101 Urban Tree Climbs

From Ginkgo to Elm, from street-side to urban forest style, from 3 to 80′ tall, Eric Tartter and Dave Katz achieved their first urban tree climbing expedition: free climb more than 100 trees in one day!

Starting around 10am and climbing continuously until around 5PM, we challenged our climbing techniques, strength and endurance. We climbed with no ropes, or harnesses, and mostly stayed less than 20 feet of the ground. There were some falls, but mainly just sore muscles and shredded skin.

In an attempt to inspire a connection with trees and urban-type-natural areas, Eric and I set out to climb 100 different trees in Manhattan.  We figured that since there approximately 1 billion people in the city this time of year, we could share the love and respect for trees with a lot of people, just by climbing up and hanging out in the branches. We started out climbing up some street-side Lindens, but by the time we got to central park, Eric decided to kick it up a notch on a Chestnut Oak. While previously we climbed trees with lots of branches, Eric started employing rock climbing techniques and scaling up the trunks of numerous trees: bouldering style. For a few of the trees, I stood at the base pondering his amazing strength and abilities…unable to repeat his moves with my huge boots!!

Around tree # 35 (English Elm) Eric wanted a harder challenge. He found hard “problems” on some London Plane trees and worked the sequences of the moves until he sat high in the crown of the trees. Unfortunately for me, I had to follow suit in huge winter boots! It wasn’t until tree #73 (Red Oak) that the police tried to stop us by attempting to guilt-trip us “This Isn’t wilderness, this is A man-made Park” and “Only Children Climb Trees…” For the following three trees we were a little discouraged, but by #80 the spirit was revived. # 80-88 was all trees that hung over the frozen pond near the Brambles in central park, key word “Don’t fall!” 90-95 were tall white pines with a billion of ladder-rung-type branches that were easily climbed to 35 feet. By tree 100 I was sufficiently tired but Eric pulled off a hard sequence of moves on an Elm tree. I almost feel out of the tree, completely exhausted, but managed to hang on. 

The trees we could identify: Red Oak, Chestnut Oak, English Elm, Ginkgo, White Pine, Red Pine, Hawthorne, White Ash, Crabapple, American Beech, Red Maple, Sweet Gum, London Plane tree, Black Locust, Little Leaf Linden, Black Cherry, and Sweet Birch.

Although we’ve climbed almost all of the species before, the individuals in central park had unique characteristics and some interesting blundering opportunities. I think a handbook to tree climbing in central park is on the horizon…

Smith Woods Top Out!

Here’s a story from a recent ascent into the home-town forest!

The plan was to leave Ithaca at 8AM drive out to Trumansburg, climb up a fat Tulip and be back before we had to teach Tree Climbing at noon. 4 hours, lots of jugging, driving, doesn’t leave much time. As we walk out to the vans, it starts down pouring. Spirits a little down, we pile into the van and start out towards Tburg.

The week before I had pre-rigged an old dynamic rock climbing rope hard knotted to the top of the tree. From backyard ziplines to slot canyons in Utah, this rope had seen better days. As I start up the rope, I ask Keith, “what will we do if this thing breaks?” I reach the anchor point, one hundred feet from the ground dwellers below. I trail another new static rope for them, tie it on, and the following crew ascends. When Keith arrives at the anchor, he puzzles at the anchor for a second, and keeps free-climbing the tree! Where I had built the anchor, I thought was about as high as you could get. Well, we were all wrong, as Keith climbed another 20 feet high into the canopy. 

The best quote of the day:
”Dude, I can touch the top of the tree! It’s a bit exposed up here!” ~ Keith ~

These old growth giants are so large; one 200′ rope wouldn’t get us to the ground. We needed double ropes just to get out of the darn tree!

First Ascents into the High Frontier of Costa Rica

¡Pura Vida!

