should be on your rappel device, held either by the fireman’s belay or autoblock. Remove lower ascender and the backup knot. 23 10. Rappel to the ground Section D2: Doubled Rope Techniques The great advantage of the many DdRT techniques is mobility. One can move up, down, or sideways with ease. The basic set up has the rope over a branch then tied back to the climber. The climber pulls on one side and collects the slack by some mechanism. The slack collecting system could be a friction hitch, or an ascender, or some other device such as the Unicender, built specifically for this purpose. A big concern with having students in trees using doubled rope techniques is

cambium damage. The cambium is very fragile, thin layer of live tissue under the outer bark. Some species of trees have a thick armored outer bark (tulip poplar, sugar maple, some oaks) while others like sycamore have outer bark you can scratch through with your fingernail. Weighted ropes running up back and forth over the same crotch will permanently damage limbs, making them unsafe for future climbing and compromising the tree’s health. At COE we have used three systems for reducing this problem: 1) The False Crotch provides a separate connection to the branch, eliminating rope friction. It is convenient so long as one takes care not to get it tangled in the branches while installing it from the ground. 2) Using old jeans from the thrift store, we have tied pads into the crotches we frequently use. The set up is easy to make, cheap and durable. 3) The wrap-three-pull-two anchor is sometimes used in place of a false crotch, when we need to leave the anchor in the tree unattended or

for an extended period of time. Blake’s Hitch The most common DdRT uses a Blake’s hitch. In the normal incarnation of this method a rope is set over a branch then tied back to the climber’s harness. About five feet of slack is used to tie a Blake’s Hitch back in a circle to the main line. One climbs with this system by pulling down on the main line and advancing the hitch to collect the slack. For foot purchase one can push off the tree trunk, or footlock, attach a prusik loop, or throw your hips up in the air in a comical looking way called the “hip thrust”. For safety, make sure there are always stop knots in both ends of the rope. The utility of the Blake’s Hitch itself is that it will slide up and down the rope. This allows a climber to position themselves with precision in the tree. To lower, one grasps the line below the hitch with one hand and pushes down on the top of the Blake’s Hitch with the other. Care must be taken to control the descent speed. If the hitch

is released too fast, or without sufficient tension on the brake side, the climber will fall out of control. In addition, a climber should never go above their Blake’s Hitch. Falling onto a Blake’s Hitch will cause the knot to slip. It will quickly start to melt from the heat, sliding ever faster until the climber hits the ground, or reaches the end of the loop. In our drop tests the rope is often severed by the static factor 1 fall. The Blake’s Hitch only functions well with arborist rope. Because it relies on rope-on-rope friction, it will eventually wear out COE uses New England Ropes Safety Blue. The Safety Blue has an inner core of blue fibers surrounded by a 16 strand sheath of white fibers When the blue shows, it’s time to retire the rope. One single Blake’s Hitch rig is sufficient to get into the tree, but to move around you really need two. A second Blake’s Hitch allows you to pull yourself sideways, or swap branches, really bringing the whole tree into play. 24

We could simply use the other end of the rope to tie back to the harness and add another Blake’s Hitch. The whole rig has the shape of a letter “M”. However, there is a problem. Take a close look at Devin using this system in the picture on page 14 In order to move around the tree, Devin needs to completely untie one side of the rope, toss for a new crotch, and retie everything. This includes the attachments to his harness and the Blake’s Hitch. That’s a lot of untying and retying for a student If they get it wrong, they could be in trouble. There’s another problem with this rig, also The Blake’s Hitch relies on rope-on-rope friction. This is not a problem for the length of the rope, as the impact on that side is spread out over much more area, but it is for the hitch as the fibers inside the hitch are abraded over and over in the same spot. Ultimately, the end of the rope wears out and must be cut off. For an institutional program, the possibility of a rope getting

shorter over time presents a management problem. We can fix both these problems at once by using the variation on this Blake’s Hitch rig called a split tail system or Motion Lanyard. The Motion Lanyard The essential difference between the Motion Lanyard and single rope Blake’s Hitch system is that the Motion Lanyard uses separate lengths of rope for the friction knots. Now when we want to move from place to place we need not untie the Blake’s Hitch. We simply untie the end of the rope from our harness, toss for a new limb, and retie it. Also, when the fibers inside the Blake’s Hitch wear out, we can throw out that piece and start with a new one. The long rope in this system is called the “lanyard” and is a 60 to 80 foot piece of ½ inch of Safety Blue polyester arborist braided rope made by New England ropes. The other two parts are separate 7 foot lengths of Safety Blue Hi-Vee also made by New England Ropes. These two pieces are called “split-tails” It helps to have

the different colors of rope to keep the functions of each piece clear. Before climbing both of the 7 foot split tails are tied directly to the tie-in points on the harness with a figure of eight follow through. Then, both of the split tails are tied to the lanyard with Blake’s hitches. Each of these Blake’s hitches are tied with an overhand stopper knot, and the Blake’s hitches point towards the open ends of the lanyard, thus in opposite directions. Flip Flopping Up a Tree The best option for getting into a big tree is always to try to shoot your weight as high as possible, install a rope and ascend in some fashion. We usually use the Motion Lanyard only for moving around in the top of a tree, but it is possible to use your Motion Lanyard to climb from the ground up. “Flip Flopping” as this is called, can be time and energy consuming and somewhat frustrating. To get this process started, coil up one end of your lanyard and toss it over the first branch of the tree. When you

get this end of the lanyard in your hand, tie it your harness. Then, start climbing up the rope by hip thrusting, foot locking or using a prusik loop for your foot. When you have reached the crotch, gather up the other side of your lanyard and toss it to the next branch above you. Swing around until you get a hold of the end and tie it back to your harness Before you untie from the last crotch, climb up until you are sure your weight is on your new crotch, give it a friendly bounce, to make sure it’s strong, and then untie your old loop. Then, repeat the process until you reach your destination It is very important double check your rig every time you flip-flop. You don’t have to untie the Blake’s hitch, but you do have to retie the figure eight back to your harness. These are life supporting knots and should be given as much attention as other life supporting parts of the system. One might ask, “If you are tying and untying all the time why not use a carabiner on the end of

the rope?” When you are tossing that carabiner above your head, remember – either it will come back down or it won’t. If it does come back down you have a surprisingly high chance of hitting yourself in the face with it. If it doesn’t come back 25 down, it may have become stuck in a crotch. It can be hard to retrieve a carabiner stuck in this way You only have two sides to your Motion Lanyard; if you’re hanging from one, and you get the other end stuck, your options are limited. Keep the rope knot-free while tossing. It’s the best way to go Moving Around the Canopy Moving around the canopy is an essential skill for all tree climbers. In the large tropical trees of Costa Rica, we frequently arrive far from where we want to be with our students. Your motion lanyard is the key tool but hand tossing your lanyard is tricky. It is hard enough in a small tree In a huge rainforest monster tree you probably won’t be able to throw far enough. Even if you could, you probably

couldn’t retrieve the end of your rope In this case, we go back to basics and use our throw weights. If you know you are going to be doing a lot of canopy-level tossing, get a small bag that you can attach to your harness to house your throw line and weight as you climb. A rock climbers chalk bag works well Tree climbers call it a “line mug”. You won’t need to use all 180 feet of your throw line Stuff most of it into your line mug, then tie it off and leave about 40’ free to spool out when you are tossing around in your tree. Also be 100% sure that the knot on your throw line is tied off securely to your line mug or to your harness or you’ll loose the whole thing into the forest. And it is a long way to go down to get it back. If you throw your weight over a branch and it doesn’t swing gently back, you have a problem. Remember from tossing on the ground that pulling the bag back over a limb will frequently result in a stuck bag. So what do you do? There are five options

from worst to best: 1) Try to pull it back at you, being careful to dodge the weight as it flings towards you. 2) Throw things at your bag to get it to swing (Be careful not to hit people below with the stuff!) 3) Bust out your grappling hook, and try to hook the throw weight with your hook and then bring it back to you. (There are a couple ways to do this) 4) Lower your weight to the ground and have a ground instructor untie it then pull the line back towards you. 5) Initiate a swing. To start a swing, you basically tug on your throw line quickly and drop the bag. This usually starts some kind of swing. If you’ve gotten lucky and it’s swinging in the right direction, you can increase the swing by tugging and releasing the throw line really quickly while the throw weight is at the lowest part of its swing. The first time you get it to work, it’s almost unbelievable. Flip Flopping Down a Tree Flip-flopping can also be used to descend. Rappel on your motion lanyard, then take out

the open end, flip it around a crotch, and tie it to your harness with a figure eight and tighten up the Blake’s hitch. Continue lowering on your old loop, until your weight is on your new loop, and give the new crotch a bounce-test. Then untie your old loop and continue to the next crotch. CAUTION: Even though the end of your rope can reach the ground, you might not be able to. Remember you are using DdRT. You need two lengths of rope to reach the ground Grab the end of your rope and lowering a loop to the ground. If it reaches the ground, you’ll also be able to reach the ground If it doesn’t, you will need to re-crotch your rope lower in the tree. Rappelling off the end of your rope is an amazingly common accident Rock climbers do it all the time. You can easily prevent this Always clip the stray ends of your motion lanyard to the belay loop of your harness. It is also a convenient way to locate the end of your motion lanyard when you need to re-toss a new crotch Alternative

