I like a seat so climbing like that would never work for me. However, at one time I'd do whatever it took to get up a tree. I tried to invent a climbing system to get me up in some of those huge trees with lots of big limbs. The idea was to mount a stand on one of them spreading out from the trunk (sitting on a horizontal rather than a vertical limb). I made a throw rope with a weight attached to it on one end and a rolled up ladder made from rope and aluminum tubing on the other end. The idea was to throw the rope over a limb, pull it down, and tie it off on the ground after the ladder was pulled up as high as I wanted. That part worked great. Once you started climbing it you were pushing the bottom of the ladder away from you as you put your weight on it and basically you'd end up climbing horizontally through the air rather than vertically. At times you were even climbing upside down. I tried anchoring the bottom of the ladder to the ground and then when you tried climbing you'd constantly be spinning around. I had to abandon my idea but it sure would have made some great film clips while I was experimenting.
