My first tree ascend (single rope technique).
It is a video (145 MB).
So, here we are, the equipment has just been bought, I have watched the youtube tutorials on how to ascend and even on how to change to descending mode even when the rope is under tension…. not that easy to figure out when you are dangling up there. First move was to get the rope up there into the easiest of the three oaks. The throwing went pretty smoothly the rope was quickly in a good position and tied to the trunk. Ready to ascend! Before I went up I did do a little test run at about half a meter above the ground. I had some issues and had to try again. The second time I was able to ascend and to return to descending and I felt comfortable enough to go up. My climbing buddy (Ana) had the video camera ready and there it is my first ascend. Once you are well beyond 5 m there is no turning back, it is kind of scary to just rely on the thin rope, but it works like a charm.
Once I was up there it was important to get well into the tree from the rope which actually was fairly straight forward. I quickly employed my second safety putting a sling around the trunk and hooking that into my climbing belt. The first oak is well separated from the house and even the patio so there was little to no danger to destroy anything but the ground in the garden, that is not in great shape anyway. So the happy cutting started and branch by branch went down under close observation of my buddy. It was surprisingly smooth, I was somewhat uneasily thinking about the moment when I had to go down, again relying on the rope and my descending skills.