A good time to write a note: nearing the end of the third month here in Tres Piedras, Costa Rica. This past month was quite exiting. This past week Mark, Keith and I taught a course in Tropical Tree Climbing through Cornell Outdoor Education here in CR. Five students from Cornell came down and climbed into the high frontier. Prior to the course, we explored and scouted sites for climbs and adventures. Eric Tartter, a great pal from Bingoland joined us for the recon work. Eric proved strength and ability many times over either hauling 100 lbs of wood on his back up a mountain or jugging 450 in one day. Keith was a perfect element to the team as his huge throws into the trees (arboles) dubbed him the Arbolski. Mark, without eating, works 15 hours a day with no rest. It was a good team.

Within 24 hours of flying into the country, this team was pulling hard into a 700 year old Oak in the cloud forests of the Cerro Del Muerte. We scrapped together our various materials at a hotel in the mountains: a trashcan to stow lines, a rusty metal pole for our bigshot. After a few tries, Arbolski hits 150ft and we clip our ascenders on and start jugging. When we bust over the first branches, perhaps hundreds of different plants appear in a garden in the sky. The first explorers into this tree, we were amazed at the diversity of mosses, lichens, bromeliads, ferns. When we reached the top we heard howler monkies and were engulfed in a cloud and descended to the ground by headlamp.

The next day I told the crew there was a series of waterfalls near Tres Piedras that I was interested in descending on ropes. I told them the known: long cascades of unknown lengths, slippery rocks and a long trek through primary rainforest. With smiles, they said “Long drops…lets take two ropes lets take two ropes and bust out before sunrise.” The series of rappels dropped us a total of 300ft and we landed in a tropical lagoon.   We took a nice swim in the lagoon and headed back for lunch. This marks a half a day work for this crew. 

A dream I had my entire life was to build from scratch an adult-like treehouse high in the rainforest canopy. This was the right crew to help the ideas flow. We assembled a frame on the ground and with the help of large muscles pulled it 150 feet up into a Frijillo. At the top we wrestled the frame into the crotch of three large branches. After tying it down and hauling the decking to the top, we all spent the night high in the canopy and toasted to a glass bottle of ice cold soda! In the middle of the night three cincajous came to visit within arms reach. In the morning, toucans, hummingbirds and egrets flew overhead. The following week, all five of our students spent the night on the platform and in hammocks. A new experience for sure.

The rains have taunted, but it is still super dry. After a few rains, the plantings begin. I plan to grow corn, beans, squash, peanuts, papaya, taro and watermelon in a piece of pasture. Behind the house 10 garden beds await kale, tomatoes, cabbage, and basil. Let’s see how it goes.

Smith Woods: Part Four: Tyrolean Traverse!

The adventures into the high frontier continue on: For the fourth consecutive Sunday in a row, the tree climbing team ventured off into the Old Growth forest near Trumansburg, NY! Today we decided we would climb two neighboring trees in two separate parties and join up across the open space between the two trees. Tartter/Katz climbed “Sketch-tasitc” and Kelly/Thompson climbed up an old time favorite “Ewok Village.” Both trees are emergent tulip poplars with first branches approximately 65′ feet from the ground and about 50′ apart. We wanted to traverse through the open air on a Tyrolean traverse, so we connected the two trees at 100′ above the ground with two separate ropes, and cruised back and forth across the open space! It was an amazing feeling being suspended completely in the open air above the understory canopy. Usually one climbs next to a tree, but being suspended out in the open space was quite different, 100′ off the ground!

This week the trees were moving quite a bit from the strong winds. We spent a majority of the time “surfing” around the tops of the trees swaying in the wind. It’s a wild ride, and I still feel like I’m blowing around hours later sitting in a chair on the ground.  While waiting for the bus back home, Eric and I climbed into some urban-style American Beeches: It’s strange to be on the ground, I think we are becoming tree dwellers…

If it doesn’t get cold anytime soon, we might continue this Sunday tradition indefinitely!

A fellow climber suggested this.

