Big Leaner

How do you know, are you spying on the secret ninja training programs? we'll have to stop that.
 
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  • #79
Getting up that leaner could be done with just a set of spurs, strong arms and a vise grip. You would have to lay right on the trunk like you were crawling across the ground. 200 feet later you would reach some limbs to grab a hold of, and rest.

Be a lot of thinking in between. A Ninja could do it.
 
Hey Jer: Our shop manager is from NorCal. He tells a story about some guys he knew who used to be on his line clearance crew who freeclimbed an O.G fir for the fun of it with only spurs and no flipline because they didn't have one long enough. He was as serious as a heart attack telling the story, but I was convinced that I was hearing a tall tale. (No one's that dumb/crazy.) Would you tend to agree, or have you ever heard of similar antics?
 
Getting up that leaner could be done with just a set of spurs, strong arms and a vise grip. You would have to lay right on the trunk like you were crawling across the ground. 200 feet later you would reach some limbs to grab a hold of, and rest.

Be a lot of thinking in between. A Ninja could do it.

Yeah, I actually climb alot of removals in that manner. How o you think these would fair climbing a redwood?

ninja claw 1.jpeg ninja claw 2..jpg
 
Hey Jer: Our shop manager is from NorCal. He tells a story about some guys he knew who used to be on his line clearance crew who freeclimbed an O.G fir for the fun of it with only spurs and no flipline because they didn't have one long enough. He was as serious as a heart attack telling the story, but I was convinced that I was hearing a tall tale. (No one's that dumb/crazy.) Would you tend to agree, or have you ever heard of similar antics?

Sam Noonan told similar stories in the redwoods
 
Hey Jer: Our shop manager is from NorCal. He tells a story about some guys he knew who used to be on his line clearance crew who freeclimbed an O.G fir for the fun of it with only spurs and no flipline because they didn't have one long enough. He was as serious as a heart attack telling the story, but I was convinced that I was hearing a tall tale. (No one's that dumb/crazy.) Would you tend to agree, or have you ever heard of similar antics?

Guy I know free climbed a baby Redwood (120ft) around ten years ago, just spikes, no flipline but he is built like a fricken baboon.
 
I know a big-tree dude who climbs redwoods with spurs and no safety, often times.

"Just grab onto the bark"

About 7' tall - looks like Golem.
 
This conversation takes me back to my first days as a FS certified climber, and a newbie contract administator. I was inspecting on a cone collection contract, and the contract climber I was bagging cones for didn't have a flip line long enough for one of the trees on the list.

He climbed a Doug fir with finger tips and spurs...I was both petrified and amazed. The diameter was far too large for him to have been able to hug it should he have gaffed out. I now know I should have stopped the operation right there, but I was too inexperienced and stoopid back then.

In fact, it is one of the trees I had in mind for Flipfest 2010. Well over 5 feet DBH, back then in 1983. I expect it's 65 feet to the first limb.

That climber clanked when he walked, I seem to recall :D. Probably made less than $35 for that tree :O...not worth the risk, in my book.
 

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Spur climbing a seed tree?

I thought that was against the law of God or something.

I'm amazed that the tree still lives.
 
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  • #95
Hey Jer: Our shop manager is from NorCal. He tells a story about some guys he knew who used to be on his line clearance crew who freeclimbed an O.G fir for the fun of it with only spurs and no flipline because they didn't have one long enough. He was as serious as a heart attack telling the story, but I was convinced that I was hearing a tall tale. (No one's that dumb/crazy.) Would you tend to agree, or have you ever heard of similar antics?

There's some pretty crazy people out there. I watched a guy free climb "Big Jack" at the Redwoods River Resort without anything but his hands and feet. 230 feet vertical. Mind you he was on belay, but there was several feet of slack in the line the whole time. He shimmied up between big jack and a smaller tree next to it for better than a hundred feet and then limb hoped in the smaller tree for another 80, then jumped over into Big Jack went to the top.

He did it! Even on belay it was an amazing feat.

Leave it up to a tree climbing fool to push the limits. The fellows name was Rett Richardson. El Presidenta of the CAA at the time. Oh, jeez I'll have to dig through the pics to find the date.
 
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  • #97
Ha! Sorry to disappoint, but I have not a singe photo of that event. I only have video of some other things that were going on at the time. Bummer
 
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