Would this work for a first (and infrequently used) climbing saddle?

[Zale]

Good luck. It's harder than it looks.

 

[RajElectric]

And so is the ground! Whoa! Cough cough ahem

 

[Yesem]

Just to update this thread and thanks for all the insight so far... I ended up buying this Weaver Saddle:
https://www.treestuff.com/store/catalog.asp?item=1510 (Weaver Cotton 4-Dee Saddle)
I'm sure my butt won't thank me for buying a cheaper saddle but I'll only be wearing it a couple hours at a time. I also bought 120' of 1/2" Arbor Plex Climbing Rope. Not a Cadillac of ropes I realize, but it seems to be plenty strong.

Lastly I bought 3 of these rope snaps:
https://www.treestuff.com/store/catalog.asp?item=18
I'm going to make two flip lines from the climbing rope with prusiks tied off (distel hitch) on the right D loops and rope-clipped on my left D loops.

This is $204 all said and done. I was able to source a helmet locally. I couldn't have afforded much more for now.

I feel confident in the rope, I'm pretty familiar with knots but not for this application, I will be doing homework on the best knots to affix to the D rings. I may use double or triple fishermans possibly for that and the rope snaps.

The first tree is pretty straight and uniform to the 20-30' height I'm climbing so I may not even need prusiks to adjust my fliplines for the first climb with the new gear.

Glad to see you bought proper gear. I started out on that exact same saddle and climbing line 3 years ago. Should suit your needs perfectly. Plenty of new climbing equipment can be had for relatively low cost. Always stick with rated gear no matter how "low" or "infrequent" you'll climb with it.

 

[777funk]

Thanks for the thoughts and yes I agree with you 100% Yesem. All it takes is once for an equipment failure. Well worth the cost to get gear that can be depended upon. I'm learning all I can to keep from operator errors.

I'm pretty fit and always could do 30 chin-ups. I'm not a body builder but I don't have any extra pounds. Hopefully that'll work to my advantage as far as rope climbing.

 

[BC WetCoast]

What I'm going to tell you is going to get me flamed, but this is what works for me. If all you are doing is limbing trees 20-30', get yourself a 24 or 32' extension ladder. Lean the ladder in the tree, climb the ladder, TIE IN, then either climb the branches to get higher or work off the ladder. When you're done, you can just rappel down. As long as you're tied in, you can either have someone take the ladder away or work off it.

The young guys on our crew always want to throw into the tree and butt hump their way up. I just climb the ladder into the canopy. Twice as fast and 1/10 the energy. But I don't look as cool. When you're old as dirt like I am, there's no need to look cool.

The other thing you can do is get a pole saw with 3 extensions, with will give you 20' plus your height. If you have a 12' orchard ladder, then you are easily over 30'. Again doesn't look cool.

 

[777funk]

What I'm going to tell you is going to get me flamed, but this is what works for me. If all you are doing is limbing trees 20-30', get yourself a 24 or 32' extension ladder. Lean the ladder in the tree, climb the ladder, TIE IN, then either climb the branches to get higher or work off the ladder. When you're done, you can just rappel down. As long as you're tied in, you can either have someone take the ladder away or work off it.

The young guys on our crew always want to throw into the tree and butt hump their way up. I just climb the ladder into the canopy. Twice as fast and 1/10 the energy. But I don't look as cool. When you're old as dirt like I am, there's no need to look cool.

The other thing you can do is get a pole saw with 3 extensions, with will give you 20' plus your height. If you have a 12' orchard ladder, then you are easily over 30'. Again doesn't look cool.

I think that's a great idea. I actually only need about 10' before I start getting to branches on the tree I'm working on first.
Ladder's a perfect way to get that done.

I'll probably still play a little bit (i.e. wear myself out for no good reason except the sake of learning) with the body thrust climb technique.

My main thing was having 2 tie in points I can depend on. Got that coming tomorrow. Bye bye harbor freight life line rope...

Just Kidding. But it sure does look like climbing Kernmantle. I wonder if anyone's ever started a thread asking if that was suitable climb rope... I might trust it to hold up a dead deer during cleaning. I wouldn't count on it to not let me drop out of a tree. I think I read it has 350 lb working load rating. I wouldn't be surprised if it fails at less than that. I think I read that the Arbor Plex rope I just bought breaks at 6000 lbs.

 

[TheJollyLogger]

Cut a piece. The insides not much more than cotton and paper.

 

[jefflovstrom]

What I'm going to tell you is going to get me flamed, but this is what works for me. If all you are doing is limbing trees 20-30', get yourself a 24 or 32' extension ladder. Lean the ladder in the tree, climb the ladder, TIE IN, then either climb the branches to get higher or work off the ladder. When you're done, you can just rappel down. As long as you're tied in, you can either have someone take the ladder away or work off it.

The young guys on our crew always want to throw into the tree and butt hump their way up. I just climb the ladder into the canopy. Twice as fast and 1/10 the energy. But I don't look as cool. When you're old as dirt like I am, there's no need to look cool.

The other thing you can do is get a pole saw with 3 extensions, with will give you 20' plus your height. If you have a 12' orchard ladder, then you are easily over 30'. Again doesn't look cool.

You are 'So totally Flamed!',,,and some Fisherman persona came out with that wagging pole statement,,oh, to be so wise,,,,,
Jeff, ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, ,, those guy's are weird!!!

 

[KenJax Tree]

F that....im not climbing to the top of a 24' ladder....im good with a throw ball so i'll start there. P.S. Its not about cool...i hate ladders.

 

[ropensaddle]

F that....im not climbing to the top of a 24' ladder....im good with a throw ball so i'll start there. P.S. Its not about cool...i hate ladders.

I don't need no ladder

 

[Zale]

Nothing wrong with using a ladder.