I'm lucky enough to be traveling with someone who when seeing a brochure that says “Learn How to Tree Climb”, he grabs it and says, “Oh yea! We are definitely doing this!” Less than a week later I found myself sixty feet up, enjoying the view from my self-made seat of ropes and carabiners.Let me first introduce you to our host, Allen Manning. Allen is Canadian by birth, American by dual citizenship, and all around crazy ass fun guy by self-made retirement. He and his wife Brenda lived in Montreal for many years, both working in the corporate IT world. You would never guess that he was city born and raised though, as he's standing in front of you with his “2007 Tree Climbing Competition” shirt on. If you would've asked him 10 years ago what his retirement plan was, he would've said “a condo in Montreal will be just right” with all certainty. Thankfully, some friends talked Allen into buying some land in Danville, a small town in Northern Vermont. The land was heavily treed, had lots of uneven ground and would take a lot of work to turn into a home. But it did have a trout creek running through it, and just when he was about to decline, he visited one last time and literally heard a voice tell him that this is where he and Brenda were meant to be.
Fast forward to today and the Manning's house is like a retirement playground, and I'm sure his grandkids feel the same way! They built a beautiful home in the middle of the land, with a gorgeous view of the valley below. Surrounding the home though are still acres of trees, with miles of trails cut out for exploring. Allen has also built an awesome tree house, complete with wood burning stove, quick escape fire pole and fully functioning bathroom! This, the big house, and multiple barns and buildings on the property are all made from trees from his land. There are piles of lumber everywhere, just waiting for whatever his imagination is going to think of next. My favorite thing though is the 230ft zip line. Allen will laugh when he reads that this is my favorite, remembering that I had to count to 10, not 3, before I jumped off; but as I was screaming like I was going to die, I was having the time of my life! We all should zip line more often.
Allen picked up tree climbing as a hobby when he was clearing his land. He uses all types of techniques, but all of them respect the trees (no spikes) and are very safe (there are safety knots upon knots upon knots). We learned what is known as the Double Rope Technique which in a nutshell means you take one piece of rope, throw one end up over a tree branch and then pull that end down so you have both ends at the bottom with you. (This makes it sound much easier as it is, as it sometimes takes hours to set up the rope, and can require the use of the massive slingshot) This technique is an extremely safe way to climb since you never have to take the rope out of your harness. Ok, enough with the technicalities, here is the important stuff that I learned:
- No one feels sexy in a tree climbing harness. Regardless of gender or size, its just a funny contraption that pulls up where things shouldn't pull up. However, I would gladly wear one everyday if it means you get to climb trees and fly down zip lines!
- Before climbing, always remember to do your B.A.C.K Safety Check:
- Belt: is this thing tight enough so that I won't die?
- Anchor: is this branch strong enough so that I won't die?
- Carabiner: is this tiny piece of metal correctly clicking so that I won't die?
- Knots: is this tied correctly so that I won't die?
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awesome tree climbing shots!!
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