Old growth tree climbing
- Thread starter Oxman
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Thanks to Chris Coates for putting together the Destination: Trees! rec climb in May, 2021.
This shot shows Anthony getting a line about 175' up & over.
A few of these crossbow rigs have been donated to the Tree Research Education Endowment Fund, & made available at TREE Fund auctions. 1 crossbow was auctioned off in California at the 2020 Redwood Rec Climb & Campout last August, and another was given as a premium to a TREE Fund donor at an auction at the North American Open Masters NAOM Colonial Williamsburg tree climbing competition in Virginia in May, 2021.
The high point of the Yosemite trip was when Chris hauled up the crossbow into a Giant Sequoiadendron tree. He was at 230', and couldn't see the route that the rope was following to hoist the crossbow thru. We used voice & radios to pause, while I redirected the line to allow the unwieldy crossbow to bypass lower limbs, then he resumed hoisting the archery linesetting unit after the obstacle was cleared. We did not know if the route would allow the crossbow to pass, so there was some uncertainty, and then elation when it reached him successfully.
The time to shoot the arrow from tree to tree was very late in the day. We had spent a lot of time hiking and shooting just to get climbers into the 2 trees, which are 180' apart. Luckily, our crew has experience bowhunting & fishing, so the components on the linesetting rig weren't completely unfamiliar. The inletting woodwork on the forearm stock to attach the Michell 300 reel was done by @JeffSchroeder1982. The reel was overflowing with 125 yards of Berkley Fireline in the #20 pound test size, which has a diameter of #6 test line. Since all the fishing line wouldn't fit on the spool, it had to be shortened, which did not allow the arrow to reach the ground on the other side of the tree. We then had to lengthen the line, before being able to attach the 400' throwline, and reel it in in the second stage of the 3-stage line pull operation. The arrow on the uncocked bow was sticking out in a cross formation, making the package a little less than streamlined for Chris to hoist.
Then there was the possibility that drawing back the bowstring would not be possible for a climber standing on the end of a branch. Usually this operation is done with the foot stirrup firmly pushed into the ground, for stability. It takes a lot of strength to bend the limbs of the bow with 150 pounds of force. This was the first day this bow had ever been fired, and it was quite stiff.
It was about dusk when we were locked and loaded. There would be no time to send up a spare arrow for a reshoot if the shot missed. Hoisting anything up a 230' line is an exhausting and time-consuming process. The climbers in the other tree were in voice & sight contact, and audio signals were good between them. On the ground, the creek rushing past the trees made hearing what was going on upstairs difficult. Chris has a great phone pic of lining up to make the shot. The receiving tree has a 75' dead top, which kinda looks like a set of gunsights, so it's a very visual operation, with plenty of lead & arrow drop.
The rest is history. The receiving team was able to retrieve the arrow, and select a secure fork to anchor the center of the 600' highline. The shot was successful on the first try, which was Chris' first time ever cocking & shooting a crossbow, much less in a tree.
The crew commenced the 3-stage horizontal line pull, consisting of fishing line, throwline, and then climbing line. Each of these 3 pulls are almost 400' long. During each of these pulls, the line must be stowed on the reel or in bags, or else an impossible snag would stop the effort immediately. In this type of operation, with a doubled rope, it is critical that both ends of the line reach the ground. In the dark, it was a challenge for me to find the center of the line on the ground, and then mark it, so the folks up above could be sure that their weight would be supported equally by each half of the twin highlines.
Most of old growth tree climbing is line management. Each climber also has their own individual climbing line (about 200' long), and a long flipline (about 75' long). These auxiliary lines tend to complicate the visual sorting out of the 600' group lines that are shared in each tree. Night climbing further complicates matters with reduced visibility, fatigue, and bathroom duty issues.
This shot shows Anthony getting a line about 175' up & over.
A few of these crossbow rigs have been donated to the Tree Research Education Endowment Fund, & made available at TREE Fund auctions. 1 crossbow was auctioned off in California at the 2020 Redwood Rec Climb & Campout last August, and another was given as a premium to a TREE Fund donor at an auction at the North American Open Masters NAOM Colonial Williamsburg tree climbing competition in Virginia in May, 2021.
The high point of the Yosemite trip was when Chris hauled up the crossbow into a Giant Sequoiadendron tree. He was at 230', and couldn't see the route that the rope was following to hoist the crossbow thru. We used voice & radios to pause, while I redirected the line to allow the unwieldy crossbow to bypass lower limbs, then he resumed hoisting the archery linesetting unit after the obstacle was cleared. We did not know if the route would allow the crossbow to pass, so there was some uncertainty, and then elation when it reached him successfully.
