I am hard at work on an upcoming recreational tree climbing book. It is a work started many years ago and recently revisited. There is a big upswing in interest in recreational tree climbing and it is due time for a more in-depth look at this subject. The first draft is 50% complete. I will most likely finish the first draft by fall. Then chapters go out for peer review and then comes the second draft. Bryan Kotwica of “Climbers Companion” fame will be doing illustrations. There will be photography as well.

It will be a comprehensive book bringing a lot of information from my years of experience as a rock climber, tree climber, certified arborist as well as master instructor at the TCI school. The book is full length, meaning it will be detailed in its content. It is certainly a how-to book. The book will cover DRT and is designed for beginning and intermediate level climbers. Projected self publishing date of early next year, 2006.

Peter Jenkins
Founder of TCI

Do I get to preview it?

What do you mean by preview? There is a difference between review and preview. Preview would be a look at the galley (unpublished manuscript). Review implies input.

I am not physically able to PREVIEW something like that WITHOUT critiquing it. I would most certainly provid as much input as I could. It's in my nature. It's why I splice! I saw a way something could be improved, and by splicing it myself, it could be made JUST the way I want it.

love
nick

I think there is a little semantics mix-up here. As Peter points out, in the publishing world a Preview is a done deal as far as written content goes. So if Nick "previewed" the manuscript he wouldn't have an opportunity to provide input, it would be too late in the process.

Translating to publishing terminology I think Nick is asking, "can I be on the peer review list and have a chance to offer input on the content?"

Is that correct Nick?

Congratulations Peter and good luck getting the book done!
-moss

Peter, do you invision this to be a treeclimbers companion type book, or more of a textbook upon which a curriculum could be built?

Icabod

Peter,

This is great news!

Would you send me an email, my address book went through the chipper shen I had my hard drive formatted.

The joy of the trees to you!

Tom

Icabod,
This is a very comprehensive book on the subject. You are correct in that this will be a work that will be used as a resource for recreational tree climbing. It will also be revised on a regular schedule as technique evolves and new discoveries are made. The content will also change as the tree climbing community provides input for following revisions.

Thanks for asking.

Tree Climbers International:

I would be willing to review and offer input. You mention you'll be covering DRT. There are two forms of doubled rope technique, the one that everyone commonly uses (2:1), and then there's the other, lesser known one where both ends of the rope are on the ground and you work the parallel lines in unison, with no movement of the rope at the crotch (true 1:1).

And why not SRT. Are you just sticking with the old-school techniques or are you going to be 'very comprehensive' as claimed and show three tree climbing styles instead of (possibly) just the one. No need to show caving setups or rock climbing rigs, or search and rescue stuff, just that what we do in the trees.

Will you cover new school methods like the use of hardware and 11 mm lines? I know this is a beginning and intermediate book, but it doesn't require an 'expert' to be able to ascend and descend three seperate rope styles using either friction hitches OR hardware. To me, that's the beginning of a 'textbook' on the subject.

That's my input so far. Let me know if more would be appreciated. Tree Machine

Foot locking (1:1) and SRT will not be covered in this book. I want new climbers to focus on the basics first, which is DbRT. They can later build off the basics if they choose. The audience I am writing for are Moms, Dads, teens, college folk, and other non-professionals.

All of the new ropes along with many gadgets will be covered. I have no doubt that the book will be outdated after the first year of publication. There are so many new tools being developed!

It’s been my experience with teaching non-professionals over 20 years that introducing too many techniques from the beginning leads to confusion. Too many choices is not always a good thing when you are a beginner climbing aloft for the first time.

Thanks for the offer of help Tree Machine. I think I have got my reviewers already lined up.

Please keep posting on the board here all the same.

Now this is refreshing…

Originally posted by Treeman
It’s been my experience with teaching non-professions over 20 years that introducing too many techniques from the beginning leads to confusion. Too many choices is not always a good thing when you are a beginner climbing...

The question of “how technical recreational tree climbing should be” has been previously discussed here. As I remember it stirred things up a bit too. In the thread the comment was made that “Recreational tree climbing isn’t rocket science”. I myself would like to think that It shouldn’t have to be.

This forum attracts the best and most skilled of the sport. Simply working a throw line can be a science of it’s own. (As we recently saw here). But simple DRT with a sprinkling of some alloy gadgets to keep it interesting is probably the best recipe for attracting and holding new rec climbers.

So the point is, recreational tree climbing needs to be presented as safe and fun without being technically overwhelming. Not every 39 year old Mom or Dad is going to pack up the kids and head to a Central American Rain Forest shortly after buying their first NewTribe saddle.

Perhaps the Treeman’s initiative of keeping recreational climbing Fun and not technically demanding is more than clever… Its ingenious!

I betcha Lance Armstrong’s Mom has some old photos of him using training wheels.