Ascension Methods Direct Aid - The GriGri Method What if the tree you want to climb has no tossable crotches? There are a couple possibilities. After experimenting with a few we settled on the GriGri method as a good compromise between safety and convenience. This advanced system is mainly reserved for instructors. Most places in the Northest USA this system is unnecessary, especially if you have a Big Shot, but it is popular with tree-protesters in the western US who use it on small trees to get access to taller redwoods. It works well on trees with a straight branchless trunk less then three feet in diameter The GriGri method uses: 26     One climbing rope One Petzl auto locking belay device called a “GriGri” Two 80 inch loops of webbing Two locking carabiners First, tie the climbing line around the trunk of the tree with a running figure eight. Then attach the rope to the Grigri and then to your harness with a figure eight on bight. One of the long webbing

loops will be used with a girth hitch directly around the trunk of the tree. Slide the running eight as far up the trunk as you can, and tighten up the slack on the GriGri. Hike the girth hitch sling to knee level and put your foot in it Grasp the two loop of rope above the running eight in to hands and pull the loop open while simultaneously stepping up in the sling. Slide the running figure of eight up the trunk of the tree, tighten it down, and pull up the slack in the Grigri again. If you need to come down, you can rappel at anytime on your Grigri, leaving the rope in the tree on which to ascend SRT style upon your return. While aiding in Costa Rica we found the weight of the rope to become an obstacle in the efficiency of this system. That’s because every time you pull up the rope in the GriGri you have to lift all of the rope below you. You can solve this by picking up about 10 feet of slack, tying a figure eight on a bight and clipping it to your harness. This makes the

process a lot easier, because you don’t have to haul the rope weight through the device itself. When you reach a branch, the disadvantages of this method become apparent. To pass a branch, take out your other webbing loop, girth hitch it above the branch, clip it to your harness and shorten it with an overhand on a bight. Then, lower yourself on the Grigri (you hope only a few inches). Now that your weight is on the new anchor, you can untie your running figure of eight and retie it above your branch, and continue on. Without extra slings, passing a branch is even less convenient, so bringing extras is essential. Spikes Spikes, Gaffs or Spurs all refer to a sharp piece of metal that is attached to both legs using a leg brace. These spikes strap onto ones leg and allow the user to cut into the tree and provide a grip to move upward, similar to climbing ice or snow with crampons. Since COE practices LNT, this system is not used in our courses. Section B4: Other Tree Fun If you enjoy

rigging, and you have free time, there are plenty of cool things you can do in the treetops. To do any of these things in Ithaca, you’ll need to change your curriculum around, but if you are up for a challenge, go for it. Zip Line / Tyrolean Traverse Zip lines seem to be synonymous with rain forest eco tours these days. We routinely set up a tree to ground zip line when we work with children’s groups and the city youth bureau. Over so often we get up the energy to rig one for a local class, generally in conjunction with the overnight. Even if you do not do this activity in class, a theoretical discussion of how one goes from tree to tree without touching the ground can be interesting for students. Our zip line / Tyrolean traverse rig looks a little different that some you might have encountered. It is a rig we put in place and take down, not a permanent fixture as in the case of steel cable zip lines. In rope rescue situations a traverse is often rigged with one high line. In this

case, 27 the tag lines used to move the load along the line are run through a belay device and are the backup in case of the mainline failure. Belaying a person on a zip line from both sides is problematic for our situation We opt instead to install two main lines, and use a third line solely to tag the load. The basic setup is to tie two ropes from the midpoint of a big tree to the base of another tree, tension the lines, and allow the participants to slide down the ropes on pulleys, stopping them with a separate belay line. First choose a large, deep rooted tree. Find a location in the tree where you can exit the canopy without running into branches and where you have a nice unobstructed slight line to the base of another tree about 100 feet away. Widely spaced trees in parks are great for this, as there tend to be few things in the way The ride is more interesting going through the trees in a forest. If you set up in a forest, remember that even when tensioned, your lines will

sag under the weight of the participant. Make sure that there is sufficient clearance to miss saplings and low hanging branches. The trunk where you attach the zip lines should be no less than 38 inches in circumference – about the size of a yellow ascension sling. Carefully thread two zip line ropes through the braches so that when you pull the lines straight you do minimal damage to the canopy. Tie a tensionless hitch around the trunk of the launching tree Add at least three wraps, and finish the hitch with a figure eight on a bight. This type of tie off preserves the full strength of the rope Bring the other end of the ropes to the base of your landing area tree and set up the tensioning system. There are many ways to do it, but a system that is cheap, portable, and easy to set up uses a 3:1 mechanical advantage system commonly called a “z-drag”. The Z drag hardware for TWO zip line ropes uses the following:  Three long slings  Three prusik slings  Two pulleys 

Four locking carabiners Tie the three slings around the trees. Each sling should be tied around the tree in a closed loop with a water knot. Figure out which sling is the shortest and put a pulley (anchor pulley) on this sling with a locking carabiner Isolate another sling and attach a locking carabiner to it. Bring a rope up to this carabiner and join them with a prusik (slack capture prusik). Add another prusik (haul prusik) to the rope and attach a locking carabiner with the other pulley (haul pulley). Redirect the end of the rope through the anchor pulley then forward to the haul pulley Pulling back toward the anchor tree will give you a nominal 3:1 mechanical advantage. Tightening up the rope will require at least four people. Station one person to mind the haul prusik (unless you have an automatic prusik minding pulley). As the remaining people pull on the Z-drag, the prusik minding person will loosen and advance the slack capture prusik. No more than four adults should pull on

the 3:1 system The reason the anchor pulley is placed on the shortest sling is it to allow the prusik minder sufficient space to operate. If the slack capture prusik is too close either it or your fingers will get sucked into the anchor pulley. You may need to pause to slide the haul prusik forward again for another stroke. The amount of tension you need on the line will vary with the angle of the lines, the length of the zip, and the weight of the participants. As a general rule of thumb, I generally have three adults pull on the line until pulling gets 28 hard – not when they’ve pulley with every last bit of their strength. You can test the tension in the system by hanging from the rope and watching the deflection. (Remember, the weight of the participant will be shared between two ropes) When you are satisfied that the tension is correct, remove the haul prusik and pulley, and release the rope from the anchor pulley, leaving it on the shortest sling to tension the second

line. To finish off the rig, wrap the slack of end of the rope around the tree and tensionless hitch it also. I tend to leave the prusik in the system. If it breaks, the tensionless hitch will come into play and hold the system together Although, in 15 years of using this system, sometimes intentionally abusing it by flapping the load up and down on the lines, I have yet to break a 6 mm prusik. The participant is attached to the zip line by a sling tied with two independent legs. Each leg goes to a pulley and locking carabiner. Face the carabiners on the line so their gates face outward and screw down Use two locking carabiners to attach the zip liner at the power point. Attach your tag line to this same point and redirect the slack through a carabiner attached to the launch point anchor, so the tag line hangs down the length of the launch tree. You will need to belay the first participant down the line. When they reach the bottom, gather in a bunch of rope and tie a large limiting

knot that will not go through your redirect. Because the end of the tag line is hanging down the tree the participants waiting to climb the tree can return the pulleys. The next participant can go down a little faster, but make sure you have a hand ready to slow the rope down. When you are sure that the speed and extent of the zip liner are appropriately limited, you can let them sail off down the line without belaying them. Be conservative Learn the limits of the system slowly, as this setup requires some judgment. If you have questions, contact the tree climbing program coordinator. We’ll be happy to help out. It’s a good excuse to get out of the basement. Limb Walking Limb walking is a fun activity that was a regular feature of the original COE tree classes. Set student lanyards high in the tree and students can practice walking around on the branches. They can either lean back against their tether and walk backwards, or slack off a few inches on the anchor line and try to

balance. Don’t let them slack off too much – a large fall on static line is dangerous. Look for a good place to set up that has few obstacles to accidentally swing into. If they do fall off, the participant should be retrievable either up their own anchor line, motion lanyard, or with the Full Circle line. Swing Swings can be really fun. The idea is similar to limb walking. Set a high crotch where lanyard can hang in free space Find a likely perch to kick off and swing around. The cover shot of this manual is a tree swing over the river venue that we call “Paradise” in Costa Rica. Highline A highline is essentially a slackline set high up in the air. We have found places to set this up where we can belay safely from above. It is also possible to rig a highline and walk it where there is no overhead belay These slack lines are doubled over for extra safety, and the person walking has a rope tied to their harness and onto some rappel rings which slide along the slack line. If

you fall, you end up about three or four feet below the slack line This is NOT something you could do on a COE course. If you are interested in setting a highline, contact Keith Luscinski 29 SECTION C TEACHING TREE CLIMBING IN AN INSTITUTIONAL SETTING Section C1: Basic Tree Climbing Class Basic Tree Climbing is our introductory level climbing class for students with no prior climbing experience. The class tends to be between 8 and 12 students with three or four instructors, two of whom generally have taught before and one of whom is a member of the senior staff. This section is comprised mostly of information specific to the class and their teaching progressions. The teaching methods are suggestions of ways to teach certain skills, though if this is your first time teaching tree climbing, you should consider following the progressions exactly. Any significant deviation from course procedures should be reviewed with the Tree Climbing Programs Coordinator prior to field use.