Old Growth Ascents: Take 3

The Sunday-Climbing-Team was in full-force today. Professional arborist Brendan Kelly joined Morgan Thompson, Eric Tartter and David Katz for a fun day in the canopy. We all cruised into the old-growth forest near Trumansburg, NY in search for good laughs, good scenery, and to learn some new techniques and experiment with new methods of ascent! The yellow sugar maples and the orange American Beech were spectacular. We climbed three trees: “A Day at the Beech”, “Unicension” and “Brendan Sweats.” After bailing out of a 30mph plus windstorm with horizontal hail, my mom picked us up and took us back to a warm home with hot tea! Big thanks to those great parents!

Some of these pictures depict the use of Morgan Thompson’s ever evolving amazing unicenders which miracously can go up the rope, and also provide a controlled descent down the rope. We tested the hot-off-the-press device which has a top-secret name! Brendan taught Eric and me some new skills utilizing both ends of an arborist-type rope which allowed for horizontal movement within the canopy. And man, Brendan strong! He must have climbed to the top of a giant tulip polar in less than a minute, a nearly 70′ climb! We named this tree, appropriately, “Brendan Sweats,” because if he didn’t sweat after a 70′ climb, he would be a super-monster!  Tartter held down the awesome lunch sandwiches: organic whole wheat bread with peanut butter and frair-traded bananas!

Check out the pictures, and send them along to people who might be interested in old-growth forests or recreational tree climbing.

Venturing into the High Frontier: Part 2

Last week’s adventures into the Big Boys with Eric Tartter and Morgan Thompson inspired a Sunday tradition of climbing into the canopy of Smith Woods.

This small parcel of Old-growth forest near Trumansburg, NY has numerous giant trees (Tulip Poplar, Eastern Hemlock, Sugar Maple, and American Beech). The Beeches are still healthy, and the emergent tulip trees are over 130′ tall, and the old forest is quite interesting.
Today, Brendan Kelly and I climbed high into a Tulip Maple, only to be greeted by a Raccoon 100′ off the ground! I think we scared him, and he looked sleepy. He wanted to transfer our of the tree we were into to a neighboring tree, but I think he was a little intimated by the 70+ foot drop.
The climb up the Tulip (which we named Gigantor) was spectacular, with wide views of Cayuga Lake. After a few pitches, we reached the top ~ 115′ above the ground. With two full length ropes we could make it to the ground (just barely).
I wish there were still forests like this all over the place; it’s such a special place.

Smith Woods Old Growth Forest First Ascent!

What a team: Thompson, Tartter, Katz, and a burly ol’ Tulip Poplar!

We climbed to ~ 110′ and had to use to ropes to rappel down. Lichens like I’ve never seen in the N.E. canopy, and great views: above the understory canopy all we could see was an ocean of yellows and greens. The hemlocks looked as if they were from the Pacific Northwest. The first branch was at least 60′ up, and two pitches later we were neatly settled in the crown around 115′. Huge I tell ya. Morgan Thompson’s Unicenders held the fort down on the ascents and descents.

 

Whether you are a rain forest canopy researcher, an arborist, or just a kid at heart, everyone loves to climb trees. Recall the excitement and sense of adventure when you first crawled into the branches to look inside a bird’s nest. Then you swung from limb to limb without a thought of ropes and harnesses. But what about that big tree down the street you always wanted to climb, but couldn’t reach the first branch? This course will teach you how to use ropes and technical climbing gear to reach the top of any tree, to move around, and even to climb from tree to tree without returning to the ground. All equipment is included in the course fee.

Our first course was offered in September of 2004.  Since then we’ve taught three courses in the Ithaca area, and one in Costa Rica, and we’re headed to Costa Rica again in January.

Since the first course, we’ve taught around 50 people how to climb trees. The Ithaca Based courses take place over five saturday afternoons, from 1-5PM, a total of 25 hours of instruction, plus, this year, we did an overnight in the treetops in a platform 8X13′ David Katz built. 

More Information

Come see the TREE Foundation at the Sarasota Reading Festival!

• Saturday November 4th, 2006
• Five Points Park Sarasota Florida
• 9:30 am to 4:30 pm
• Free Admission

Info on Sarasota Reading Festival