Recreational climbing to develop skills.

[Oldfeller]

No dog in the fight so to speak,, but what about public liability insurance, what happens if say for example someone takes it upon themselves to climb a tree, in a public park as suggested, and while a member of the public who hasn't noticed or expected anybody to be up trees as no restrictions of access signs or barriers or other indicators  have been put in place, and an accident occurs, branch or any other  object  falls and hits a member of the public, in this world of "where there blame there a claim", how would that pan out, certainly not a good start to a climbing career is my thoughts.

Is it even permissible to climb trees when not contracted to do so by the relevant authoritative body? 

maybe a more favored approach would be,assuming all your ducks are lined up for paid work, would be to start on a few easy low risk jobs, gaining experience and confidence as you go, then maybe taking it up a notch or two once you have a few successes under your belt. obviously your pricing structure could increase as your experience and confidence grows.

Edited Friday at 16:39 by Oldfeller

[Lee54321]

1 hour ago, kram said:

Local park woodland, might be hard to find a decent tree for limb walks thats away from paths and busy areas.

 

No saws etc just climbing kit, no one had any issue with it. The park was a conservation area. Never asked permission - leave it tidy and no damage, no spikes and be aware of people nearby.

 

A few roaming walkers didnt look up, didnt see me, and started nosing through what they thought was an abandoned bag until I shouted down !

I'd suggest taking any excess kit in a backpack and bring your rope up well out of reach, if your on your own.

 

A friend owns a large oak so I was playing on that, and it needed deadwooding, so I dropped that for her whilst I was in there.

 

I would not climb any trees overlooking houses or gardens without permission, sadly most of the decent oaks in my area are in residential green spaces.

 

Or drive until you see a nice domestic garden oak.

I dare say most owners might allow it if asked nicely and you can inspect/deadwood/light prune for them if they want it.

Thanks for the reply.
Dead wooding etc seems to be the way to go.

i am fortunate to live in an area with plenty of decent trees. 

Seems like from most peoples reply’s just need to put my self out there and ask around.

Thanks again 👍
 

Edited Friday at 16:58 by Lee54321

[Lee54321]

29 minutes ago, Oldfeller said:

No dog in the fight so to speak,, but what about public liability insurance, what happens if say for example someone takes it upon themselves to climb a tree, in a public park as suggested, and while a member of the public who hasn't noticed or expected anybody to be up trees as no restrictions of access signs or barriers or other indicators  have been put in place, and an accident occurs, branch or any other  object  falls and hits a member of the public, in this world of "where there blame there a claim", how would that pan out, certainly not a good start to a climbing career is my thoughts.

Is it even permissible to climb trees when not contracted to do so by the relevant authoritative body? 

maybe a more favored approach would be,assuming all your ducks are lined up for paid work, would be to start on a few easy low risk jobs, gaining experience and confidence as you go, then maybe taking it up a notch or two once you have a few successes under your belt. obviously your pricing structure could increase as your experience and confidence grows.

Thanks for the reply,

I won’t be planning of climbing anywhere public as in parks etc..

Going to approach farmers land etc..

I do have a couple of jobs to do but I won’t be doing them until I have the correct insurance etc.. 

appreciate you taking the time to respond,

thanks again.

 

 

 

 

[Mark J]

Take a mate and go and climb a tree. If someone at a park mutters about bylaws, let them mutter, be polite, explain what you're doing, and explain you'll climb down when you're ready to. 

[kram]

5 hours ago, Oldfeller said:

No dog in the fight so to speak,, but what about public liability insurance, what happens if say for example someone takes it upon themselves to climb a tree, in a public park as suggested, and while a member of the public who hasn't noticed or expected anybody to be up trees as no restrictions of access signs or barriers or other indicators  have been put in place, and an accident occurs, branch or any other  object  falls and hits a member of the public, in this world of "where there blame there a claim", how would that pan out, certainly not a good start to a climbing career is my thoughts.

Is it even permissible to climb trees when not contracted to do so by the relevant authoritative body? 

maybe a more favored approach would be,assuming all your ducks are lined up for paid work, would be to start on a few easy low risk jobs, gaining experience and confidence as you go, then maybe taking it up a notch or two once you have a few successes under your belt. obviously your pricing structure could increase as your experience and confidence grows.

Recreational climbing is a recreation, no difference really to running or riding a bike around a park, the latter is frowned apon if its a busy public area, at the back of my local park has mountain bike trails. You wouldnt want to come across a pair of elderly walkers whilst bombing down a trail, but if you knock somone over in a predomantly pedestrian area - you'd get the book thrown at you.

