Can you climb big ass trees?

Be advised that using a bow and arrow in the National Parks is not legal. And if you do go for this, do not climb any of the trees with names... Those are the only ones people are really looking at, and this would be a quasi-legal activity (probably not legal, actually). Better to operate under the radar, away from the trails and the crowds.

SirTobyThe3rd wrote:If you climb this tree, they will consider you bad ass in tree climbing community! The monkeys are sendin!

sick tree!!!!!!!!!!!

Yea, that's the guy I saw which I referenced in my original post. I've got a couple PM's from people on MP giving me some real info, and offering to partner up. It's going to happen for sure. Guess its going to be Mountian/Tree Project...

please write a trip report for supertopo.com, or PM it to me for the lulz

The plan is set, I'm in the process of acquiring necessary gear. Partners lined up. I will definetly have a trip report in the next month.

Haven't people been camping in trees to keep them from being cut down for years? Maybe you should sack-up and add the "T" to BASTE jumping.

sherrilltree.com/Profession…
not sure if this will get to the top of one of the big ass sequoia's you intend on climbing, but its a pretty cool concept. a friend of mine climbs trees and told me about this thing.

from what i've seen done, and in simplest terms, you shoot a very small diameter tag line up over a limb and then pull up your climbing line. then ascend the rope. easier said than done. im not an arborist. i've only learned this from a friend who wants to be an arborist. i've climbed a few trees this way.
maybe someone on here who is a professional arborist/tree climber can correct me if im wrong.

Funny you mention that, I'm ordering the 8ft model. I have a friend in CO that climbs trees for a living and he hinted that this may be the trick. It's really all about getting the first line fixed. First branches can be 60+ft off ground so a throw bag is out of the question. You can find big shots for about $100 online so not a horrible investment if it doesn't work out.

I'm thinking "World's Largest Rope Swing" and YouTube and these trees are gonna be fucked by an increase in the popularity of this activity.

Deja vu all over again.

The best thing about the climbing gyms is the number of people they keep indoors.

Oh what a wonderful idea... your going to go dick off on a tree that has been growing for thousands of years in an every increasingly stressful environment so you can have a good time? NICE! Why don't you be a man and go solo aid some shit?

Randy,
Interesting point of view. I hope your being sarcastic, or can back up your claims that I would be harming the tree. When I first started this thread I figured that I'd get a few tree huggers bitching about the environment. The PM's and responses I've got are all positive. I'm sure it's no more harmful than drilling bolts into rock that's much older and doesn't grow back. Guess haters gunna hate. Must be stressful posting from county jail, living vicariously thru all the guys here who are actually ticking off climbs and dreams.

RyanN: Climb on! The trees won't mind. Squirrels do it all the time, yet I don't see them getting lambasted for their reprehensible actions!

If anything, it's less offensive than bolting or chipping cliffs, because trees grow back and heal themselves versus the permanent nature of defacing rock. Hopefully this opens a can 'o worms

Ben Brotelho wrote:RyanN: Climb on! The trees won't mind. Squirrels do it all the time, yet I don't see them getting lambasted for their reprehensible actions! If anything, it's less offensive than bolting or chipping cliffs, because trees grow back and heal themselves versus the permanent nature of defacing rock. Hopefully this opens a can 'o worms

I agree. Send it!
People have misconceptions of tree health and growth patterns. My girlfriend and I, once watched on at the Boulder Farmer's Market, as a grown man 'lambasted' some children for swinging on an old Oak branch. He exclaimed how it would hurt the tree, charged their mother to teach them more respect for living beings, and so on and so on.
I wanted to beat him with that Oak branch. Trees thrive on stress, and will become obsolete if humans quit enjoying them...especially if we send children running inside to their video games, cause it's disrespectful to climb them.
So, out of respect for life, climb a tree!!!
And have a blast! I look forward to hearing about it!!!

"So, out of respect for life, climb a tree!!! And have a blast! I look forward to hearing about it!!!"

+1. Trip report!

Ryan N wrote:I'm sure it's no more harmful than drilling bolts into rock that's much older and doesn't grow back.

Other than the fact of rocks being inorganic crystal material that weathers and degrades while trees are living breathing organisms that are very receptive to changes in their environment. Ain't no rocks turning CO2 and sunlight to oxygen and complex sugars...

Ben Brotelho wrote:Squirrels do it all the time, yet I don't see them getting lambasted for their reprehensible actions!

Yeah, actually, you're wrong about this. Some eastern fox squirrels were introduced here, and their population has exploded. I read that they were damaging or destroying the redwoods on campus by running up and down vertical game trails they created on the trunks, wearing through the bark and damaging the cambium.

I thought this sounded like academic bullshit, until I checked the redwoods in my front yard--and sure enough, the bark was being damaged right down to the cambium.

After a few sessions with my Marauder air rifle, the damage has slowed. But they're a rising tide that can't be held back.

These trees can be damaged, maybe not by one party, but by several for sure. I don't think it's good policy to promote climbing them for recreation.

If you're going to insist on climbing them despite it having the potential to damage them, you should keep quiet about it, and not post it all over the internet.

There are clean climbing ethics in the tree world and the ones that climbing these large friends adhere pretty strongly to them. My Aussie friends (they climb huge Eucalyptus) go barefoot when climbing for fun and always keep any rope/limb friction to zero. Hopefully you found someone out there that can explain all of this to you and you leave the ice tools at home.

Have fun. Find a tree off the beaten path. Tell us how it all goes for you.

Woodpeckers put acorns in tree bark so bugs come to eat them , then they eat the bugs.

Ian Kesterson wrote:Tell us how it all goes for you.

How bout you just keep it to yourself, and don't brag to the rest of the world about it?

The guys in that photo are biologist doing a study. I saw that same poster featured in National Geographic. I actually have it posted on the wall now. There is even a movie about the folks who do this in the redwoods on netflix, also from natgeo. They have special permits or permission.