I would get an inspection from another chimney expert, an impartial one who has not worked on your chimney. I would also look closely at the owner's manual for the Jotul unit you have installed. If the previous owner did not give you one (he should have), you may be able to get one from the Jotul website. They sometimes offer them for downloading as pdf files. In my limited understanding of these things (I have a Jotul direct vent gas logs insert in my fireplace), installing a stove in a fireplace probably involves a fair amount of work in retrofitting certain components into the chimney, and probably also requires installing something new at the top -- I think they call it a chase. It is quite possible that the installer of your stove cut some corners and did not follow the Jotul installation instructions. With the manual in hand, you may then be better informed on what needs to be done to correct the problem.

Thank you, Haus. We do have the owner's manual and it's likely the original owner/builder didn't do something properly.

Guess we should start there and not just address the climbing issue!