Backpacking and tree climbing

I'm a backpacker at heart but I have been fascinated by the idea of climbing in some of the big trees I encounter as I walk along. There has got to be some sort of magic involved in climbing one of those trees that sits astride a mountain ridge giving what has to be an awesome view in all directions. Are any of you combining your climbing with backpacking, and if you are, how do you go about selecting and packing gear that will allow you to combine the two?

Let me add that I am a newbie at climbing and have not tried this yet.

The Magic

Let me tease you all with this little tree tale magic:

High aloft in a coastal redwood north of Frisco on a cloudy mild winter day.

Your view to the east is the rolling mountains cut with deep valleys of an old growth forest.

To the west you can trace the rivers as the silvers melt into one of the wide Pacific.

Cotton candy mist thickens to a deep fog creeping inland as the clouds thin with the inshore breeze.

The slim fingers of fog gather strength as it darkens but sparkle with the setting slice of moon.

Sirens song of sleep tries to seduce you but in and out of slumber you nod thru the night.

As the sun starts it arcing journey the light shows shadows below.

The soft mounds of cotton reveal just your tree and you visible as far as the eye can see.

Like Jack and the Beanstalk the bed of fog surrounds the only spire in the entire kingdom and you are its lone sentry to witness the new day.

The high of that experience was worth the back-breaking hike that will be rarely equaled.

See you at the top,
Dan House

Dan--Such a way with words;I can just see myself in that tree.Saw your picture from the Mississippi trip;You and Stan were in the moment.Abe is planning a meeting at F.D.R. Park on the third week-end in November.WildBill is the point of contact for information along with WildRice.If you two can make it please join us -- just climbing and talking.

I've encountered several people who have a climbing kit, and they're back country climbing kit. The first has EVERYTHING THEY CAN CARRY, the second being a scaled down version with less toys, and lighterweight gear. Maybe a lighter saddle, thinner rope than usual, a few less throwbags, etc.

Just gotta start doing it. You'll figure it out fast.

Where are you from? Who can you learn from?

love
nick

Just got home from some Western Carolina ridge walking. I was looking real hard at some of the big conifers that were sitting up on top of some of the ridgelines. They are not as tall up on the ridgelines as they are down below, because of the wind I guess, but some of them stick right up over everything else and I found myself wanting that view.

Treetramp, you are obviously a person aesthetically in tune with the idea of climbing out there in the forest. Nice inspiration. Thanks!

I'll be giving this climbing business some serious thought.

Burt, where ya' from?

Come see us at TCNC and we'll try to get togather. I like WILD climbs, and I might be able to show you a trick or two. Sounds like you might be in our neck of the woods...

Climb Safe!
Icabod
Tree Climbing North Carolina

Icabod---I am near Marion and most of my backpacking and other outdoor adventure happens in the western Carolina area.

How does this U2U business work? I tried to use it but I don't think I know what I'm doing.

Burt & others that have not used before.
U2U works like an e-mail system but internally to the group TCI. You have to actually go and open the U2U box and look to see if anyone sent you something. It kind of saves time if the recipient "knows" that you send him/her something otherwise you may never get a reply (hint, hint Caroline in Vancouver you have one from me).
Good luck and keep posting

Oldtimer and Icabod--I don't think I know what I'm doing with this u2u feature. I have sent messages to both of you and either you aren't seeing them or else you aren't checking them. What am I doing wrong?

at the bottom of every post, for www, email, etc. Those work a little better, I often don't note the U2U notification in the upper right of the screen...

Icabod

I decided to give this tree climbing business a try. Don't worry everybody, I'm going to start in the backyard and keep it low until I figure it all out. I'm too far away from anybody to take a class and besides, its a lot of fun just learning.

Anyway, I've done a bit of climbing in the past, nothing serious but enough that I'm not totally dumb on the subject. I went to the outdoor store to get a few pieces of equipment and got into a troubling discussion with my salesperson. To begin with, she was astounded that I wanted to climb a tree. According to her, nobody does that. When I told her I wanted to purchase some carabiners she began showing me some very fancy triple action
hardware that I had never even heard of. When I suggested that I would rather have one that screwed shut, I got a stern lecture about the dangers of carabiners that screw shut. Seems that these things are now passe. Well, I bought the ones that screw shut anyway, because those are the ones that I have always used. Is this really a roblem or was this lady simply trying to sell me something that costs more? If they are really dangerous, why does the store sell them?

The triple action biners are good for tree climbing and so are screwgates. It's really a matter of preference. If you're comfortable with a screwgate you're good to go.

I don't think the salesperson was trying to get you to spend more money, she was looking at you as a beginner and trying to sell you the biner that would give you the most safety for the least amount of thought on your part.
-moss

Is selling equipment that requires the
"least amount of thought on your [my] part" really the best way to go? I should think that beginners need to develop the thinking that will keep them safe, rather than depend on equipment that does the thinking for them. Even if I had one of these triple action widgets, I would still check to make sure that it was closed. I think that what I am hearing is that if I had one of these widgets I would no longer need to check it.

Its fun watching the thread get sidetracked... I wanna play!!!!

Screw lock CAN be safe, if you're safe with them. The problem is when people occasionally say, "oh, I'm only descending 20'....I don't need to lock just for that." Then something bad happens

I prefer only autolock and preferably triple-lock (aka double locking) carabiners. Yes, they still must be checked each time you close them, but with auto-lockers, you remove the most dangerous element of a carabiner...the human element.

Why do they still sell the screw lockers? Simply because people still buy them.

What rope are you using, burt?

love
nick

Originally posted by burt
Is selling equipment that requires the
"least amount of thought on your [my] part" really the best way to go?

I'm terrible with words, what I'm saying is that a triact autolocker is going to protect you at the time you may need it the most, when you are fatigued and not thinking clearly and forget to lock the gate on a screw gate. There's always away to mess up with any biner, the autolocker adds another layer of backup. I believe the salesperson was looking out for you not trying to upsell.

All biners require a gate check autolocker or not.
-moss