Three Reasons:

1. “Climbers Rope Swings” hung high into the forest trees are incredibly fun
2. I’ve got trees that need some trimming
3. I love Pirating ships

What the hell is he talking about?

The reason I’ve gotten so “into” everything I did as a SEAL is that, for me, it always related back to my personal life as well. I think this is why I don’t see anything for what it is, but I always see them for what they could or should be. Assisted climbing falls into the category of “Tactical Fun” for sure.

Tree Swinging:

Most of us have stuck our foot in the loop of a rope and swung from a tree somewhere. Some of us have busted our ass doing this as well. Few of us have taken “Tree Swinging to the next level.

Next time you go camping with family or friends make sure you bring a minimal climbing kit with you.

• Harness
• Climbing Rope
• 550 Cord

Find a way to get that rope over a high branch, secure it, strap the kids in, and let’m fly!  Then make sure to give your self a turn.

What’s that crap falling out of the tree?

In general I leave all the “Gardening Work” to… well – the gardeners. This was until my neighbor told me they charge $50 a palm tree to cut out the nasty stuff that falls all over the place. Not going to happen!

So I’m online and I learn about an amazing profession called being an Arborist. Oh ya… Their entire job is to climb trees.

Well as it turns out with any profession, they’ve perfected the art, science and safety of tree climbing.  There are tons of options for tree rigging, but this one looked like the latest and greatest. Mini Frog Kit.

Tree Frogs

The Mini Frog kit is a type of “Frog” system for climbing a Single Rope quickly and efficiently. In any Frog System, the climber alternates standing on a foot ascender with standing on a foot strap connected to a hand ascender so that climbing the rope is a lot like climbing a ladder. A chest ascender keeps the climber upright and provides the primary method of attachment on the line.

Pirates Among Us

I know everyone is flying the “Jolly Roger” nowadays, but pirates are criminal turds unless they are conducting VBSS operations. Then they’re cool.

I had the pleasure of dawning a black hood over 17 times in my life when conducting US sanctioned Visit Board Search & Seizure (VBSS). Legal “Good Guy” pirating. Much like my new found Arborist cousins, our job was to come from below, ascend to the heart of the vessel and extricate the undesirable.

There are a variety of ways to do this, and I have found the coolest by far. The only problem is that I have to write it up in another post. Stay tuned.

It will be too expensive to buy, so if you’re looking for a personal option, go with this one.

Mini Frog Kit 

Eric