As most of you probably know, I spent a week climbing Sequoias with my two work buddies,Richard and Anders.
When we got to the grove where we planned to stay and climb, it was impossible to get in there, because the forest service had closed the gates due to snow.
So we went to another grove instead and spent 5 days there playing in the trees.
The plan was to sleep in the top of a tree in our treeboats, but the first night we got 2" of snow and for the next 3 days it would rain each evening and night, so we chickened out and found a room at a nearby lodge, then went out and climbed each day. Except for the last day the weather was cloudy and being at 7000 feet, we were in the clouds a lot of the time.
The trees were fantastic. Much taller than I've seen them in most groves. We climbed a couple that we estimated at 280 feet. ( When a 300 foot rope is to short to double around the first branch, one is in tall timber, indeed)
Those trees are really exciting to climb, everything is just so massive. We were so far out of our comfort range that we couldn't even see it.
But we did so much better than last time. Jerry Beranek showed us some tricks last time that really helped, also showed us how to maximize the height potential of the Big Shot.
Richard had a nice close bear encounter the first morning. He was disappointed last time that he didn't see a bear. This time he sure did.
He was walking around in the snow when a black bear came right at him. It didn't see him until it was about 20 feet from him, then it took off.
After a week i took off for Northern Cali to teach karate, Richard went home and Anders decided that he'd had enough of big trees and stayed in San Francisco.
I went up and spent a day with Willie in Oregon. He showed me around Medford and I helped him and his crew on a job. Got to try some of his gear out, so now I have to get me a pair of carbonfiber Geckos. Man, they are nice!
Then I went down to soend a day with the Beraneks. They drove me all over the coast and into some nice redwoods. We had a real fun time together.
It is really great to be able to go visit other Treehousers.
I haven't got any pictures from Richard & Anders yet.
When I get them, I'll post some more big tree pics.
See if you can spot the climber in this one:
When we got to the grove where we planned to stay and climb, it was impossible to get in there, because the forest service had closed the gates due to snow.
So we went to another grove instead and spent 5 days there playing in the trees.
The plan was to sleep in the top of a tree in our treeboats, but the first night we got 2" of snow and for the next 3 days it would rain each evening and night, so we chickened out and found a room at a nearby lodge, then went out and climbed each day. Except for the last day the weather was cloudy and being at 7000 feet, we were in the clouds a lot of the time.
The trees were fantastic. Much taller than I've seen them in most groves. We climbed a couple that we estimated at 280 feet. ( When a 300 foot rope is to short to double around the first branch, one is in tall timber, indeed)
Those trees are really exciting to climb, everything is just so massive. We were so far out of our comfort range that we couldn't even see it.
But we did so much better than last time. Jerry Beranek showed us some tricks last time that really helped, also showed us how to maximize the height potential of the Big Shot.
Richard had a nice close bear encounter the first morning. He was disappointed last time that he didn't see a bear. This time he sure did.
He was walking around in the snow when a black bear came right at him. It didn't see him until it was about 20 feet from him, then it took off.
After a week i took off for Northern Cali to teach karate, Richard went home and Anders decided that he'd had enough of big trees and stayed in San Francisco.
I went up and spent a day with Willie in Oregon. He showed me around Medford and I helped him and his crew on a job. Got to try some of his gear out, so now I have to get me a pair of carbonfiber Geckos. Man, they are nice!
Then I went down to soend a day with the Beraneks. They drove me all over the coast and into some nice redwoods. We had a real fun time together.
It is really great to be able to go visit other Treehousers.
I haven't got any pictures from Richard & Anders yet.
When I get them, I'll post some more big tree pics.
See if you can spot the climber in this one:
But it was fun to work a little with you
