The first VTIO advanced tree climbing workshop took place on Monday 5th July and was a great success.  The day was clear and warm despite some early clouds, and we were lucky enough not to get any rain.

The group completed a range of scenarios set in five different trees, and used some surprising and innovative techniques.  We also spent time indoors, looking at force vectors and discussing the VTIO Tree Climbing Guidelines.  The VTIO hopes to take these out of the draft stage by the Victorian Tree Climbing Competition (tentatively scheduled for Oct. 23rd in Warragul) and we really need feedback from the climbing community!

The handouts from the workshop (on Force Vectors, Redirects, and Single Rope Technique) are now available in PDF format from the Downloads section of the website.  These are intended to be ‘living’ documents, and will be regularly revised as techniques evolve and new equipment gets produced, so do get in touch if you have a better way of doing things or think that an old favourite which we have left out ought to be included.

Please also get your thinking caps on, and check out the Redirect Challenge, in the Redirects download.  The VTIO is offering a prize of $300 for the best new redirect plan sent in by the VTCC, in late October.  Ged Reynolds is currently leading the field with an innovative variation on the ‘Ropeman Redirect’.

The VTIO would like to thank  the City of Boroondara for their invaluable help and support in making this workshop such a success.  In addition, Cannings of Mt Waverley were ready as always to give their support for the industry, and provided the sponsorship which let us hold this event.  The ATRAES group will soon have several of the SRT systems discussed and demonstrated, as well as a custom-spliced redirect, available for sale through their website.   Even if you missed the workshop, you should take the time to check out this exciting new gear!

The VTIO is also looking forward to running another workshop between now and the climbing competition.  Details are still to be confirmed, but both ‘Aerial Rescue’ and ‘Visual Tree Assessment’ are strong candidates.  Keep checking the website for more details closer to the time.

Although we are still waiting for the official ATCC results to be posted, the VTIO congratulates Grant Cody and Kiah Martin for bringing home the national titles… again!  They will be representing Australia in the international tree climbing championships in Chicago, so good luck to them both.

The competition in Adelaide was a great success, so congratulations as well to Doug Sharp, Brett Hamlin and the rest of the ISAAC and SASA volunteers for putting on such a great event.  Although it might be a (slight) exaggeration to talk about a media frenzy, the event did receive national reporting!

On that subject, those of you who took part in the Victorian competition last November may also be interested to read the Inside Sport article on the event.

It’s great for the competition and the industry to be gaining such positive coverage, so hopefully we can attract more coverage of the next Victorian competition.  And what is more, we get to see Kiah and Grant becoming official (D-grade) celebrities!

And so another Arborcamp has been and gone.  It was a great weekend, with lots of workshops and activites: hopefully everyone had a good time, and picked up a few new tricks!  Thanks to everyone who took part, helped run events or cleaned up afterwards.  A full write-up of the weekend can be found on the Arborcamp page.

The VTIO would particularly like to thank our Gold Sponsor, Cannings Outdoor Power Equipment of Mt Waverley.  Cannings has been a leading importer, manufacturer, distributor and retailer in the Outdoor Power Equipment Industry for over 50 years, as well as being importers and suppliers of high quality Yale ropes, world standard climbing gear and industrial height safety equipment and techniques, through the ATRAES brand.  Cannings are always ready to offer their support to the industry, particularly through their sponsorship of events such as Arborcamp and the annual Victorian Tree Climbing Competition.

The VTIO relies on the support of its sponsors to continue to host events such as Arborcamp and the annual Victorian Tree Climbing Competition.  We would like to thank our Silver Sponsors: Bandit Tree Equipment; Treegear; and Vermeer.  All put in to help fund the event, and were there on the day to give their support to the industry, and to demonstrate their products.

In addition, Arborcamp was held with the support of our Trade Sponsors.  The VTIO would like to thank Arbormaster; Rayco; Arbortrim; Citywide Tree Care and Mt William Tree Nursery.

The next Victorian Arborcamp will be held in 2012, as next year sees the world Arborcamp coming to Australia for the first time, and we will be putting our energies toward helping with that.   Hopefully we will see you all there, but if not, see you in 2012!

The VTIO’s Draft Tree-Climbing Guidelines are now available online for your input.

You can download a copy from the Guidelines page here, and use the form underneath to give us your criticism or your ideas if you wish.  Any input is welcome.

Please bear in mind that the guidelines are still in a draft stage, and are not necessarily to be taken as the views of the VTIO, or of any of the committee.