Goals In general, our goals are: 1. 2. 3. 4. Safety Technical Skills (Ascending, Descending, Moving Around, Safety, Leave No Trace) Connection to the natural world Fun Our top priority (as with every course COE offers) is that no one gets hurt. The riskiest part of the Ithaca course is when everyone is up in one tree at the same time. Generally the most intensive days are the overnight and the big tree day. The senior instructor needs to adjust the curriculum based on instructor competencies to ensure proper supervision off the deck. If, at any point your team feels overwhelmed, or the senior staff person has doubts about the level of supervision they can provide, contact the program coordinator. The program coordinator will be available to help, or to help you make alternate plans. There are many other options The main technical skills we present are throwing lines in trees, SRT ascending and descending, DdRT motion lanyard, safety considerations and LNT issues. Most students will

have a good grasp of these ideas by the end of the class. Other skills, such as moving from tree to tree, setting traverses, direct aid on trees, and platform building are beyond the scope of the basic class. Part of the reason we started tree climbing in the first place was the connection to nature. Particularly in the climbing program we spend far too much time climbing indoors. Even without your specific efforts, we find the tree climbing experience effective at connecting people in a personal and powerful way to the natural world. That being said, be alert for opportunities to point out a great view, a bird, or a plant. If you can find the time, simply allowing your participants to sit quietly in the tree top can be very rewarding for them. And, of course, we are all about fun. Climbing is more or less inherently fun, but you can make even more progress toward this goal by letting your enthusiasm lead the way. Don’t hesitate to let it show (Check out the picture of Devin on DdRT

for a good visual.) Pre-Class E-m ail Remember to send an initial class email to your students. This is important for a number of reasons Class will run more efficiently if they have their medical forms filled out before they arrive. As a courtesy, we usually attach the .pdf to the email so they do not need to go searching for it (They can sign their waiver ahead of time, but we have to go 30 through it with them again anyhow, so that isn’t much of a time saver.) Also, it is a good time to remind your students of the time and date of the first meeting and to dress to be outside. Here’s an example: Good day Tree Climbers, Your instructors, , , and would all like to welcome you to Cornell Outdoor Education’s Basic Tree Climbing class. Our first meeting will be on the th at the Phillips Outdoor Program Center in the basement of Bartels Hall. Here are a couple of important notes on the first class: 1) Our first class covers course

information, paperwork and basic skills which we will build upon in our subsequent classes. Attendance in this class is mandatory If you have a conflict for that day, let us know 2) We have a lot of awesome activities planned for the day, and waiting around inside is no fun. So, please show up as close to as possible! 3) Please bring two completed copies of the medical form (attached). You do not need to have a physician sign off on the form. 4) Bring clothing appropriate to the weather. We’ll be outside for most of the day, rain or shine A raincoat, sweater, and closed toed shoes are a good idea. Synthetic materials will keep you warmer than cotton, especially if it is a wet day. One full water bottle is also a good idea If you have any questions about what to bring, about the course, or about life in general, please don’t hesitate to e-mail us! Thanks for reading, and well see you all on in the basement of Bartels Hall, at ! See you soon, ,

, . Class Progression Day 1: Hand-over-hand Climbing on Low Branched Trees Location Sycamores in Fall Creek Activities First day class activities (Paperwork, introductions, gearing up, assessing students) Hiking to the trees Belaying one another in top rope style hand-over-hand climbing Skills Harness (Putting in on, Use, Double Back) Helmet (Use) Knots (Figure eight follow through) Belaying (ATC, Locking carabiners, ABC’s Safety Check) Rigging Preparation for this day entails setting the top rope W3P2 anchors in the tops of the trees. Resist the urge to free solo the tree. Lead the tree, on belay, with a dynamic rope, and sling the tree for protection as you go. Remember, sycamore limbs can be weak! Bring along the Fall Creek Trees parachute cord and leave it hanging from the carabiners. The last class of the week should send an instructor up to remove the anchors. Rappel back to the ground Teaching Tips There is a lot to accomplish on the first day of class. Planning

ahead will help the class be efficient and get out of the basement quickly. First off, check the van calendar and send someone to put the class van in the 15 minute zone (A COE van can sit there for a while and won’t be ticketed.) Assign one person to collect and look over the medical forms. If there are any issues or tings you do not understand, consult in private or bring the student out of class 31 Remember, medical information in confidential. As the students arrive, have some activity planned for them to participate in right away. This will ease the class into interacting with one another and fill the awkward space that sometimes exists between when the first and last students arrive. Once the class is assembled, welcome them and quickly review the plan for the day. Then, after some introductions to yourselves and to each other, you’ll need to accomplish the following paperwork:    Medical Form (one copy goes in the field, one in the lock box) Tree Climbing

Waiver (stays in course folder) Attendance (make a copy for the front office) Once the paperwork is out of the way, take some time to describe the progression of the course in broad outline, then the agenda for the day. If no one has questions, fit harnesses, then collect up the class and make sure they have appropriate clothes and footwear. (Sandals are okay, so long as they are closed-toed) If anyone needs extra clothes, you can find additional stuff in the emergency clothing cache. Then it’s time to hit the road. Place instructors throughout the van to help facilitate conversation on the way to Fall Creek. The first day activity is hand-over-hand climbing in the river trees at Fall Creek. For some reason almost all our students think that “tree climbing” means hand-over-hand like they did when they were kids, despite the fact that the class description says nothing about that. We toyed with eliminating this day, but the expectation was so strong that the students would

experience this, that we decided to keep it in the curriculum. In addition to making the connection between what they know and what they’re going to learn, it gives us an opportunity to introduce harnesses, ropes, knots, and the use of the belay device. Although we don’t belay again in this way, it is useful to understand how the belay device works for when they see it again on rappel day. Split the class into small groups to teach the knots and belaying. It is fairly manageable to run four simultaneous climbing lines in two or three trees. With one student climbing, one belaying, and one backing up the belay, you can keep a class of 12 occupied with a job all the time. Have the participants circulate though the jobs in a circle so everyone gets a chance to practice the skills. Don’t forget to introduce the top rope belay safety check, the ABC’s. An interesting caveat for the climbers is that they cannot climb any old path in the tree. Rather, they must follow the rope course

of the rope in front of them as they climb! (It is important that they do so – otherwise the belay rope becomes wrapped around the tree.) This means that as the first climber descends through the tree, they determine the path the next person must take. Students can be friendly with this or diabolical as they are inclined Once the participants had had a chance to climb in one tree, send them over to the other. With extra time, you can start the participants thinking about how they might approach climbing a tree where they cannot reach the first limb. ABCDEFGH Top Rope Style belayed climbing safety check A – Is the ANCHOR person/object sufficient? B – Is the BELAY device threaded properly? C – Is the belay CARABINER locked? D – Are the both the climber and belayer’s harnesses DOUBLED back? E – Is the climber’s figure EIGHT knot tied correctly? F – Having Fun yet? GH – Have you GOT your Helmet on? Day 2: Throwing and Ascending on Full Circle (SRT) Locations Fisher

Woods or HCC Activities Hike to trees Throwing practice Tying the Full Circle Ascending practice Friction Saver Puzzle 32 Skills Ascending (Texas Kick, ABC Safety Check) Knots (Girth Hitch, Flemish Bend, Bowline, Munter, Mule) Throwing (Posture, Procedures, Line stacking) Understanding the Full Circle SRT setup Installation of Friction Saver Preparation If you are going to Fisher woods, you’ll need to go out ahead of time and set some parachute cords in limbs that will accept a false crotch. If you are going to HCC, use the field trees for throwing and the platform tree for ascending. Teaching Tips for Throwing Even though we now have enough throw kits to allow everyone to practice throwing at once, management wise, it is best to split the class between throwing and ascending. The trick here is to gauge how long each lesson will take and split the time equally. We usually teach the coil throw, then hand throwing with a throw bag, and finally the Big Shot. If you’re short on

time, consider just demonstrating the coil toss. Do the best you can to make the time to teach all three as the progression flows very well. This lesson is best suited for flat terrain with little or no undergrowth to complicate throwing. For the sake of the teaching lesson, try to keep the Big Shot, throw lines, and throw weights hidden from students until they are ready for them. Start out by giving each of your students a rope and a target crotch. The crotch should be easily reachable, about 15 feet high. The goal is to give the students a challenge at which they will succeed after a few attempts Initially, don’t give the students any advice on how to throw the rope. After a few failed attempts, introduce the coil toss. Explain that the coil should be tight, but wrapped in such a way that it will uncoil easily to avoid getting the rope stuck. It is also useful now to explain how to create a handle for the coil by passing a bight of rope throw the coils This coil and handle system

lends itself very well to the over-the-back throwing method used for a throw bag. After everyone has had practice tossing coils, ask them how they would climb a tree with the first branch 50 feet above the ground. If they have trouble coming up with answers other than rope cannons and missiles, you can explain how the coil acts like a weight to pull the rest of the rope up over a branch. Now introduce throw bags and lines. Explain that Zing-It is made from strong, low friction Spectra and that throw bags are filled with lead shot The slip knot inversion bowline is a good method for attaching the bag. Each throwing kit should contain a throw weight, a 150 foot section of throw line, and a bucket for easy payout. Even in smaller groups, it can be beneficial to have students practice throwing in pairs. When pairs are practicing throwing, each student takes turns being the thrower and helper. When the thrower is getting ready to throw the weight, the helper tells him if he is aligned with

the target crotch. After a throw, the helper unties the weight from the line (remember, always untie the weight) as the thrower begins to flake the line in the bucket. Explain that the throw line should always be flaked into the bucket and never coiled or wrapped around their hand. The most beneficial thing the helper can do to aid in flaking is to lightly pinch the line above the bucket to provide a slight amount of tension for the thrower. Doing so will make the flaking process much faster Once the line is back in the bucket, students switch roles. If alone, the thrower can flake the line more easily by using the “neck redirect.” Crouch between the bucket and the tree so that the throw line runs over your neck/shoulder. The friction of this redirect allows you to flake the line more quickly. If you have time, consider giving the students the throwing materials without explaining how to use them. After they bang away at it for a while, demonstrate the cradle throw. The target

