Hello all from the redwoods of Santa Cruz County

My name is Todd and I live in Boulder Creek. I've been climbing around in many of my trees, firs/oaks/bays/tanoaks and some smaller redwoods without ropes for a while but just recently jumped into the rope climbing world. What a world. I'm hooked and I haven't even done much more than pull myself off the ground a few times!

I mostly got into it since I had been getting pretty high in various trees and started to get the idea that there was a safer way to do this. Most of the time I wouldn't go above 30' feet, but there were a few times that I went quite a bit above that. I love climbing trees for a variety of reasons, seeing the difference of the forest from a squirrels point of view, the different views, the swaying in the wind, and more.

Anyways, I'd love to hook up with some other climbers in the area.

Todd

Great stuff Todd. My best climbing partner started out pretty much the way you did, freeclimbing then realizing that things were getting too dangerous, especially with greater height.

Sounds like you have a passion for climbing and being in trees, that is the most important ingredient. Looking forward to future climb reports.
-moss

Welcome Todd, I'm another newbie here who is just getting started. I've spent a lot of time on ladders and freeclimbing over the years and finally decided to try something better. The Midwest has had some terrible ice and wind storms over the past few years and it has been hard on the trees.

Thanks Moss. I'm pretty into my plants and trees, so am quite excited about it.

Here is a picture of the \"Twins\" in my yard taken from my back porch. They pretty much started me into researching how these canopy researchers got into such tall trees and how I was going to do it without spikes.

And here is one of the stand of Coast Redwoods right next to my house. Another set that are equally as big and an inspiration to me.


Let's see if those come out.... Still trying to get use to the board.

Well, that almost worked.

I'll post another message with the Douglas Firs

The \"Twins\":




Just to be clear, these are my goals, not my starting points... I have climbed a lot of the smaller trees around my house with out ropes and will work on learning in those. Right now I plan on working with DRT, and then once I get the hang of it, transition to SRT. I have a good friend who was an arborist for 20+ years who is going to give me a lesson or two as well. I'm pretty anxious, but also pretty cautious.

Hey Davej,

I wish we had some weather right now. We have been exceptionally dry and warm which is hurting the trees just as much. Normally we receive about 80 inches of rain a year, so far this entire year (measured from June) is 12... This on the heels of two dry years of about 30-40 inches. Not good. Fires have been bad and there has been a lot of die off, though I am sure we are in for more this summer.

Glad to make your acquaintance and hope that the cold snaps and you start to see some sunshine soon!

We had several dry years here but then last Spring we had serious flooding. The past six months have been fairly dry. Don't know what's next. My trees are probably all less than 75ft.

Hey Davej,

Just noticed you were from the St. Louis region. Anywhere near Arnold?

The seesaw of the weather the last couple of years has taken its toll on the trees out here too. Hope yours have a great year.

tmlukes wrote:
Anywhere near Arnold?

Yes, I live about 15 miles North of Arnold. It is soggy here right now. A moist warm front is moving through and the snow has melted.

Cool. My grandparents use to have a farm out by 21 and 141 near Arnold. Beautiful place with the land corner markers old trees. Use to enjoy spending a lot of time out that way. Learned a lot about trees from my grandfather while walking his land there. Lots of good trees out that way as I recall.

tmlukes wrote:
Lots of good trees out that way as I recall.

Yes, one of my elderly next door neighbors grew up in Arnold. Some nice trees here but none that are gigantic. A little while ago I remembered a pine cone that was sent to my father from my California relatives -- over a foot long -- so maybe it is from a redwood? Has anyone been killed by a falling pine cone?

gigantic. A little while ago I remembered a pine cone that was sent to my father from my California relatives -- over a foot long -- so maybe it is from a redwood? Has anyone been killed by a falling pine cone?

Actually, people have been killed by pine cones out here. The Coulter pine is one of the ones that has killed, being that it has one of the heaviest cones in the world (up to 10 lbs). Maybe we should start a thread on \"Death by Tree'''....

I think the cone that you are talking about though is from a Sugar Pine. They can kill as well since they can get pretty tall and have massive cones.

Redwoods actually have really small cones and tiny seeds. I mean tiny. The seeds are about the size of a slice of pea. The cones at maximum are about 2\", which is abnormally large. Usually they are about 1\".

Hi Todd
Interested in tree climbing. Getting ready to by gear. would lie to climb with some one
John