Rainy Day slog up a tree

started the day with a 3 egg on toast breaky, washed down with a icy cold Pabst Blue Ribbon Spent the next hour getting the gear ready, fussing around with the damn tie in point on the Bashlin X saddle. Replaced the aluminum tie in with a 1/2" x 3" forged steel ring, 44kn tough. I really like this set up now.

Jumped in the truck and drove to a park (NOT the one i was at yesterday > ) , and walked thru woods in the pissing rain. Spent an hour trying to get the damn throwline over a 80 foot crotch. A blue rinse west sider walked by and glared at me disaprovingly as i petted her friendly dog. Guess she thought i was up to no good, yea i'm a real ruffian (rolls eyes ) ...tried ofr another fifteen minutes, lost the throwbag somehow (???) and then gave up on that tree. Walked some more, waded thru a creek and then i found the Motherlode. A 90 foot tall (minuminm) Silver maple, with tons of huge limbs, freee of all the little limbs that snag a throwline. 1st cast got a crotch about 50 feet up. pulled the rope and cambium saver over, tied in and started up. Got up halfway up the tree and WOW WHAT VIEW! the things you can see form a tree that you can NEVER see at ground level. I had the 150' Arborplex with me , so i went a bit higher to aorund 65'. Tried to limbwalk and my body just shut down, too much adrenaline dumping into my system i guess...legs were rigid, hands and arms were stiff and could'nt walk out on the limb, even with a double lanyard to guide me..... wierd...this is the fifth time thats happened to me.

oh well, hung in the harness for a while, feet on the trunk, swaying in the breeze. Practiced using my minigrapple for a while, moving over to the next tree and securing the climbing rop so i was inbetwene the two trees...WHEEEEE swing!!!

hands were numb, i was soaked (but wearing wool) but i swear this was the best climb i have had yet.

Just got home, made grilled cheese sammi's and cracked a cold Pabst

Good report. I understand the feeze-up part. It's actually good, your brain is learning how to process an unusual situation, had to put you on hold for a minute. Especially when you're in a brand new tree, doesn't matter how solid everything looks, your body has to trust it in its own time.

It used to be a warm pabst and peanut butter and jelly sandwich for lunch when I was out in the woods for a day of trout fishng, sounds horrible, was good.

80 ft. is very tough to hit throwing by hand. I can't get near it I don't know many that can do it and those that do have to work hard. Accuracy goes downhill at the upper limits of your throw.
-moss

^ very true Moss, i can nail a 30, 40, 50 footoer crotch in a few tries, but DANG this big one tested my patience I came SO CLOSE on so many occasions, even LANDED it once, but did'nt have enough weight on to pull the line down :D:D it hung there , taunting me.... As for accuracy....yea....SEVERALY LACKING on most throws......its a sign, telling me to get a bigshot...

BUT had it not been for all that frustration, i would not have found the other tree!!!

heading back there tommorow, with more gear (namely a thermos of hot dark roast coffee) and i'm going to try again. (limbwalking) I also want to get much higher into the crown, thew view is incredible. I cna see every homeless persons shelter int he park form that tree......:(

glad to hear that others have same kind of days. i often spend way to long going for that perfect crotch thats way too high.

on a side note, i might be wrong, but didnt you say once that your living the PNW? if so, where did you find a silver maple to climb? if not, then disregard my question. either way, i was reading something yesterday about how silver maple's uper limbs can be brittle. did you find that to be the case? i don't think i have ever climbed one. the few around here have been severely mangled by goof balls with chainsaws.

I wonder about the brittleness report on Silver Maple. They are a fast grower which usually means less dense wood. The ones in my area are all veriticals with multiple leaders. The crotches tend to form tight V's. There is a huge one in the Arnold Arboretum (off limits to climbing), it has the same form as the smaller ones, just scaled up.

Arbo silver maple


Closer view


-moss

i must confess to poor tree ID on this one...it was a bigleaf maple, not a silver maple.....

Missed ID is the best way too learn, you'll never forget Big leaf is your only native maple right? Hopefully I'll get to see one this year.
-moss

nope, we got lots of different maples....

http://www.for.gov.bc.ca/hfd/library/documents/treebook/vinemaple.htm

http://www.for.gov.bc.ca/hfd/library/documents/treebook/douglasmaple.htm

http://www.for.gov.bc.ca/hfd/library/documents/treebook/bigleafmaple.htm

there are some more, but they are classified as ornamentals (ie: japanese maple etc

no worries, deciduous tree identification in the winter is not an easy task. BLM's are somewhat brittle as well, and they give no warning. one minute your strapped to the best tie in point of your life, the next your a pile of guts and climbing gear on the forest floor. Okay, major exaggeration, but watch out for those weak crotches.

RAINED OUT! heavy rains in the Lower Mainland. We go absoluelty filthy , muddy and soaked today at work, during a removal of a huge cedar. The base of the tree was 4" of goopy sticky mud, add sawdust from the chainsaws, rain rivullets down your back and a grumpy climber, and it was a not so nice day. But we slogged thru it. I finished with day by pruning suckers off a pear tree. when i lowerd my arms down the water ran out of my "waterproof" jacket sleeves. gross.day. Might head tonight for a night climb, gonan wait and see if the rain tapers off.