crotches should be about 50 feet high and very wide. The buckets should be placed on the ground a few feet in front of throwers so that the line doesn’t get caught under their arms. Unfortunately, it’s hard to guarantee success for everyone at throwing. Students should understand that accurate throwing takes a lot of practice and some luck. For the next stage, give everyone a target crotch well above their maximum throwing height (but preferable below yours). Give everyone one or two attempts at the crotch If you’re a skilled thrower, here’s your chance to show off (followed by a reiteration of the practice required to develop an accurate arm). Finally, bring out the Big Shot and let students gawk. Explain that it is sometimes necessary for really high crotches, but the Big Shot is also useful for dense trees where its flat trajectory and accuracy drastically reduce the time needed to place lines. Demo how to use the Big Shot, making sure to place the bucket in front of it to

reduce snags Remember to wear your helmet and eye protection! After students have had a chance to use all three methods, point out scenarios where one would be the best 33 option. Coil throwing is useful for repositioning the rope while already in the tree Hand throwing is the most popular method to set lines, compact, and can be used to get into almost any tree. The Big Shot is a powerful, can be very quick, especially for congested or tall trees, but it is also a bit awkward and expensive. Teaching Tips for the Friction Saver The installation of a friction saver is good technique to introduce while teaching throwing, since installation requires starting with a throw line over a branch. When you first explain the concept of the friction saver and how it’s designed to reduce rope damage to the tree, make sure you have a low branch ready to show what it looks like. If you don’t have a branch handy, a student’s arm works well. After they understand the final configuration, let

students try to figure out to set it up from the ground. There are a few things to keep in mind when installing a friction saver. Firstly, remember that the throw line must only be over a single branch. The Friction Saver should also be at least a foot or two longer than the circumference of the target branch. If you try to install a Friction Saver that’s too short, you can get your weight and line stuck on the branch. Teaching Tips for Ascending The time students spend ascending into a tree can take up a significant portion of a class. An out of shape student learning to ascend for the first time could take 30 minutes to jug 40 feet. While a slower student needs constant encouragement, you also need to ensure that the rest of the class doesn’t bottleneck below him. Rope ascension is generally taught on the second day of class, which gives the instructors a day to size up students and properly prepare for teaching ascending skills. The key to maximizing time in the trees is a lot

of ascending ropes. Think of the number of ropes as lanes in a highway; four can transport people much more quickly than two can. One rope for every four students has seemed to be a good number of ascending ropes to use. Make sure the slower students are spread out among the ropes and that they are the first to ascend. It’s hard to predict how quickly someone will pick up the proper ascending motions, and therefore how fast they will be able to get up the rope. For this reason, it’s a good idea for the first day involving ascension to be fairly low, say about 50 feet. Once the student gets their ascending rig on the line, make sure to have an instructor examine the rig before they leave the ground. Use the ascending version of the ABC’s safety check (see below) When the student takes his first few ascending “steps,” pay very close attention to how their ascender leashes affect movement. As an instructor, you should immediately be able to see if either leash or a foot loop is

an inappropriate length. See the section on ascending rigs for detailed information on correct leash lengths Even with a perfect setup, overweight students may have a lot of trouble using the Texas Kick. In this case, you should always have an extra piece of webbing ready to improvise a chest harness for a Frog system. As the student gets more fluid with his motions, continually encourage him to use proper technique. Even the more proficient students need constant reminders to kick their heels under their butt. If they are only using one foot in the stirrup, make sure they get their weight centered over that foot. It often improves balance and keeps them from bouncing against the trunk if they stick their other leg straight out. When using two feet in a stirrup, the soles of their feet must be facing each other to fully use their legs. In this setup, most of their weight will be on the outside edges of their feet. Emphasize that students want to be sitting in their harness as much as

possible. Whenever they are standing in the foot loops, they are tiring their arms. As soon as they stand up, they should immediately move the ascender up and sit down. Standing up without advancing the ascender leaves undesired slack in the system Until the student gets about 15 feet off the ground, it is very helpful if they have tension on the rope from below to facilitate upward movement of the ascenders. If you have extra students on the ground, pulling down on the rope is a simple task to keep them occupied. Ideally, you will have two students per ascending rope. If this isn’t possible, you can slightly cut down on ascending time by having 2 people on a rope at once. This is a less desirable alternative as the upper person gets bounced around quite a bit by the person below him. The tensioned rope below the upper person can also rub against his/her groin resulting in an unpleasant sensation we’ve called “bifurcum attritus” or colloquially, “crotch burn.” For moderate

heights, stacking students on a rope will only slightly reduce ascending time. (In Costa Rica, putting two people on a rope is almost necessary. With 4 people waiting to jug 150 feet on one rope, placing two students on rope at a time can significantly reduce ascending time.) Give the students some practice lowering each other on the Full Circle line. Be sure to back them up while they are undoing the line. This practice will also give them some opportunity to re-tie the secured munter mule tie-off 34 ABCDEFGH Safety Check for Ascending A – Are you ASCENDER slings tied correctly? B – Do you have your BELAY device? C – Do you have your two locking CARABINERS? D – Is your harnesses DOUBLED back? E – Figure EIGHT joining the ropes okay? F – Is the FULL circle tied off correctly? (secured munter mule) GH – Have you GOT your Helmet on? Day 3: Climb a Big Tree, Switch to Anchor Lines, Switch to Rappel Locations Smith Woods HCC Stewart Part Activities Hike to trees Set up

Full Circle Ascend Switch to tree anchor / Limb walk / Move around Rappel Skills Full Circle tie-off practice Knots (Prusik) Installing the rappel device and use of safety procedures Managing anchor transitions Preparation The Big Tree day takes a good bit of preparation. Choose your location, set parachute cord in the trees along with enough running figure eight static anchor lines to accommodate your group. The ascending line should be set highest, then your personal anchor line, then the student’s person anchor lines. Teaching Tips This day is the first day you will be supervising people in the top of the tree, moving from anchor to anchor. Because people will be moving systems, it’s important for them to understand that they need to be attached to something at all times. Demonstrate what it will look like at the top of the tree by hanging an extra anchor line low to the ground. In particular, show them the difference between “unclip/clip” and “clip/unclip” The geometry

of the various lines is critical for the success of this class. At a minimum, the ascending line should be higher than every personal anchor around it. A high ascension line will give you greater lateral mobility in the canopy. Ideally, your personal anchor will be high enough and long enough to allow you the range of motion of all your students combined. With all the personal anchors accessible from the ascending line, an instructor can quickly install and remove all the student anchor ropes without transferring from the ascending line. You’ll see how helpful this is when you need to remove anchors after all the students leave the tree. Retrieving a rope fixed with a running figure eight above the ascension line is time consuming, at bestif you’re lucky. One instructor should be at the top of every ascension line. One instructor should remain on the ground to check on people’s ascending rigs and operate the Full Circle if necessary. Tree top instructors should receive students,

help them transition to the anchor lines, then encourage them to move around a bit from limb to limb on their lines. Swinging is acceptable, if there is sufficient space. If you are having students stay on ascenders, have them clip into the end of the anchor line with a figure eight on a bight, then transfer their ascenders one at a time. If they are moving to a prusik and figure eight, have them clip into the end of the anchor line first, then install the prusik, weight it, and when they are sure their prusik is functioning properly, remove the ascenders from the ascending line. An additional Full Circle line is handy to have on this day. If you have two main lines, one can be used to go 35 up, while the other is for going down. Hyper students can go around the circle a couple times When you prepare to set students on rappel, be very careful. This is another tricky transition In particular, make sure that you are attaching your student to the correct side of the Full Circle! Make

sure to weight the rappel before detaching from the anchor lines. Check the whole system through with the “CRASH TEST(e)D” mnemonic Rappel Standard Procedure 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. Pull out the slack in the Full Circle line. Attach your rappel device and locking carabiner to the Full Circle line. Attach the rappel device and carabineer to the belay loop of the harness, and lock the carabiner. Transfer weight to the rappel without disconnecting anchors to tree. CRASH TESTeD safety double checks Call for fireman’s belay with, “Belay on?” Look for fireman’s belay, and listen for “Belay on!” Call “On Rappel” Rappel to the ground. Detach the rappel device from the Full Circle line. Yell up to air instructor “Off Rappel”. CRASH TEST(e)D Safety Check for Rappel C - CARABINER: Is the carabiner locked? R - RAPPEL: Is the rappel device threaded correctly? A - ANCHOR: Is the ground anchor tied correctly and ready to go? S - SIDE: Are we on the correct side

of the rope? H - HARNESS: Is the harness doubled back? T - TEST: Did we test the rappel before disconnecting from our anchor lines? D - DANGLING: Did we put away/secure all the dangling stuff? If you do find yourself in the position of ascending an anchor line with the intent of removing it, here’s a stepby-step sequence of how to do that safely. It’s complicated Think it through before you do it Practice it with a senior staff person, or close to the ground where you can call for help. Don’t forget that in any transition you must weight your new anchor before you detach from the previous anchors! 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. Ascend the anchor line to the crotch with your ascenders. Grab a long webbing loop (tied securely with a water knot) flip it around the crotch into a basket hitch or girth hitch. Clip the webbing loop to your harness belay loop with a locking carabiner. Down-ascend until your weight is on the webbing loop. Make darn sure the webbing loop holds