 

So the back of a publc woodland is quite acceptable. Chance of seeing anyone else is slim, just be sensible about it, be aware of people around you.

 

My first 7 trees were frends and neighbours and removed them, one was a bit of a hazard tree so had help/reassurance with it. Also was November so doing it in the dark after work to make it more interesting.

However they were all fairly basic trees.

 

Theres a lot of parks where the grass around trees is kept long, up to knee or hip level thick grass. People and dog walkers will stick to the path. Those trees are ideal for climbing.

Edited Friday at 21:36 by kram

[Oldfeller]

1 hour ago, kram said:

Recreational climbing is a recreation, no difference really to running or riding a bike around a park, the latter is frowned apon if its a busy public area, at the back of my local park has mountain bike trails. You wouldnt want to come across a pair of elderly walkers whilst bombing down a trail, but if you knock somone over in a predomantly pedestrian area - you'd get the book thrown at you.

 

So the back of a publc woodland is quite acceptable. Chance of seeing anyone else is slim, just be sensible about it, be aware of people around you.

 

My first 7 trees were frends and neighbours and removed them, one was a bit of a hazard tree so had help/reassurance with it. Also was November so doing it in the dark after work to make it more interesting.

However they were all fairly basic trees.

 

Theres a lot of parks where the grass around trees is kept long, up to knee or hip level thick grass. People and dog walkers will stick to the path. Those trees are ideal for climbing.

All 9 royal parks there is a total ban on climbing or interfering with any tree, many other parks will possibly have a similar ban in place, at the very least it would be prudent to find out any such rules beforehand out of common courtesy, besides which there are likely to be various fines in place for breaking park rules, you may be experienced enough to treat a tree with care, but imagine if everyone decided to climb it without your level of care, another fact to consider if a climber were to fall not necessarily using the appropriate climbing gear, that long grass would not help being seen and  delay in medical help could be critical depending on any injuries.

But as the op has already stated he will not be climbing in any public areas  so I guess he will be just fine. he is taking a sensible approach.

Edited Friday at 22:51 by Oldfeller

[Mark J]

11 hours ago, Oldfeller said:

All 9 royal parks there is a total ban on climbing or interfering with any tree, many other parks will possibly have a similar ban in place, at the very least it would be prudent to find out any such rules beforehand out of common courtesy, besides which there are likely to be various fines in place for breaking park rules, you may be experienced enough to treat a tree with care, but imagine if everyone decided to climb it without your level of care, another fact to consider if a climber were to fall not necessarily using the appropriate climbing gear, that long grass would not help being seen and  delay in medical help could be critical depending on any injuries.

But as the op has already stated he will not be climbing in any public areas  so I guess he will be just fine. he is taking a sensible approach.

^ Nope. 

Climbing of smaller trees isn't frowned upon in public parks in England, kids do it all the time, and rightly so. We are primates after all. I've free-climbed trees since I was able to. 

When teaching a mate the ropes a parky did indeed come up and say that other people might try and copy. Good luck with that when the first branch is 7 or 8 metres off the ground. 

@Lee54321 Just crack on. Be polite. If stopped before you ascend then stop and find another tree. Make sure you bring a mate in case you get your boot stuck in a crotch or something like that.  Sometimes it's better to ask for forgiveness rather than beg for permission. 

[JLA1990]

“Sometimes it's better to ask for forgiveness rather than beg for permission” perfect answer! We live in a mad world where by people question whether they can climb a tree on public land 😆 as people have said just be polite if questioned and keep your kit off the floor . 

[Mark J]

1 hour ago, JLA1990 said:

“Sometimes it's better to ask for forgiveness rather than beg for permission” perfect answer! We live in a mad world where by people question whether they can climb a tree on public land 😆 as people have said just be polite if questioned and keep your kit off the floor . 

Good point: Haul your rope bag/backpack, with rope flaked and not coiled into it, off the ground - dogs like to piss on things that aren't theirs.

My experience of climbing big trees in parks is that the public are generally inquisitive and supportive.

Don't use a tree that people are likely to be going underneath. A bounced dislodged bit of deadwood would rapidly diminish your hero status. 

[kram]

Generally things are only banned if they become a nuisance.

 

Use the correct gear and dont fall is the answer to that one.

 

Anyway some other suggestions are cricket/golf clubs tho they can be somewhat public. My training and tickets were done at a cricket ground in a small village. They gained some light pruning of the trees and a dead birch felled.