ALTERNATIVE tree climbing methods - ANCIENT / old preferred

pantheraba

pantheraba

More biners!!!
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THIS is the thread I have been wanting to start...and did not know it until I found the video below...the second video.

Jay introduced to us an ancient tree climbing method with his video several years ago -- Jay took this first video below of a fellow Japanese tree climber. I was so enthused about it that Jay made a set of climbing sticks for me:

<iframe width="420" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/hdjCNg1QTM4" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

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And then today I found the video below. There is a formal name for the Ancient Japanese tree climbing method...Burinawa. I have not researched it in depth yet but will soon.

The climber in the video uses a traditional axe-like tool to remove a 4 inch conifer limb...took about 94 whacks but he left a very nice branch collar. And he uses 3 strand manila with his climbing sticks. I still have some of my 1970's manila that I climbed with...maybe it will still work with Jay's sticks.

The Burinawa climber's homemade leggings are very utilitarian...when you see his chopping method you will understand better why he might need them...they are also protective for gripping the tree with his shins. His exit from the tree warmed my heart...I'll post a picture later that explains why.

I hope you enjoy this as much as I did. I hope this thread can be a repository for different methods of climbing...not the modern SRT kind of thing but the old methods that are unique and possibly in danger of passing away.


<iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/G2Vt13X_wwM" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
 
I watched an old timer once climb a birch tree with a waist rope and 2 girthed slings around the stem for his feet, yes very little equipment but sooooo painful to watch.
No pain on the tree though:D
 
The knowledge of basic skills, no matter how crude they may seem to us today, are mandatory towards a well rounded knowledge of all professions. It is the root knowledge, when you have nothing else at your disposal, to come up with a way to get a job done. Old school knowledge is strong Ju Ju.

It miffs me whenever I hear young'uns on the internet bad mouth old schoolers and their ways.
 
gf beranek said:
The knowledge of basic skills, no matter how crude they may seem to us today, are mandatory towards a well rounded knowledge of all professions. It is the root knowledge, when you have nothing else at your disposal, to come up with a way to get a job done. Old school knowledge is strong Ju Ju.

It miffs me whenever I hear young'uns on the internet bad mouth old schoolers and their ways.
Click to expand...

HolmenTree said:
I watched an old timer once climb a birch tree with a waist rope and 2 girthed slings around the stem for his feet, yes very little equipment but sooooo painful to watch.
No pain on the tree though:D
Click to expand...
Now that I think about it, years back when I saw this old timer he was probably younger then what I am now:)
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #11
gf beranek said:
The knowledge of basic skills, no matter how crude they may seem to us today, are mandatory towards a well rounded knowledge of all professions. It is the root knowledge, when you have nothing else at your disposal, to come up with a way to get a job done. Old school knowledge is strong Ju Ju.

It miffs me whenever I hear young'uns on the internet bad mouth old schoolers and their ways.
Click to expand...

I think that is what makes this so appealing to me...it is such a basic skill and yet none of us know it these days. Someone hundreds, maybe thousands of years ago figured out a way to get up a tree safely...maybe to gather honey, to escape to a safe place for a night's sleep, to hide from an enemy. All of the old ways are often a result of someone having been hurt or seen others hurt and trying to find a better way. New technology comes along and the old ways drift away...but sometimes the old ways can still be useful. I foresee using that technique in a small top that is tough to spike due to small size...the sticks can provide a firm foothold.

And with only two sticks and a piece of rope you can climb just about anything. Sometimes I still use a 10 foot sling for a swiss seat and a plain biner with a friction wrap to rappel...old school but still works.
 
gf beranek said:
The knowledge of basic skills, no matter how crude they may seem to us today, are mandatory towards a well rounded knowledge of all professions. It is the root knowledge, when you have nothing else at your disposal, to come up with a way to get a job done. Old school knowledge is strong Ju Ju.

It miffs me whenever I hear young'uns on the internet bad mouth old schoolers and their ways.
Click to expand...

The old timer that taught me to climb made me use a lanyard made of bull line with some knot configuration on one side. I forget how to do it. You know what Im talking about.
 
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/EnaewHWR5mg" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
 
Some, like my 60 year old ex-supervisor,call it a Cat's Paw, which also describes a girth hitch on a hook in rigging sometimes, as i've seen it. Seems like almost an overhand around the d-ring, but more of a pinching the rope method than tying a knot.
 
There was a doco on the TV the other night, showing native people in their own environments gathering, hunting, living sustainably, it one segment a bloke in the jugle went up a tree to get honey...it must have been, I dunno 80' to the crown (jungle) he went up with a flipline he made down on the ground by twisting vines together (reminded me of those pictures from flipfest, WAY fat trees), he chopped footholds with an axe on the way up (maybe not so sustainable) then he 'branchwalked', think, balanced on fat branches in his bare feet out to the hive to get the honey, he pulled up a bundle of smoldering leaves to try and calm the bees, got the honey and sent it down to the family...flipppin' heck! He was VERY puffed out by the time he got up there, and I did wonder how he was going to get down, but MAN what a climb!
 
I've seen that one, Fi.
Impressed the heck out of me, really.
 
There are still blacksmiths over here making excellent clever like tools for tree work, beautifully made and kept in a nice case on your belt. I still sometimes work with some old timers that even though they may mainly be using a chainsaw, they still have the nata or clever on their belt. Old habits die hard. Different shapes, some have a hook on the end to reach out and snag branches. Save on gasoline. Handmade saws still around as well. The feel is quite a bit nicer than the disposable blade ones, believe me. I use a number of them. Sharpeners are becoming scarce however. They don't just sharpen, but tap the teeth on an anvil for set and the blade behind the teeth to remove warp and to return the right flex. A high skill.

I used to walk down the street by a sharpener's place and you could hear the constant tap tap tap, or the file on the teeth, a comforting sound. No jigs, all done hand held. The saws are held in a portable wooden clamp that is supported by the craftsman's feet or legs. I used to hear ten years to become adept at it. I so wish those skills would remain, it is very inspirational to work where traditional hand skills are at such a level as the norm.
 

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Beautiful tools. I see the Damascus-like layered steel. Rich in history, I am sure.
 
Bermy said:
There was a doco on the TV the other night, showing native people in their own environments gathering, hunting, living sustainably, it one segment a bloke in the jugle went up a tree to get honey...it must have been, I dunno 80' to the crown (jungle) he went up with a flipline he made down on the ground by twisting vines together (reminded me of those pictures from flipfest, WAY fat trees), he chopped footholds with an axe on the way up (maybe not so sustainable) then he 'branchwalked', think, balanced on fat branches in his bare feet out to the hive to get the honey, he pulled up a bundle of smoldering leaves to try and calm the bees, got the honey and sent it down to the family...flipppin' heck! He was VERY puffed out by the time he got up there, and I did wonder how he was going to get down, but MAN what a climb!
Click to expand...

Was that the one with the hawk in it? The hawk watches until something happens then takes off and the bees started stinging.

Saw that a while ago. Think this may be it.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/zHSZkuS4zIE" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
 
SouthSoundTree said:
Some, like my 60 year old ex-supervisor,call it a Cat's Paw, which also describes a girth hitch on a hook in rigging sometimes, as i've seen it. Seems like almost an overhand around the d-ring, but more of a pinching the rope method than tying a knot.
Click to expand...

Use it all the time to midline attach to winch hooks, clevis's and a MA set up cats paw is all I have ever known it as.
 
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