your weight before you take your ascenders off the anchor line. Pull up the end of the anchor rope and clip it to your harness. Make darn sure you have this rope clipped to your harness. If you drop it at this point, you will be in dire straights; in the top of the tree with no rope in reach at all. You better hope you have a cell phone Unclip your ascenders. Pull the ends of the anchor rope up, untie the running 8, and flip the rope over the branch. Pull the rope until the ends are even and tie knots in the end of the rope. Make darn sure you tie knots in the end of the anchor rope. If you are not very careful with the next transition, you could rappel off the ends of the anchor rope. Very bad Attach your rappel device and auto block. Rappel to your full circle line Day 4/5: Alternate Ascensions / Overnight Location Stewart Park HCC 36 Activities Learning to use the Motion Lanyard Overnight Skills Motion Lanyard Yo-Yo Method Climbing into sleeping bag Preparation The bulk of

preparation for this day comes in rigging the platform for the overnight. You will need to hang anchor lines for all the students. Depending on how many students you have, you may also need to spend some time rigging hammocks above the platform. Teaching Tips Overnights are the most technically challenging part of working a COE tree course. When we do an overnight we are suddenly faced with all the regular concerns of climbing combined with a backpacking course. There is significant rigging, hauling, and line organization. But additionally we have to provide food, water, sleeping gear, supervision of students for an extended period of time, and of course, some answers when our students hear the “call of nature.” It’s also really fun for the students and will probably be an experience they will vividly recall for their whole lives. In addition to the normal climbing gear, students will need to bring:        Sleeping Bag Sleeping Pad (two per person if it is

going to be a cold night) Small backpack for personal items Drink / Water in non-glass bottle Clothes appropriate to evening weather Headlamp Snacks The deck should be rigged with adequate anchors for everyone. Because they are not moving around very much and space is tight, students will be anchored with a prusik on the static anchor lines with a hard knot backup. Use doubled carabiners for the prusik connection to the rope Flopping around in the dark at night we want to be sure they do not become detached from the prusik. You will also need a lot of additional carabiners to secure backpacks to the tree trunk. Make sure to explain to students that everything they bring up with them needs to be clipped to a rope, or securely inside a backpack. Ascending with a backpack on your back is very fatiguing as it causes you to be top heavy. If students want to try to ascend with the additional load, attach their backpacks to the belay loop of their harness. If there is no secure haul look on

their backpack, use a sling under the shoulder straps. For the gear that folks do not want to carry up, you can simply haul it up hand over hand, but the loads add up quickly. You might want to set up a quick haul system. A haul system uses the same steps as ascending; the lift, the rope grab, and resting. Send a line down from the tree onto which to tie the load. Bring the other end up through a pulley attached to a strong crotch and down to your ascenders. Use your ascenders to pull down on the rope and lift the load. You can hold the load in place while you reset your ascenders by a combination pulley/rope grab like the Petzl mini Traxion. A small prusik loop, or an ascender placed upside down on the haul line can accomplish the same task. Then there is the bathroom issue. On your way into the challenge course, stop at the porta potties and give everyone a chance to use them. If nature calls during the night, it is relatively easy for guy to pee off the deck without altering their

harnesses at all. If you have a very hearty group, gals can also pee off the deck by dropping the back hitch of their leg loops. It probably isn’t likely that your female participants will want to do this More likely, you’ll be rappelling at some point and walking them to the bathroom. (In Costa Rica, where the ascending is so much more demanding, gals peeing from the branches is much more likely. Sitting in a “Y” shaped crotch is a good technique If a 37 horizontal branch with good footing below is available, the “hang you butt out” option is also efficacious. If the weather forecast is for rain, consider cancelling the overnight, as the deck is unroofed. If you decide to go anyway, any appearance of lightning or thunder is an automatic evacuation. If the weather looks good, go for it Remember to bring along some ideas for entertaining the students. Read The Lorax Play some games Talk about stars. Eat snacks Section C2: Limited Gear Alternate Basic Class Curriculums

SRT Clim bing Curriculum Only If you do not have access to arborist ropes and steel links, you can still provide a rewarding tree climbing experience to you students. If you have only a few ascenders, consider shuttling the ascenders down from the top of the tree while students switch to prusik and hard knot anchor lines. Alternately, one can set up other climbing stations where students try out the prusiks, or Frog, or Yo-Yo. Here is a proposed schedule that we have used that excludes DdRT techniques. Day 1: Hand-over-hand climbing on low branched trees Day 2: Throwing and Ascending (4 lines with students trying out ascenders, prusiks, Grigri, and Frog) Day 3: Climb a big tree, Switch to Anchor lines, Limb walk, Switch to Rappel Day 4/5: Rig your own tree day / Overnight In place of alternate ascensions on day 4, substitute the a “rig your own tree day” in which participants select their own tree, place their lines and climb. Students get a lot out of the experience of doing the

whole activity on their own. Dd RT Clim bing Curriculum Only Similarly for DdRT techniques only, you might try eliminating the hand over hand climbing day and doing the following: Day 1: Getting into the tree: Throwing and Ascending with Motion Lanyard Day 2: Moving around the Tree: Climb spreading tree, Recrotch with Motion lanyard, Limb Walk Day 3: Tree Fun: Tree to Tree Tyrolean, Zip line, or Alternate Ascensions (Foot Locking, Prusiks) Day 4/5: Overnight preparation and sleeping: Rig your Hammock / Overnight Section C3: Costa Rica Tree Climbing Course Many years ago, when the Earth was new and dinosaurs roamed the planet, there was a COE tree climbing course in Costa Rica which was led by Dan Tillemans. COE started offering a more advanced course in 2006 when Mark H., Keith L, Eric T, Dave Katz, and Memo Fallas worked up some ideas and platforms in a rural valley in Costa Rica. The crew spent about 8 days rigging trees, dodging (mostly dodging) ants, and building a platform for

the new course. It was offered for the first three years at a Cornell and SUNY Binghamton research station called the Tropical Forestry Initiative. It is a demanding course for students and instructors. In the past two instructors spend at least a week beforehand checking, rigging, and climbing a lot of trees, preparing logistics of food, lodging, and cultural activities. The other instructors generally arrived with the students. It’s hot Everything is uphill There’s no COE van to carry your stuff. It’s a huge undertaking The rural logistics are coordinated by David Katz who knows all of the locals and loves the place more than most places on the planet. (Which, by the way, he has visited a whole stinking lot of) Our students get to climb really big trees, admittedly not as tall as the trees in California, but they have spreading crowns unlike the conifers in the west. Some of the trees span more horizontal distance than they are tall In addition to the regular progression of

skills, the students got to see toucans, humming birds, and monkeys. They got to eat raw sugar from a local mill, swim in amazing tropical rivers, and interact with local people. It was as much of a cultural experience as a climbing course. The reviews have generally been positive, and for some, it has been life changing. 38 Section C4: Risk Management As mentioned above, the main goal of all of these courses is for people learn some technical skills, make a connection to the outdoors, and have some fun while doing it, but only if they don’t get hurt in the process! No manual, no matter how large, could contain procedures for every contingency. Ultimately, we depend on your skill and judgment to keep our participants safe. COE provides training, realistic course curricula, mentorship, equipment, and administrative infrastructure to support the development of those skills. We also depend on your initiative. In addition to your COE experience we expect you to seek outside

experiences and instruction, which you bring back and share with the staff. All our most accomplished tree instructors are also practitioners. But good judgment alone is not enough to safely conduct an outdoor program. Instructor judgment must have boundaries, which are defined by program policies. Those policies are in turn a subset of the industry standard Tree Clim bing Risks and Managem ent Strategies Possible Hazard Hit by falling tree limbs Hit by falling gear Lightning Gear Failure Participants physical condition Negligence of COE or Participant Wildlife Attacks Technique errors Policy Management Strategy Helmets Procedure Management Strategy Choice of healthy trees Gear always attached or stowed No climbing during lightning Regular inspection and replacement Medical form Waiver Medical Form, Waiver Rappel backups, Lowerable ropes No climbing in trees with nests Safety Checks Policies 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. Helmets are worn 100% of the time when underneath the

climbing tree. Instructors included COE Ropes are not left in trees unattended. We don’t climb conifers. Do not climb dead trees. All trees to climb should be inspected by the senior member of the I-team beforehand. All rappels will be backed up with either a fireman’s belay or an autoblock. All rope systems should be “closed.” (Ends tied with knots or back to the climber) All climbing and rappelling rigs should be double checked before use. The main ascending lines should always be lowerable. No climbing during any sign of lightning or thunder. All classes must carry a first aid kit to the climbing site. Proced ures Single Point Failure There are times when our safety hinges on the correct functioning of one piece of gear or just one skill. In climbing, there is just one rope, just one harness on the climber, just one carabiner attached to the belay device. Likewise, there is only one person holding the brake side of the rope. If anything, in tree climbing there are more

instances. Dealing with Single Point Failure Manufacturers deal with single point failure by overbuilding the gear. The ratio of the breaking strength to the expected working load is called the Safety Factor (SF). For most of our tree applications, the gear is designed with an SF of 10. This means that a safety blue rope with a tensile strength of 7000 lbs and a SF of 10 has an expected working load of 700 lbs. Even though the rope is a single point of failure, it is so strong it is very unlikely to break assuming In many cases, dealing with single point failure means somehow turning it back into a multiple point failure. For example, a climber’s harness is a potential single point failure. In practice we have the belayer put on a harness, check it, and then have the climber perform the same check again. If a harness goes mistakenly unbuckled, at least two 39 more errors have to happen before the situation becomes critical. This is essentially a procedural way of dealing with

single point failure. We have several mnemonics for remembering the elements of the checks The ABC’s of Top Rope climbing, the related ABC’s of ascending, and the CRASH TEST(e)D rappel safety check. Paperw ork Medical Form Every participant and instructor must fill out a medical form for their class. We make two copies for all classes leaving the building. One remains in the library lock box The other goes in the field with you, and is otherwise stored in your course gear locker. If there is an injury everyone has the information at hand If you want to, you can fill out a medical form and keep it in your instructor folder. When you teach a new course, all you have to do is go to your instructor folder, grab your reserve form and copy it. Before you go into the field you must review the medical forms of your students and co-instructors. This process is called “medical screening”. If you don’t recognize a medication or condition ask the participant about it privately, or

Google it. (Share what you learn with your coordinator so they can learn, too) Do not ask your friends, “Hey, what is ‘gonorrhea’? Sally in my hiking class put that down on her medical form.” Medical information is confidential! If your student is taking a medication you should find out not only what it is for, but what happens when they miss a dose. Also, find out what other drugs might be contra-indicated If your student has had an injury, find out how long ago it happened. Does the injury still effect their performance? What happens if the injury flares up? How often and it what circumstances is the old injury aggravated? Recent illness might also be a concern. We want to know if the symptoms have abated, and if not, what the participant is doing to mitigate them. If you have doubts about the ability of the student to participate in the course, contact your coordinator. Waivers Part of your first day duties is to inform students of the risks they face by taking a COE course.

