Originally the sole activity of arborists and rain-forest researchers, tree-climbing is the latest hot recreational sport.
It’s attracted enthusiasts as devoted to nature as to building upper-body strength.
But lay aside those childhood memories of scrambling up the apple tree. Recreational tree-climbing, which uses ropes, harnesses and a variety of special knots, requires lessons.
“We originally taught classes for professional tree-care people and when we opened the class to the public, to our surprise we got great response from lawyers and accountants and secretaries,” says Chris Roddick, arborist at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, who has been teaching adults tree-climbing for three years.
Peter “Treeman” Jenkins, of Atlanta-based Tree Climbers International, a non-profit school for and association of climbers, has been at it for 13 years. Twice a month, he and students haul themselves up into oaks and cherries and hickories to observe canopy flora and fauna.
Sometimes they even sleep there, building “tree villages” of hammocks. And in high winds they “tree surf,” dangling from limber pine branches in harnesses, swaying 20 feet to either side of the trunk.
Chills and thrills aside, Jenkins compares the challenges of tree-climbing to the mental muscle required for rock climbing. Both require decision-making, route-strategizing and hazard-dodging.
How effective is the sport, fitness-wise?
“If you do it every day, it’s great exercise,” says Brooklyn’s Roddick. “But doing it once (will only) get you sore.”
For more information, visit Tree Climbers International’s Web site at http://www.treeclimbing.com or call 404-377-3150.
