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