Our liability waiver is one way to approach the issue. Everyone has to sign one, and the lawyers tell us we have to read this document to the participants. Even though the waiver has funny parts (people laugh at the phrase “wildlife attacks”) do your best to take it seriously. As odd as it sounds, we have had a number of wildlife attacks at COE Twice rock climbing students have been bitten by raccoons (once on the forehead). We have had insect and animal bites in Costa Rica. The waiver is serious business It’s a legally binding agreement and it should be presented that way By the by, don’t let people tell you that waivers don’t work in court. COE has been sued (unsuccessfully) and our waiver proved to be very important in our defense. Tree Climbing has its own waiver because the more specific a wavier is, the more enforceable it is in court. Incident Reports The incident report is a generic incident report form. Its form is a bit weird because it was constructed from a

standard model put forward by the Wilderness Risk Managers Association. Obviously you should write up any accidents that occur on your trip. We are also interested in accidents that didn’t happen, but very well might have These “near misses” as we call them, even if they are not all that “near”, may indicate a problem that we can do something about. We shouldn’t be running safe programs by accident When filling out the incident reports, try to give complete descriptions. This means full names, dates, and details. Most of the fields to fill out are self-explanatory In the first paragraph when the form asks for “Name”, it means the name of the injured person, not the person who is filling out the form. At the very end you’ll find a place to put your name in the “Prepared by” field. If you don’t know whether an incident warrants an incident report, will one out anyway. If the basement dwellers agree that it is trivial, it will get tossed in the circular re-cycling

file. Training New Hires Some good prerequisites for being a COE Tree instructor are: 40 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Comfortable at heights, hanging from a harness Respect for safety systems Graduate of COE tree climbing course or equivalent experience Additional personal experience climbing trees with SRT and DdRT methods Interested in sharing tree climbing with others. Compared with our other climbing courses, teaching tree climbing at the basic level takes more time, demands more commitment, and places the instructor in a position of greater responsibility. Even in Basic Tree Climbing, instructors manage students at height, making transitions from rope to rope and anchor to anchor. In the rock climbing world this is more typical of an intermediate climbing class such as single pitch guiding. For this reason we are also looking particularly for the potential for a new hire to develop good judgment and maturity. Basic Skills Training Our two day basic training assumes that the participants

are familiar with the material in the introductory tree climbing class curriculum. For our new instructors we are interested in honing the presentation of these skills We would also like to make sure our instructors are aware of our safety policies and procedures, and have demonstrated competence in supervising a participant ascending and rappelling. Finally, we introduce rescue procedures with scenario based problem solving. Our basic skills training session focuses on the following: 1. 2. 3. Teaching tree climbing skills a. Material b. Presentation c. Setting Policies and Procedures a. Review of tree climbing policies and reasons for them b. Practice with Ascending and Rappel Procedures Scenario-based learning progressions a. Stuck throw bags b. Student stuck on an SRT anchor line c. Student stuck on a Motion Lanyard Advanced Skills Training The two day advanced training program gives instructors the chance to practice more complicated rigging and rescue. Activities include: 1.

2. 3. 4. Rescuing a student from their lanyard to the Full Circle line without the assistance of a ground instructor Rigging Zip Line Practice with the Frog, Yo-Yo, GriGri direct aid or other ascension methods Rigging a tree to tree Tyrolean without coming to the ground Role of the Senior Instructor Back in the old days, this role didn’t exist. Mark H, D Katz and Keith L were all making it up as we went along! We used our best judgment and communicated efficiently. These days more structure is developing to the I-team The senior or lead instructor is the in-the-field person responsible for overall safety, logistics, mentoring and communication with the program coordinator. In general, a lead instructor for tree climbing should: 1. 2. 3. 4. Have taught at least two other COE tree courses prior to accepting this role. Have a significant level of commitment to the program and to instructor development Be competent with the rope rescue systems we use in tree climbing Have maturity and

judgment sufficient to assess and properly mentor new instructors Emergency Procedures As of 2009 we have never had a tree climbing related injury. There is some data on the web to suggest that there has never been a recreational tree climbing death. We sincerely hope this will continue to be the case However, 41 if an accident were to occur, our general procedure for the Ithaca course is: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Get to the injured student and assess their condition. If injury is life-threatening, have an instructor call 911. Work with the ground instructor to get the injured student to ground. The ground instructor should begin first aid, while the tree instructors facilitate the class coming to the ground. Students walk out with the remaining instructor to meet the ambulance. First Aid Kits Before you go in the field you should know the contents of your program first aid kit contents and know how to use them. If you find that items are missing from the kit, return it to outfitting and

request a complete kit There should be extras waiting on a shelf somewhere. If you use something out of your first aid kit, label it with a repair tag, just as you would a damaged piece of gear. List what you used so the Wiz won’t have to look through the whole bag to determine what is missing. Minor Accidents Treat your patient in accordance with your first aid training. Every class should carry a first aid kit in the field Once you evaluate and treat your student’s injury, fill out an incident report form. There are copies in your course folder and the first aid kits. When you return, put the filled out form in the program manager’s mailbox Non Life-Threatening Serious Accidents If you have an injury that is not life threatening, but requires medical attention, call COE or the emergency phone. There is probably a van available for the evacuation coordinator to take your student to the hospital or Gannett Life Threatening Emergencies Provide first aid care to the level of your

training. In the event of a life threatening emergency, call 911 At least two instructors should attend to the injured person as the remaining instructor takes the students to the road to meet the ambulance. For more information on how to handle an emergency, consult the Underground Guide to Cornell Outdoor Education, and take a Wilderness First Responder course. After medical help has arrived, contact COE to let us know what happened. If it is a weekend, call or page the emergency duty person. If it is during the week, call the climbing program coordinator Don’t forget to fill out an incident report. Do not discuss the accident with anyone except full time staff! Emergency Coordinator and Communication On every weekend of the year a full time staff carries a pager and cell phone in case a course in the field needs assistance. Generally we get called for logistical reasons, like access to the wall or outfitting Don’t hesitate to call That’s what why we get paid the big bucks. All

the contact numbers can be found either in your first aid kit or on your emergency number sheet in your course folder. Because the pager has more complete coverage in our area we use it as our primary contact number. Call the pager number, enter the COE pager identification number, and then enter your phone number. When we get the page, we’ll go to an area that has cell reception and call you. If the phone you are calling from doesn’t accept incoming calls, enter 9999999999. The staff member on duty will go to a place that has good cell reception Wait a few minutes and call the cell number. If this doesn’t work, go down the list of numbers on the emergency numbers contact sheet until you get an answer. To place a call to the pager: 1) Dial 607-254-7243 2) At the voice prompt, dial pager number 6341 3) At next voice prompt (it says, “enter display digits.”),enter the 10 digit number to be called, then push # to end your message. 42 To place a call to the cellular phone:

1) From a local private phone, personal, etc. call 607-227-5930 directly 2) For long distance or local payphones call collect. To call collect: 1) Dial 1-800-CALL-ATT. 2) Follow the directions for collect calling to a cellular phone. 43 Appendix A: Gear Lists Basic Tree Climbing – SRT and DdRT combined curriculum Gear Needed by an Individual Participant 2 1 1 2 1 1 2 1 1 1 2 Handled Ascenders Harness Helmet Yellow ascender slings (1 inch wide tubular webbing, 80 inches long, tied in a loop of 36 inches) 10 foot sling for foot loop 80 foot Length of Safety Blue Arborist Rope 7.5 foot Split Tails of Hi-Vee Arborist Rope Steel link for Motion Lanyard setup Prusik loop Belay device Locking carabiners Total Gear List for a Class of 8 Participants* 16 8 8 4 4 2 4 4 4 16 8 8 30 4 12 8 16 5 8 2 1 Handled Ascenders Harnesses Helmets 200’ static ropes 20 foot lengths of webbing for full circle anchors Big shot heads with poles Buckets Zing-it Lines Throw Weights, 14oz Standard yellow

