Peter Jenkins

I'm the Founder of Tree Climbers International, TreeInspection.com, and teach tree climbing classes at my school.

Like most folks, I started climbing trees as a kid. Both my parents were into the outdoors and never discouraged me from climbing. I had a good tree climbing track record; no falls. Both my parents were botany majors and naturalists, which meant I got a lot of information about plants and the trees I climbed as a child.

My parents had a summer home in Estes Park, Colorado. My grandfather once ran a naturalist school for college women there, and we visited every summer. I got into rock climbing and scaled a lot of good granite near the house and in Rocky Mountain National Park. I later enrolled in a rock climbing school which eventually blossomed into the idea of a tree climbing school.

How recreational tree climbing came into being:

I returned to tree climbing by accident in 1978 after rebuilding a dilapidated house with my dad in Estes Park. I was a carpenter contractor at that time and was on my way back to Atlanta. My parents were living in Dallas. There was a catastrophic ice storm on New Year’s Eve. On New Years Day day I awoke to a landscape of shattered and broken trees. I looked at the damage and a light bulb went off. I could become a professional tree climber! I had no training with a chainsaw but I did know what a proper pruning cut looked like. My parents knew about that kind of thing. The idea of making a living climbing rather than as a pastime was too good to resist. I worked with my Dad for 6 months doing storm damage work before returning to Atlanta.

Back in Georgia, I started a tree care business; Treeman Inc. Atlanta has no shortage of trees, being the most heavily forested major city in United States. A staggering variety of tree species, too! There weren’t as many tree services back then, so I had plenty of work and time to practice my new skills. I became a Certified Arborist and studied up on trees and tree care. I later started a tree inspection business, TreeInspection.com.

I loved the job of a climbing arborist. It was the most exciting thing I had ever experienced. Clients saw me enjoying myself and asked if I would take them up into the trees. This was a new idea, but it seemed like a good idea because trees are abundant, unlike good climbing rock. So in 1983 I bought a rundown house on a lot, carted off the house, and started the world’s first recreational tree climbing school, Tree Climbers International Inc., using the same techniques I used as a working arborist and a few techniques I learned as a rock climber. The arborist profession was at first angry with me, thinking I was giving away trade secrets by teaching anyone how to climb trees with ropes, but later found it gave a whole new spin on trees and tree climbing.

I started by teaching one student at a time. It is very different teaching people to climb large trees for enjoyment as opposed to learning how to do tree work. It was a new concept.

Word got around about what I was doing and more students started to show up. It took a few years before I found a padded saddle that would fit small children. That was when I discovered kids could easily and safely climb into the treetops using doubled rope technique; the same technique used by tree workers. Then I started teaching parents and other adults that had no intention of becoming tree workers. Students from other countries came over to be taught, and that is when recreational tree climbing became truly international.

The press and TV picked up on the subject. My climbing name, “Treeman,” became more familiar to people.

I wrote and published a newsletter, "Tree Climbing" for a number of years. You can read these newsletters for free. Go to www.treeclimbing.com and click the "About" tab. You can get an idea of how recreational tree climbing has progressed by reading the issues.

DVD:
My wife and I produced the world's first how to tree climbing DVD, "Tree Climbing Basics." The DVD has made tree climbing much more available to the general public. You can find it at our web site store for $20.

Teaching tree climbing:

I teach beginning recreational tree climbers, entry level tree workers that have no climbing experience, and train people how to open their own tree climbing schools. I also teach aerial rescue.

Tree Climbing Events:
A tree climbing event is where you put up a number of tree climbing stations in one tree and teach people of all ages how to go up the ropes. I host groups of all sizes, ranging from summer camps to climbing birthday parties. It’s something that almost anyone can safely do. We do it at a county park here in Atlanta.

Tree Work:
I am recently retired from the tree care profession, Treeman Inc., after 30 years. No falls and no workman injuries. It is something I am very proud of.

Current occupation:
Pres. Tree Climbers International Inc.
Pres. TreeInspection.com LLC

Upcoming major event:
An online tree climbing course is about to be launched. It is a collaboration between myself and my wife Patty.

Soon to come:
Podcast; "The Tree Climbing Show" The podcast for tree climbers.
The show will feature audio episodes on subjects such as:

Tree climbing gear.
Tree climbing technique.
Tree factoids.
And interviews with tree climbers from all over the world.

Personal Notes:
Married life: I proposed to my wife Patty after climbing 167 feet high and spending the night in a 1000 year old Sitka spruce in the Hoh Rain Forest, Washington. Rita Braver with CBS Sunday Morning was there to do a story on recreational tree climbing. Everyone on the climb knew I was to going to propose except my bride to be. The piece aired October 20, 2002, the day after my wedding. I surprised Patty again when a picture of our wedding showed in the piece. My wife and I work as a team with our tree related businesses. We have no children.

Pets: We have three cats: Bean, a young female Talkanese, Goose, another young female Talkanese cat, and Leroy, a blaze point Siameze cat (the elder). My personal pet is a black widow named Misty. She lives in a clear jar on my desk. She eats crickets I buy at the pet store.

Interests: Both my wife and I are avid birders. Patty works in a glassed in office at home overlooking 10 bird feeding stations. She’s always ready with her binoculars and identification books. The avid and often comedic squirrel population near our feeders brings in the raptors.

I'm an avid reader and photographer. My newest interest is recording sounds with a digital recorder.

My short comings: I have difficulty remembering faces and names. It’s a source of embarrassment when people I have known or corresponded with greet me.

I still climb for fun. My favorite climbing experience; night climbs when the fireflies and katydids are out. My favorite kind of climb is "tree surfing"; riding the winds in the treetops.

If I were a tree I would have 61 rings.