2nd growth Coast Redwood climb

moss

moss

Been here much more than a while
Location
Carlisle, Massachusetts, U.S.
I had to make a short notice trip to California for an important family meeting. I brought along some tree gear and was able to get a half day free to climb. This was my first time in a Coast Redwood. I brought my big slingshot but ended up not using it, climbed a small redwood to access the bigger tree, everything went smooth.

I used a 150' length of Tachyon, RW/SRT and DRT technique to climb. Tested out my latest/best sewn eye on the Tachyon and also my sewn split tail eyes, all performed well.

All photos here

Remote release basal anchor on small entry tree
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Starting a DRT traverse from the top of the smaller tree, over to the bigger tree
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Lichens in the crown of the larger tree
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At the top plus 200' height range
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Looking out from the top
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-AJ
 
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NNNNNNNiiiccccceeee. What do you think that bone belonged to?

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Haha, thanks! I haven't done the research yet. It's a puzzler, seems too heavy for a deer(then again I don't really know mule deer bones), not long enough for a human. Could've been carried by a coyote from the nearest ranch maybe a couple miles away but it has no tooth marks. It's a little chewed on one end but that could be done by a forest rodent. When I get some time I'll study some bone photos online. I found it right at the base of the tree I climbed.
-AJ
 
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NNNNNNNiiiccccceeee. What do you think that bone belonged to?

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.............. When I get some time I'll study some bone photos online. I found it right at the base of the tree I climbed.
-AJ

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Some kind of OMEN!?!?

Awesome climb man! I see you caught multiple limbs while setting that traverse line...safety in numbers!

Can't wait to climb with you again, AJ. Keep me posted, since I don't know of any relatives in CA requiring important & impromptu meetings!
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That's awesome, you made it, Moss! Good fun there in those reds

...I'm curious about the retrievable anchor: have you posted on this before or is this something new?

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I posted it a while back. It was soundly kicked in the butt. Not a good scheme for work climb scenarios for a variety of reasons. However for woods climbing where there are no people charging around on the ground with chain saws or dragging stuff into chippers it works very well. I have two related methods, both very good. I've worked out all the previous bugs around hockling which could prevent a clean release. I've been using the technique regularly for approx. 6 months, it's solid, no fails to release and obviously no fails to hold me since I'm here to talk about it. Like anything involving life support it must be set up with care, close inspection and testing before committing. For example before climbing on it I tested the release to make sure nothing would hang on tree parts. Then bounced hard on the rope for a dynamic loading test, which it passed.
-AJ
 
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Some kind of OMEN!?!?

Awesome climb man! I see you caught multiple limbs while setting that traverse line...safety in numbers!

Can't wait to climb with you again, AJ. Keep me posted

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Yes indeed, it is now part of my bone museum in a box. I'm psyched to find out what it belongs to.

Biggest challenge was 99% of the limbs on the tree were downward sloping so when I set the traverse it was excellent to be over multiples radiating out from the trunk, the rope could only slide out so far since the limbs were diverging radially if that makes sense. The only thing I've ever climbed that was worse was a big forest-grown white fir, it was rope slip and slide the whole way up.

I'm almost done editing a deadly boring video from the climb, everything went so smooth it appears to be a cakewalk. Wasn't though, mostly because of the downward sloping limbs.

Looking forward to the next climb Eric!
-AJ
 
The retrievable anchor is basically a kind of zipper release based on slip knots. Rope is in a continuous loop so after you release the anchor just keep pulling until you reach where you joined the two rope ends.

Here's how I tie it
Releasable knot

In the climb photo above it's upside down, easier to tie that way for a basal anchor.

You can imagine a simple way to do this using a variation on a thimble saver where a stopper or jam knot supports the climber, the rope ends are attached to make a continuous loop, to release just pull out the jam knot from the opposite direction and with a little finese you could take out the thimble saver too. Oceans has demonstrated something similar.
-AJ
 
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Whats the story with the exposed core splices... I have never seen that on a climbing line, only on eye2eye cords...

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Actually, not an exposed core. It's a non-life support loop on one end of my rope to make it easier for me to set a cinched SRT anchor with a Running Bowline when the anchor limb is higher than half the length of the rope. The rope end/loop coming down will not hang on the bowline going up when I'm setting the cinch.

I made the loop by stripping out 3" or so of the Tachyon core and then stuffing a loop of Dynema webbing into the hollowed cover. I stitched through the cover to secure the loop.

Like so, been on the rope since September '12:
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-AJ
 
Redwood climb videos posted

I finally finished an edit of the helmet cam footage from the climb. Very detailed, mostly pretty boring but you might find something in there to interest you.

Divided into 3 parts:

SRT up a small redwood, DRT traverse to a larger tree
Redwood climb part 1

Climbing up into the upper crown
Redwood climb part 2

At the top, then climb down into the dark
Redwood climb part 3

-AJ
 
Re: Redwood climb videos posted

You can really begin to hear the tail weight pulling slack at 5:50. You know you're getting up there when you're putting stoppers in above the hitch.

That was quite an old tear-out at 6:20. I wonder if a co-dom caused that damage. It seemed like a rather well protected understory tree...hmmmm.

Wild how clear the "ridge" side of the tree is…like a highway to the duff!

Nice dedication, AJ!
 
Re: Redwood climb videos posted

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Used that base tie method today, totally awesome. Thanks for posting that video of tying it.

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Cool, glad that worked for you.
 
Re: Redwood climb videos posted

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You can really begin to hear the tail weight pulling slack at 5:50. You know you're getting up there when you're putting stoppers in above the hitch.

That was quite an old tear-out at 6:20. I wonder if a co-dom caused that damage. It seemed like a rather well protected understory tree...hmmmm.

Wild how clear the "ridge" side of the tree is…like a highway to the duff!

Nice dedication, AJ!

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Thanks Eric, yep at one point coming back down from the top I could've sworn someone was tugging on the tail of my rope there was so much downward pull on it. Mind plays tricks when yer out in the woods. Agreed on the tear out, mysterious. Then again the whole tree shook at one point and I'm still mystified about that one, no way my movement did that, I felt it through the entire tree. If it was a quake there should have been several shakes. Who knows.
-AJ
 
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