ascender slings Long pieces of webbing (10 foot) for ascender foot loops Belay Devices Locking Carabiners False Crotches Prusik Sling (one per person, four per Tyrolean) 80 foot Lanyards, Safety Blue 7.5 foot Split Tails, High-Vee 40 foot static anchor lines Steel links for Motion Lanyards Pulleys First Aid Kit Additional Items for overnight: Hammocks, sleeping bags and pads as needed for overnight. *Instructors typically have their own personal gear and lanyards Basic Tree Clim bing - SRT Curriculum Only Gear Needed by an Individual Participant 2 1 1 2 Handled Ascenders Harness Helmet Yellow ascender slings (1 inch wide tubular webbing, 80 inches long, tied in a loop of 36 inches) 44 1 1 1 2 10 foot sling for foot loop Prusik loop Belay device Locking carabiners Total Gear List for a Class of 8 Participants 16 8 8 4 4 2 4 4 4 16 8 8 30 4 12 5 1 2 Handled Ascenders Harnesses Helmets 200’ static ropes 20 foot lengths of webbing for full circle anchors Big shot heads with

poles Buckets Zing-it Lines Throw Weights, 14oz Standard yellow ascender slings Long pieces of webbing (10 foot) for ascender foot loops Belay Devices Locking Carabiners False Crotches Prusik Slings 40 foot static anchor lines First Aid Kit Pulleys Basic Tree Climbing - DdRT Curriculum Only Gear Needed by an Individual Participant 1 1 1 2 1 1 Harness Helmet Lanyards of sufficient length to reach the branches of your target trees and back down, Safety Blue 7.5 foot Split Tails of Hi-Vee Arborist Rope Steel link for Motion Lanyard setup Prusik Loop Total Gear List for a Class of 8 Participants 8 8 2 4 4 4 22 4 12 8 16 5 8 1 Harnesses Helmets Big shot heads with poles Buckets Zing-it Lines Throw Weights, 14oz Locking Carabiners False Crotches Prusik Slings Lanyards of sufficient length to reach the branches of your target trees and back down, Safety Blue 7.5 foot Split Tails, High-Vee 40 foot static anchor lines Steel links for Motion Lanyards First Aid Kit 45 Appendix B: Rope

Information Tree Climbers rely on ropes for life safety and this section will introduce a basic knowledge of construction care and use. Construction topics include: rope braid, diameter and fibers are useful to gain a general understanding of safety while climbing. A good way to learn about rope construction is to cut a few inches off a rope and rip it apart and look at the inside. Ropes are used in tension not in compression (ie pulling not pushing) Rope Construction Braid Static Kernmantle Ropes have a very tightly braided sheath (usually of at least 20 sets of fibers) and parallel core fibers. The core is the load-bearing part of the rope. The sheath exists to keep the core fibers together and protected from sunlight, abrasion and dirt. This type of rope construction works well with hardware because when it maintains its round crosssectional shape under load A smooth ride on a rappel is ensured with this type of rope because it doesn’t flatten too much when loaded and thus

distributes friction evenly. Dynamic rock climbing ropes are made with a similar construction except the core fibers are braided as to increase elongation and thus increase stretch. Stretch is important in reducing shock loads during falls. Since most arborists rarely risk shock-loading falls, all arborist ropes are made to not stretch. Twelve Strand Hollow braid Twelve strands of fibers braided together, no core or sheath, easy to splice. Good for rigging or making friction hitches. It has high breaking strength, but poor for climbing line due to low abrasion resistance Sixteen Strand Sixteen strands of rope braided into a tight sheath around a parallel fiber core. In this construction the core bears a mere 5% of the load. The core in these ropes mainly serves to keep the rope round under load and therefore keep friction constant. For this reason these ropes are best for climbing lines when using a friction hitch (Safety Blue by NE ropes is an example) because the tightly woven sheath

is highly abrasion resistant. Rope Fibers Polyester Fiber of choice in tree service industry. More abrasion resistant than nylon and a lot less stretchy Nylon Stronger than polyester. Stretch useful in absorbing impact forces Polyolefins This fiber is used as a lightweight filler on some lines to add bulk to the diameter without adding too much weight and without compromising strength. This fiber makes ropes more stiff and springy Fibrillated polyolefin is softer and more flexible than monofilament polypropylene. Ropes made with fibrillated polyolefin have superior knotability, better handling and no "memory" (the rope coils nicely and does not have kinks after its untied). HMPE (High Modulus Polyethylene) includes high-strength exotic fibers such as Dynema and Spectra. These fibers are extra slippery which means knots slip more. It is possible to achieve high breaking strength with a smaller (compared to other fibers such as nylon or polyester) diameter rope, thus making

systems lighter in weight. However, there’s a disadvantage. Because the line is thinner diameter, the bend radius will be smaller and thus greater reductions in strength occur. Milking Milking is what happens to a rope when it has more sheath than core. This happens frequently on indoor climbing walls with rock climbing rope. It is easy to see when there are a few inches of sheath that has slipped off the end of a rope. Friction hitches and belay devices can cause milking 46 Rope Care Electricity While working near electricity lines it is really important understand the dielectric capability of your rope because if your rope touches a hot wire it could transfer the energy through the rope to your body. Since we don’t recommend climbing near electricity lines unless you’ve passed through proper training, this section will be omitted in this chapter. Chemicals In order to keep your rope in good condition it’s important to understand what it’s made of and what not to put in

contact with. A really happy climbing line doesn’t get burnt, exposed to any chemicals, electricity, or get put under loads that are unreasonable. Most climbing lines are made of nylon, polyester, and/or polypropylene Nylon degrades with oxidizing agents, UV rays and most acids. Polyester has good resistance to most chemicals, except 95% sulfuric acid and strong alkaline at high temperatures. Polypropylene has excellent resistance to most acids and alkalines, except chlorosulphonic, concentrated sulfuric acids, and chlorinated hydrocarbons at 160°F. Additionally polypropylene withstands most diluted bleaching solutions. Polyester is about 90% as strong as nylon but stretches less under load, is more abrasion resistant, is more resistant to UV rays, and has less elongation when wet. In some climbing techniques ropes move over branches or over metal which can generates heat due to friction. Above 300 degrees F nylon begins to loose strength and it melts at 460°F. Polyester melts at

480°F with strength loss above 300°F. Polypropylene melts at 300°F with progressive strength loss above 200°F Rope Strength How much will that rope hold? That’s a common question amongst our students at COE. The easy answer for them is you can say “The tensile strength of this Safety Blue from NE ropes is 7000lbs.” However, this figure is created in a laboratory under ideal conditions, pulling in a straight line with no knots or bends. Safe Working Load Safe Working Load (SWL) is a term used to describe the limits of strength of your rope in relation to a real world application. The Cordage Institute (CITATION) specifies that the safe working load (SWL) of a rope shall be determined by dividing the Minimum Breaking Strength (MBS) of the rope by a safety factor (SF). As a rule, the more severe the application, the higher the SF needs to be in order to ensure safety. The safety factor ranges from 5 to 12 Factors to consider when making a design factor include:    

         Injury, death or loss of property may result if rope fails Loads are not accurately known High or continuous dynamic loads are anticipated Shock loads are anticipated Extensive cyclic loads are likely to occur Tension is on the rope for long periods Knots are used, as knots can reduce strength by as much as 50% Abrasion is likely to occur from exposure to rough surfaces or cutting edges, or by contamination from dirt and grit. Rope is used constantly over pulleys or around a small bend such as a carabineer Rope is used in the presence of hazardous chemicals. Rope is not new and is of unknown properties and/or prior use. Rope is not inspected frequently or adequately. Rope will be in service for long periods that may lose strength due to fatigue. To make the calculation of a safe working load, you must divide the MBS by the SF. The standard for the tree care industry is to use a safety factor of 10. So if your using the Safety Blue rope and the MBS

is 7000lbs and you decide you want a SF of 10, your working load is 7000/10 = 700lbs. This means nothing that weighs more than 700lbs should be attached to the Safety Blue. Similar logic applies to other elements of the system including anchor points, crotches, and false crotches. Diameter Usually as the diameter gets greater the rope becomes stronger. Some accessory cords in rock climbing are as thin as 5mm, while in some parts of technical rigging in arborist tasks ropes can be as thick as 19mm. The tensile 47 strength of a 19mm ropes can reach 24,000lbs while a 5mm line is typically around 1000 lbs. Bend Radius Bending ropes reduces their strength and the tighter the bend the greater the reduction in strength. This is because when ropes are bent the outside of the rope experiences tension and the inside experiences compression. The inside bend therefore is not supporting the strain, and the strain is transferred to only a fraction of the rope which is in tension, thus reducing

the strength of the rope. Knots, branches, carabineers and ATC’s all bend the rope The tighter the bend the less the rope can hold. Thimbles are often inserted into the end of a rope to reduce the bend radius and therefore increase the strength of the setup. 48 Appendix C: Knots Slip Knot Bow line For some reason, the bowline is a difficult knot to learn and therefore difficult to teach. We have found it to be somewhat easier to introduce the slipped overhand method. By exploiting its ability to easily capsize, a slip knot can be turned into a bowline. If the bowline is to be used for life supporting purposes, make sure the tail of the rope exits the knot correctly. When properly tied, the tail of the bowline should exit the knot on the inside of the loop The “Dutch”, “Cowboy”, of “Left-handed” bowline is not referenced in any climbing text. It is referred to in the Ashley Book of Knots (Ashley, p188.) as “distinctly inferior” to the righthanded bowline. We have

not done testing on this knot and cannot confirm this assertion. Until we understand more, we’ll take Mr. Ashley’s word for it The left-handed version should not be used for life supporting lines. Start by tying a slipped overhand near the end of the throw line so that pulling on the standing end of line will decrease the size of the loop and eventually completely untie the knot. Make sure the slip knot is tied very loosely. Now pass the working end of the line through the load and back through the slip knot’s loop. The direction in which you thread the line will determine whether you end up with a left- or right-handed bowline. Pull on the standing end until the slip knot constricts around the working end and eventually capsizes into a bowline. This method is a quick way to teach students how to attach a throw line to a weight. If the bowline is used for life support, tie off the working end with a fisherman’s knot or re-thread the working end as shown. Either of these

tie-offs will help keep the bowline from working loose, but the Yosemite tie-off is a little less cumbersome. Prusik Another way to grab the rope is by using a prusik knot. The prusik knot is tied with a loop of 6mm accessory cord joined with a double fisherman’s bend. (For the knot to grab solidly, the diameter of the accessory cord has to be smaller than the line to which it is tied.) The prusik is basically a girth hitch with more wraps Two wraps will provide some grab, three will provide more. This rope grab can be useful in a variety of situations We routinely use it as a foot loop with the Blake’s hitch method, to tension zip line ropes, to anchor climbers when they do not need to move around much, as during the overnight. 49 Appendix D: Tree Identification Ithaca In Ithaca it’s easy to identify tree species with a little practice. Red Oak, Sugar Maple, Sycamore, Tulip Poplar, and American Beech all have distinguishing features. Here are cool features about each tree