The time to shoot the arrow from tree to tree was very late in the day. We had spent a lot of time hiking and shooting just to get climbers into the 2 trees, which are 180' apart. Luckily, our crew has experience bowhunting & fishing, so the components on the linesetting rig weren't completely unfamiliar. The inletting woodwork on the forearm stock to attach the Michell 300 reel was done by @JeffSchroeder1982. The reel was overflowing with 125 yards of Berkley Fireline in the #20 pound test size, which has a diameter of #6 test line. Since all the fishing line wouldn't fit on the spool, it had to be shortened, which did not allow the arrow to reach the ground on the other side of the tree. We then had to lengthen the line, before being able to attach the 400' throwline, and reel it in in the second stage of the 3-stage line pull operation. The arrow on the uncocked bow was sticking out in a cross formation, making the package a little less than streamlined for Chris to hoist.
Then there was the possibility that drawing back the bowstring would not be possible for a climber standing on the end of a branch. Usually this operation is done with the foot stirrup firmly pushed into the ground, for stability. It takes a lot of strength to bend the limbs of the bow with 150 pounds of force. This was the first day this bow had ever been fired, and it was quite stiff.
It was about dusk when we were locked and loaded. There would be no time to send up a spare arrow for a reshoot if the shot missed. Hoisting anything up a 230' line is an exhausting and time-consuming process. The climbers in the other tree were in voice & sight contact, and audio signals were good between them. On the ground, the creek rushing past the trees made hearing what was going on upstairs difficult. Chris has a great phone pic of lining up to make the shot. The receiving tree has a 75' dead top, which kinda looks like a set of gunsights, so it's a very visual operation, with plenty of lead & arrow drop.
The rest is history. The receiving team was able to retrieve the arrow, and select a secure fork to anchor the center of the 600' highline. The shot was successful on the first try, which was Chris' first time ever cocking & shooting a crossbow, much less in a tree.
The crew commenced the 3-stage horizontal line pull, consisting of fishing line, throwline, and then climbing line. Each of these 3 pulls are almost 400' long. During each of these pulls, the line must be stowed on the reel or in bags, or else an impossible snag would stop the effort immediately. In this type of operation, with a doubled rope, it is critical that both ends of the line reach the ground. In the dark, it was a challenge for me to find the center of the line on the ground, and then mark it, so the folks up above could be sure that their weight would be supported equally by each half of the twin highlines.
Most of old growth tree climbing is line management. Each climber also has their own individual climbing line (about 200' long), and a long flipline (about 75' long). These auxiliary lines tend to complicate the visual sorting out of the 600' group lines that are shared in each tree. Night climbing further complicates matters with reduced visibility, fatigue, and bathroom duty issues.
Destination: Trees! 2021 photo by Michael Oxman
We ended up shooting lots of video at this event. The camera used is a Sony Cybershot RX10 Mark 4. The footage from the RX10 was turned over to the director of our documentary video, Robert Oxman. Robert photoshopped all the footage & still photos, removing vibration, adding slow motion to the pans, color-rendering the footage, creating special effects (such as the night scene) and adding a soundtrack.
The finished product is a 4K video that is 10 minutes long. There is no dialog, which makes the film suitable for international audiences in countries that speak languages other than english. The Youtube version is best viewed by clicking the gear icon in the browser to change the settings to 2160p, which is in 4K. If your device has a 4K display screen, even small details, such as the fishing line reeling off the spool can be seen.
Without further ado, here is the video. Voila!
Climbing Old Growth Giant Sequoia Trees 2021 in 4K, 10 minutes
We ended up shooting lots of video at this event. The camera used is a Sony Cybershot RX10 Mark 4. The footage from the RX10 was turned over to the director of our documentary video, Robert Oxman. Robert photoshopped all the footage & still photos, removing vibration, adding slow motion to the pans, color-rendering the footage, creating special effects (such as the night scene) and adding a soundtrack.
The finished product is a 4K video that is 10 minutes long. There is no dialog, which makes the film suitable for international audiences in countries that speak languages other than english. The Youtube version is best viewed by clicking the gear icon in the browser to change the settings to 2160p, which is in 4K. If your device has a 4K display screen, even small details, such as the fishing line reeling off the spool can be seen.
Without further ado, here is the video. Voila!
Climbing Old Growth Giant Sequoia Trees 2021 in 4K, 10 minutes
Error message from Arboristsite, saying that the file size of my images are too large. Dang, guess we'll just have to shrink them down into little itty bitty postage stamp size pieces.
OK, here's another try!
Hadda crop the hell outta that one! Oh well, guess this is why I switched over to Facebook a decade ago.
OK, here's another try!
Hadda crop the hell outta that one! Oh well, guess this is why I switched over to Facebook a decade ago.
Have a few more pics to upload, but this forum won't allow it.
Lets try this:
The point is to get the video to go viral. If high quality content won't work, I don't know that any particular social media platform is best.
Here's my instagram handle. Follow me if you want more of this stuff.
#tree_dr
Lets try this:
The point is to get the video to go viral. If high quality content won't work, I don't know that any particular social media platform is best.
Here's my instagram handle. Follow me if you want more of this stuff.
#tree_dr
The outtakes from the video are here:
Click here for Facebook album of Sequoiadendron climbing images
Click here for Facebook album of Sequoiadendron climbing images
