I did a Google search for climbing roses zone five and found these.

All Ablaze - "A Large-flowered Climber. Hardy vigorous and clean. Slight spice fragrance. Don Juan is the seed parent. Not consistent in tropical climates, but does well in all others. 8-12 ft, Z5."

Altissimo - "1967 Large, bright red, single flowers on dark green healthy disease resistant foliage. Excellent vigor and continuous bloom. Good as a pillar rose or along a trellis. 10+ x 6 ft. Hardy to zone 5."

Here is a link that might be useful: climbing roses

Altissimo is more than equipped to defend itself too.

Check out the hardy ramblers like Paul's Himalayan musk rambler, François Juranville, American Pillar, Veilchenbleu, also Geschwind's ramblers . They are once bloomers but grow quickly and are appropriate for up a tree and have an amazing number of blooms.

Here is a link that might be useful: paul's himalayan musk at HMF

I have 20 climbers none of which really climb. Especially in z5a. It is just too hard on them.

Now on the other hand Ramblers are truly big. My Baltimore Belle, a cross with Rosa Setigera, a hardy native rose, grows 10' foot canes that are tip hardy. None of my so called climbers come close to BB. It also is very disease resistance. Blooms once but very profusely and is very fragrant. And finally it ignores my soil and gardening habits. Put it and stood back.

I look forward to it's bloom every year!

I'm right on the lake in Cleveland. This Dr. W. Van Fleet is down the street from me. No one takes care of it. Every spring it has this show.
If you want a once bloomer that blooms for about a month you could get this. If you want one that will repeat bloom you could get New Dawn which is a sport of Dr. W.

I think you should ask on the Antique Roses forum too. They might have more suggestions. Here are some photos for you.

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Awakening, a sport of New Dawn, does beautifully for me here in West Akron. Hardy to the tips most years and topping out around 10 feet after four years in the ground. But I don't know of any greenhouse in Akron that carries it; I had to mail-order. New Dawn, basically the same rose but with fewer petals per bloom, is pretty easy to find. Try Donzell's or Dayton's.

I don't know if it would get all the way up into a tree, though. Maybe a trumpet vine would do the trick. I've seen them growing wild all over the place, up phone poles and dead trees, and I have one that's doing a good job eating my back fence.

As I understand Long John Silver should be hardy in your zone. I want this rose myself badly, but have no space for huge roses.
Olga

Here is a link that might be useful: Long John Silver

Given that Long John Silver has the last two years in a pot, doing nothing but looking at me, I'm rather skeptical about this one in the real world. Hopefully, I'll get it in the ground this summer and have a reasonable winter report next year. Horvath setigeras aren't the same as Feast setigeras in the same way Kordes kordesii and Explorer kordesii aren't the same.

In ways, this is simply a numbers game. There are once blooming hardy roses that can easily send out 20 ft canes. Queen of the Prairies, Baltimore Belle, maybe some of the multiflora ramblers if you have the soil for them (I don't). Twenty feet will get you well into a small tree like an old apple tree. Hickories are not small trees. They are decent trees to grow things under because they are tap rooted and vase shaped, but they get considerably more than 20 ft tall. My neighbor's barely even have branches below 20 ft.

It can be done, but it requires a LARGE rose and a SMALL tree. If you want to grow something flowering up the hickory, I'd recommend climbing hydrangea. It start out slowly, but is capable of eventually getting into the 100 ft range.

I have never gardened in zone 5, and I'm not sure how tall this will get in that zone, but I know Rosa filipes is a powerful tree climber in the right climate.

Just a comment about Dr. W. van F and ND. I have both and so far the Doctor is much hardier and more floriferous.

For a nice vivid red try "Illusion". Similar growth habit to New Dawn and Dr vanFleet.

Another carefree pink option might be Dorothy Perkins. Once blooming clusters of tiny pink, no fragrance, but VERY hardy and long canes that have very little dieback for me in z5. I grew it completely over the top of a greenhouse when I live in PNW. It's trying to eat my house here.

Also, climbing cecil bruner may be an option. I'm just trying that this year and not sure how tall it will get here but those in milder zones say it's a monster for them and eventually becomes self-supporting.

Not sure how hardy it is going to be in z5 (supposed to be OK) but another one I'm trying this year that is supposed to be shade tolerant is Austin's Constance Spry. She sends out 15-20 ft canes.

All of these are available at Vintage (photos too).

so i should be looking for a rambler not a climber and reset my sights and think about growing it up through my hawthorne in the front yard instead of the hickory in the back yard.

thanks,
please give me more imput

diggerb

So I'm guessing since I posted pictures of a climber growing 20ft into a tree and I'm in your zone, that you just didn't like the look of Dr. W Van Fleet. In that case maybe you should tell us what you're looking for as far as color and bloom form.

Ok, now that i have time to post more details:

As i orginally posted i am looking for somethig to train into a hickory tree. so i am looking for a big- huge- rose.
The first branch that the rose can grow out onto is 16ft off the ground. and really if it gets there and a few more branches above and then cascades down, I'll be happy

Obviously a 'climber' isn't quite what i need, what i should be looking for is a rambler and then train it into the tree.

next given that i'm in the colder part of zone 5, i'll need something that is hardy. I was under the impression that
rosa filipes wouldn't be hardy enough for my area-- as something like kiftsgate would be great for me which i think is a filipes.

also i thought pauls himalayan musk was not hardy enough for my zone 5b. It too whould be great for what i want. maybe this is not so

from what i've read a rose with wichurana's in its background is what i need to be looking for. this would give me a large rose with the hardiness that i want/need

and now for the next part of my quest:

what type of flower/color and fragrance?

It would be nice to have a fragrant rose, something along the smell of a multiflora would do it for me.

i don't want big lush flowers, i won't be able to pick them
a simple sigle or double rose would be nice as well a clusters of blooms. self cleaning would be nice. a once bloomer would be ok, but a rebloom would be better.
colorwise i'm pretty open. but not big on harsh reds.

I'm looking for a splash of bloom 20-30 ft above my head
sometime in june. for my back yard. originally i wanted to clematis montana rubens, but it just won't make it here.

Probably the roses you're going to find are largely going to be white and in the R. synstellae group (like R. multiflora and R. filipes). I believe those roses are largely fragrant.

What I see at HelpMeFind suggests that R. filipes may be hardy enough for you, although "Kiftsgate" is a particular R. filipes variety that may be too tender.

New Dawn is the only hardy rose I know that is big enough to climb into a tree. I grew it in zone 5 (Denver, CO) and never had any problems with hardiness.