Northern Red Oak - Quercus rubra Field trees at HCC. Trees on ridge at Monkey Run Great for exploring free space with the motion lanyard Big strong spreading branches. Tulip Poplar – Liriodendron tulipifera Fisher woods, Smith woods. Really straight trunks for a long way Weak branches, tall canopies +100’ in Trumansburg. Good for going up high Sycamore – Platanus occidentalis Monkey Run, Stewart Park. Flaky bark on lower parts of tree High branches really white Relatively weak branches. Thin bark, be careful with DdRT for cambium damage Sugar Maple – Acer Saccharum HCC platform tree. Used to make a lot of sugar V-shaped crotches make hauling lines and hanging out rather difficult. Great colors in the fall American Beech – Fagus grandifolia Smith woods. Pretty conspicuous smooth grey bark Be careful to assess the health of the tree as they are dying off rapidly due to Beech Blight. Smith woods is one of the only places left to climb these great trees Amazing canopies and great

colors in the fall. Climbing in smith woods in late October is a priceless experience White Ash - Fraxinus americana Not climbed on COE courses in the past. Really tight v-shaped crotches Compound leaf Throw lines can get stuck. Costa Rica In Costa Rica we use a bunch of different tree species to climb. Since all of the leaves are pretty similar, identification is basically an art form. We rely on other systems such as tree form; branching patterns and sap color Here’s a small list: Fruta Dorada – Virola koschnyi Sprial branching, golden fruits. Some famous specimens high on the mountain behind TFI Fun for storing students, horizional spreading branches provide great seats. Ceiba – Ceiba pentandra The largest of the tropical trees in the new world tropics. Trunks buldge to greatest girth some height above ground. Can be filled with wasps or bees in canopy Horizontal branching makes storing students hard sometimes Large distances between ground and canopy make rigging difficult

sometimes as well. Guacimo Colorado –Guazuma ulmifolia Big beautiful trees grow near rivers with rusty color on underside of leaves. Guapinol – Hymenaea courbaril Really strong wood, redish color to the bark. Rare around Tres Piedras, but a 40yo tree planted by Lingo Gamboa has seen many an overnight in its platform. 50 Guanacaste - Enterolobium cyclocarpum Usually native to the drylands north of San Jose, but can be found in pastures near Dominical. Huge spreading canopies great for learning to use the motion lanyard. Higureon – Ficus genus These huge canopy trees are good for exploration. Easy to ID if you slice a bit of the root it bleeds white Jabillio - Hura crepitans Tall tree covered in spines. Seeds explode in sunlight Eye contact with caustic sap can cause problems with vision or poison fish. This tree is telling you not to climb it Now that I’m thinking about it, let’s not ever climb one of these anymore. 51 Appendix E: Tree Biology In the future it would

be ideal if COE tree climbing courses started to teach people more about the trees themselves. We have been concentrated on climbing skills, but now we have good systems for teaching those skills Here’s a basic description of tree anatomy: Trees are made of air. No joke! The majority of their dry mass comes from carbon dioxide The outer bark is the trees protection from stuff outside the tree. It is continually replaced from the inside of the tree. It’s a rain jacket, sunscreen, DEET, and a down jacket all in one The inner bark, or “phloem”, is sorta like the transmission lines from the roots to the leaves. Through the phloem the food is passed to the rest of the tree, like our arteries and veins. It lives for only a short time, then dies and turns to cork and then becomes part of the protective outer bark. The cambium cell layer is the growing part of the trunk. It is the only living part of the tree except the leaves and roots. It is really thin and grows new bark and new

wood in response to auxin hormones The hormones flow down through the inner bark with energy from the leaves. The auxin hormones are produced at the leaf buds and start flowing in spring. We have to be careful about the cambium because if it gets burned by DdRT it will kill the entire branch It’s easy to burn through cambium on some trees that have thin outer-bark. Sapwood is the trees pipeline for water moving up to the leaves. Sapwood is the newest growth and will become the hardwood in the center as the tree ages. Heartwood is the tree part of trees. It is actually dead tissue but, it will not rot or become weak while the outer layers are intact. This is why people carving their names into trees or scratching bark with your boots can be detrimental to trees (just like humans it can open infection). The heartwood is basically like the bones of a human Heartwood is a mixture of hollow cellulose fibers held together by a chemical adhesive called lignin. Palm trees don’t have this

chemical and therefore aren’t even trees! Leaves Are is an above-ground plant organs made to do photosynthesis. Leaves are flat, and thin to expose the cells that have the chloroplast to light. Leaves are crucial in helping us climbers identify trees, take good pictures in the fall, and provide shade and an umbrella when it rains. Conifers have needles, hardwoods have broadleaves Buds- Think cabbage - a really big bud. Buds form in the spring and end up becoming leaves 52 Appendix F: Tree Climbing Waiver TREE CLIMBING PARTICIPANT WAIVER Cornell Outdoor Education, 607-255-6183  Outdoor Odyssey, 607-255-4168 Phillips Outdoor Program Center, B01 Bartels Hall, Campus Road, Ithaca, NY 14853 www.coecornelledu THIS IS A LEGALLY BINDING AGREEMENT. PLEASE READ THIS ENTIRE DOCUMENT CAREFULLY. By signing this agreement you give up your right to bring a court action to recover compensation or obtain any other remedy for any injury to yourself or your property or for your death however

caused arising out of your participation in this Cornell Outdoor Education or Outdoor Odyssey Tree Climbing activity now or any time in the future. I agree that my participation in this Cornell Outdoor Education (COE) tree climbing course is entirely voluntary. I agree, on behalf of myself, my assigns, executors, and heirs, to RELEASE, INDEMNIFY, and HOLD HARMLESS Cornell University, its trustees, officers, employees, and agents from any and all liability, damage, or claim of any kind arising out of or in any way related to my participation in this COE program (except for that which results from the sole and active negligence of Cornell University, its trustees, officers, employees, or agents). This shall include, but is not limited to, damages and claims on account of personal injury, property damage, death, or accident of any kind in any way related to my participation in, or transportation to or from this COE program, and any act or omission of a third party that impacts my

participation in, or separation from, or transportation to or from COE program. In the case of voluntary separation or expulsion from the course I understand that I will be responsible for all expenses related to such separation. I understand that neither Cornell University, nor the COE program provides any accident or medical insurance and that I am required to provide my own accident and medical insurance. I hereby agree that I am financially responsible for all such expenses. I understand COE does not carry radios or cell phones, and I may be far from medical facilities. I understand that neither Cornell University, nor COE program provides any private vehicle insurance and that I am required to provide my own private vehicle insurance should I elect to use my own vehicle for transportation to or from a COE course. In the event of accident or injury in my private vehicle, or any other private vehicle, I agree to the same terms outlined above. I understand that all participants are

subject to Cornell University regulations, COE policies, laws of the United States, and the laws of New York State. In the event of violation of these, or behavior that is considered by COE to be detrimental to the participant, other participants, or the COE program, COE shall have the right to dismiss me from the course while retaining all payments. I hereby certify that I am physically fit and able to participate in this course. 53 I further state that I am cognizant of all the inherent dangers of participation and the risks involved in this course which includes, but is not limited to:         Slips and falls from hiking on uneven terrain; Being struck by objects dislodged, dropped or thrown from above; Failure of climbing ropes, anchor lines and equipment; Failure of tree trunks, limbs and branches; Extreme weather conditions, including rain, snow and lightning; Wildlife attacks, including animal and insect bites; Hypothermia or hyperthermia; Motor

vehicle accidents. I state that I am of lawful age and legally competent to sign this affirmation and release. If a minor, I understand this form needs to be signed by my parent or legal guardian. I understand the terms herein are contractual. I have read and fully understand the above acknowledgement of risk, release / indemnification and covenant not to sue. I have signed this document of my own free will, and agree to the terms outlined herein Participant’s Signature Participant’s Name (printed clearly) Participant’s Date of Birth Participant’s Age Parent/Legal Guardian Signature Parent/Legal Guardian Name (if participant is under 18 years old) (printed clearly) Net ID Cornell ID# (if applicable) Course Name Today’s Date rev. 07/2009 mh45 54 Recommended Books Shigo, Alex L. Modern arboriculture : a systems approach to the care of trees Durham, NH Shigo and Trees, c1991 Vines, Tom, Hudson, Alex “High Angle Rescue

Techniques” Elsevier Mosby, St. Louis Missouri, 2004 Tree Climber’s Companion On Rope 55