The long story of a tree climbing harness
The development of the first treeAustria tree climbing harness already started in 1998 in Austria. It all started with an idea by Franz Kreuzeder. He was known in Austria for a long time in the field of forestry education. But his interest and passion shifted more and more in the direction of tree care.
At that time, there was very little special equipment for arborists, and of course the climbing harness is the central part of a climbing arborist's equipment. He took the widely used belt from Don Blair and developed it further. The biggest difference was the used material. The harness of Don Blair was made of leather and therefore very robust and durable but also heavy and inflexible. So the leather was completely replaced with textile materials. The result was one of the first lightweight and functional tree climbing harnesses available in Europe. The treeAustria 1 was born.
After a few self-made prototypes the production process was entrusted to the Haberkorn Company. This made it possible to have perfect quality and expertise right from the start. Now only someone was needed who had the opportunity to sell the new harness worldwide. And the first thought was one of the pioneers of the tree care business Friedrich Drayer.
From this cooperation and an idea finally a small revolution emerged and after a short time one of the best-selling tree climbing harnesses on the market. This was the beginning of a long history of continuous development and improvement of the treeAustria and it continues until today.
Another unique selling point at the time was the posibility of attaching a seat board and a chest strap. That significantly increasing the flexibility and bandwidth of using the treeAustria.
In the following years until today, permanent and tireless work was done on further development. Many ideas, also from some friendly arborists, were implemented or discarded after extensive tests and many climbing hours.
2004 followed the first big update with the treeAustria 2. Among other things, there were now additional attachment points for the lanyard, the connection from hip belt to leg loop was now infinitely adjustable in length and instead of the large sliding D now an aluminum ring was used on the central band. This allowed the harness to be used more flexibly and the better adaptability made it even more comfortable.
2008 the next version was the treeAustria 3. The focus in the development was on the connection point of the hip-leg connection and the central belt. This should be more flexible, so that the harness could better adapt to the respective climbing position. So far, it was sewn firmly, but from now on a D ring was used at this point and thus significantly improved flexibility.
2010 the next development took place with the treeAustria 3.1. To further improve wear resistance and customization options, the D rings have been replaced with shackles as a connection point. From now on, it was always possible to exchange the heavily stressed central belt or to install other lengths. The lifetime has been greatly increased by this possibility.
2014 the current treeAustria 3.2 followed. Over the years, Friedrich Drayer was more and more involved in the development. The 3.2 was finally developed completely by Drayer and Haberkorn together. He got larger and more comfortable leg loops, more standard attachment points and infinitely adjustable hip-leg connections. This makes the treeAustria 3.2 one of the best tree climbing harnesses on the market for years.
2021 was a very exciting year for us. We are all the more pleased to be able to say that the treeAustria Pro is the best of 22 years of experience, combined in one arborist harness. Excellent wearing comfort was the focus of development right from the start. We have completely revised the geometry and improved the weight distribution.
Aluminum rings now provide the connection between the hip belt and the leg loops. In order to have even more options, a second bridge can now also be installed. We also attached great importance to the packaging. It should be as environmentally friendly as possible. That's why we spent a long time looking for what we felt was the best packaging.
The result was that the treeAustria Pro arborist harness has no packaging at all. Instead, a stylish gear carabiner is included that holds the arborist harness together. A "packaging" with added value.
But the long history of treeAustria is not over yet. The permanent development and collection of ideas is still going on. It will be interesting to see what innovations coming up next.
