UKC

hi. total newbie here.

My daughter is 6 and climbing is her number 1 thing in the world to do. done indoor walls etc, but have a 10 metre ish tree in my garden and have seen stuff online about putting the holds on it. easy enough making sure they sit flat etc. what i need help with is the set up, im thinking an anchor sling with aluminum alloy rings at the top. the one ive seen says 22 kn, which when googled this means 2200kg?

From that 2 screw type carabiners through this, with the screws opposite to one another. then rope through to belay and climber. Lastly rope seems a mine field to me, what mm rope , brand , special spec, would i need? Any help would be much appriciated. cheers in advance

Hi Simon,

I've got a few questions...

How are you attaching holds to your tree? I'm not an expert but if I was drilling into my tree I'd be worried about damaging its long term health.

That aside though, you could easily setup a top rope anchor with a couple of slings and some screw gates, I'm not sure you need any rings, you can just attach directly to the screw gates.

How are you going to get this setup to the top of your tree?

The rope bit isn't complicated, any climbing rope would do but since you won't be carting it around get a thicker one rather than a thinner one as it'll be harder wearing. You're only going 10m up so you don't need a long rope (they are usually 50/60/70m as standard) so find a shop that sells them off a reel or sometimes you get shorter ropes mostly used for indoor walls.

I'm guessing you've already done some belaying if your daughter is into climbing? If not then I'd do an introductory course somewhere so you know what you're doing.

I'd also talk to someone with some experience about your setup and maybe have someone look over it. It's always good to have more than one person look at things just to make sure it's all safe and there's nothing unexpected.

You should also think about the lifetime of your setup. Slings don't last forever, they deteriorate with weathering so to keep it safe you'll need to replace them periodically (I'm not sure how often, maybe someone else can advise!).

I'd also wonder how you're planning to get the rope up there, unless you're planning to leave it in situ, and with both the rope and the slings I'd be very concerned about weathering.

They're not meant to be left outside, and UV can damage textiles really quickly.

Climbers on a route making the decision to clip into some in-situ tat is different from making that your permanent set-up.

Maybe you could get some accessory cord, leave that threaded through your anchor, and use that to pull the climbing rope up each time? Then at least the climbing rope won't be getting damaged.

I'd also suggest something metal for the anchor rather than fabric slings -- maybe a chain?

It's awesome that you want to do this for your daughter, just worth checking all the details to make sure it's completely safe.

Drilling into the tree is obviously a bad idea, from the tree's point of view.  Bear in mind that your daughter will soon get bored with doing the same route over and over again and you may want to move the holds from time to time to give her a new challenge.  The tree will end up full of holes, which risks letting in rot and infection.  There are systems available for fastening holds using straps around the tree.

You won't be able to leave the rope in place, as it will deteriorate if exposed to sunshine and weather.  It would also be a temptation to climb unsupervised - kids will be kids! Will you be able to rig it safely each time? Also think whether they might be tempted if the lower holds are reachable, even with no rope in place.  If you use straps, consider removing the lower holds after a climbing session.

Watch out for wear to the karabiners, they can wear out surprisingly quickly.  Steel krabs are probably more durable, although watch out for corrosion. However aluminium krabs can also corrode in the damp British climate.

How are you proposing to fix the slings around the tree?  If it's attached to branches, can you be sure they're strong enough?  If you're tying it around the trunk, do you know how to tie the correct knots?  Are you aware of the appropriate angles to allow between sling and krabs to avoid putting too much force on the sling?  

I absolutely agree that you should get someone experienced to check your set-up.  Nevertheless, done properly there is no reason why this should not work, and without causing damage to the tree.

Have you thought about adding some straps to the tree and then using it as a support for a set of ply boards? Then again, you might be better just to build a free standing play bouldering wall using bolts to hold it together so you can put it up quickly. That would offer more variety and with a couple of bouldering pads it would be a lot safer. Also good for some training. 

also 

https://headrushtech.com/backyard-climbing-wall/

Bit hard on the tree possibly.  A plastic-coated steel wire rope might be a better choice to be left in situ.  This kind of thing:

https://www.lyon.co.uk/anchors-lanyards/strops

The only issue I can see with this, other than those already pointed out, is that once you've placed the holds on the tree, it being in her own back garden, she's going to have it mastered pretty quick and will lose interest pretty quickly (after all it's only 10m and no climber wants to climb the same sort route over an over and over, even if they're as young as your daughter) so you'll need to reset all the holds which will be yet more faff and cause more damage to the tree.

It's for this reason most people who have a home setup tend to set a training board, rather than routes, as you can leave all the holds right where they are and just make up new problems by linking them differently (though I'm not suggesting this would be suitable for your young daughter!)

22kn refers to a force rather than a weight, but rest assured 22kn will be more than strong enough to hold your daughter.

For rope, any single rope you get from a reputable climbing shop will be fine.

hi thanks all sooooooooooo much for the replies, i have a big ladder to remove the slings each time, so taking comments onboard , im guessing 2 sling approach from 2 points to spread the load? then onto 2 carabiners. ive done belaying before before i had kids about 5 times, but have booked to go to take the daughter and speak to the instructor, etc. im not particularly worried about damaging the tree , my wife wants it cut down anyway as it shades the garden! the hold will the screwed on. ive seen the tree wraps which are bloody expensive so i think they are out of the question.  Again thank you all so much for replying its such a great help! so 10mm rope, some harenesses from go outdoors, carabiners, black diamond belay system? lastly what am i looking for with the slings min width etc, or where to get from? thanks in advance

Doesn't the tree have enough knobbly bark/branches on it to climb it without screwing holds on to it? My earliest climbing fall when I was about 5 was falling out of a tree I was climbing and cutting my head open on a passing barbed wire fence. My Mum wasn't at all impressed.

As an option for portability between trees then a friction saver might be an option with the advantage you don't need to use a ladder.

youtube.com/watch?v=sKEfLm066-4&

To be honest, any sling you buy from a climbing shop will be absolutely fine, even one as thin as 6 mm will be more than strong enough to hold your daughters weight.  I'd be more concerned about the branch or whatever they're tied round snapping that the sling!

I'd go for 2  8mm x 120mm dyneema slings.  Better to have ones that are a bit too  long and hang down a bit rather than ones too short to allow you to rig them.

Some of my best early memories (4 or 5ish) was of climbing trees, i don't think plastic holds would have added to the experience tbh.

I'm guessing part of the problem is a lack of branches/holds in the first few meters.

How about strapping a scaffold plank with ratchet straps to the trunk at the base?

Then you can add holds to the plank.

Edit: Remove the metal strap at the end.