by johnlhickman » Aug 10, 2007 9:59 pm
Tim,
You are missing one thing... a flat screen TV mounted on the wall to watch TV while you climb;)
For me, I have two trees rigged outside for climbing. I keep thin nylon accessory cord in the trees. When I am ready to climb, I pull a climbing rope up with the cord. I then climb and rig a pulley. This is a trick that I learned working at a ropes course. I wouldn't want to leave gear up all the time due to weather and animals.
You can get different color string that will help camouflage the it (black is pretty good). For several years, I had binders twine up in the trees in a local park. I don't think the park employees ever knew it was there.
For placing the pulley in the tree, I will sling the limb (usually horizontal) and put both sections of the webbing and the pulley in a triangular screwlink. I just reverse the process when done.
Right now, it's too hot to climb outside. Going to a pit Tuesday night instead.
The trees are in our backyard, but I can climb up above the buildings behind us. Growing up, I was blessed with oak trees that were close to a hundred feet tall in our yard, one was almost 15 feet in diameter. When my parents moved, I left a lot of string up in the trees (the trees had grown into the cord at the top and I couldn't pull it down). I don't recommend leaving tight chain around a limb. It's not the healthiest thing for the tree and before you know it the tree has decided to grow over it.
John