bobs yeruncle
Participating member
- Location
- Golden Horseshoe
was just linked this article in sfgate about groups of climbers hiking to hyperion to climb and camp in it and then posting trip details on social media platforms like facebook, youtube and instagram
People are flying across the world to illegally climb California's redwoods
Redwood National and State Parks is cracking down on 'ninja climbs'
On an overcast day in May 2022, a group of men climbed to the top of Hyperion, a 380-foot tree that is currently the tallest in the world.
When their leader, Simeon Balsam, reached the crown, he and another climber drank a cup of tea. “What absolute legends,” Balsam said from behind a camera trained on the beaming group of climbers.
Balsam documented the adventure with his crew in an hourlong film that was posted to YouTube. It’s a braggadocious watch, full of self-satisfied narration, fist-bumping and inspirational house music — and also proof of illegal activity.
According to the film, the 11 men spent months planning the trip within Redwood National and State Parks and accumulating gear before flying from the United Kingdom to California to climb Hyperion and other old-growth redwoods.
However, the group did not obtain required permits. Furthermore, they climbed into an ecologically sensitive habitat during the breeding season of threatened marbled murrelets, which nest in the redwood canopy, according to park officials and court documents obtained by SFGATE. They were also caught in the act of climbing six redwoods in Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park — where they strung up a zip line and a rope swing over a riverbed — a similarly illegal venture.
Balsam and his group aren’t the only ones to have illegally scaled the national park’s redwoods. In fact, they are members of a subculture of tree maintenance workers — also known as arborists — who in recent years have increasingly utilized their equipment and skills for recreational (and oftentimes unauthorized) climbs. It’s tough to tell just how widespread the problem is, as in many cases these “tree poachers” do not get caught. But Redwood National and State Parks officials told SFGATE that in the past five years, more and more arborists have found their way into the delicate canopies of the park’s keystone species.
kinda makes such arborists out to be entitled hooligans. one thing briefly touched on as an argument the climb team leader puts forward is the cultural difference over expectation of use of public lands in the uk vs america, as described in articles such as this:
The Fight for the Right to Trespass A group of English activists want to legally enshrine the “right to roam” — and spread the idea that nature is a common good.
Some of the people I met in England had heard that the United States has a lot of public land, which is true. But access to it depends a lot on where you live; nearly all federal land is in just 11 Western states and Alaska. (And even there, the courts are still working out what “public” really means, mulling, for example, when anglers are allowed to walk on public streambeds that run through private property or whether hunters can cross “private airspace” by using a ladder to get from one checkerboard square of public land to another.) Others had heard that the United States is a warren of private lands, governed by threatening signs and stand-your-ground laws: The week of the swim trespass, the news back home was full of stories of people being shot after accidentally driving up the wrong driveway or knocking on the wrong door. Kate Rew, the founder of England’s Outdoor Swimming Society, remembered with shock when she arrived at the Pacific, eager to swim, but couldn’t find a beach that wasn’t private property. Another activist, Owen Hayman, told some friends he was visiting in Montana that he was headed out for a walk and was surprised when they replied that they would first need to drive him somewhere. A farmer I met in Gloucestershire, who thought the English already had plenty of access to his land, nonetheless seemed to sympathize with my plight as an American: “You can’t go anywhere, can you?”
but beyond that the accessing of sensitive habitat for no justifiable reason other than to do it and show others you have sticks in peoples craw. the person who linked me the first article was upset at the lack of respect for such a rare and delicate environment on display. by contrast the social media environment promotes production of content to reach wider and wider audiences. go viral and you can get a payday out of it. what do yall think about tree-climbing exploits like this when you see them on youtube or insta, and how many more arent being documented at all?
People are flying across the world to illegally climb California's redwoods
Redwood National and State Parks is cracking down on 'ninja climbs'
On an overcast day in May 2022, a group of men climbed to the top of Hyperion, a 380-foot tree that is currently the tallest in the world.
When their leader, Simeon Balsam, reached the crown, he and another climber drank a cup of tea. “What absolute legends,” Balsam said from behind a camera trained on the beaming group of climbers.
Balsam documented the adventure with his crew in an hourlong film that was posted to YouTube. It’s a braggadocious watch, full of self-satisfied narration, fist-bumping and inspirational house music — and also proof of illegal activity.
According to the film, the 11 men spent months planning the trip within Redwood National and State Parks and accumulating gear before flying from the United Kingdom to California to climb Hyperion and other old-growth redwoods.
However, the group did not obtain required permits. Furthermore, they climbed into an ecologically sensitive habitat during the breeding season of threatened marbled murrelets, which nest in the redwood canopy, according to park officials and court documents obtained by SFGATE. They were also caught in the act of climbing six redwoods in Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park — where they strung up a zip line and a rope swing over a riverbed — a similarly illegal venture.
Balsam and his group aren’t the only ones to have illegally scaled the national park’s redwoods. In fact, they are members of a subculture of tree maintenance workers — also known as arborists — who in recent years have increasingly utilized their equipment and skills for recreational (and oftentimes unauthorized) climbs. It’s tough to tell just how widespread the problem is, as in many cases these “tree poachers” do not get caught. But Redwood National and State Parks officials told SFGATE that in the past five years, more and more arborists have found their way into the delicate canopies of the park’s keystone species.
kinda makes such arborists out to be entitled hooligans. one thing briefly touched on as an argument the climb team leader puts forward is the cultural difference over expectation of use of public lands in the uk vs america, as described in articles such as this:
The Fight for the Right to Trespass A group of English activists want to legally enshrine the “right to roam” — and spread the idea that nature is a common good.
Some of the people I met in England had heard that the United States has a lot of public land, which is true. But access to it depends a lot on where you live; nearly all federal land is in just 11 Western states and Alaska. (And even there, the courts are still working out what “public” really means, mulling, for example, when anglers are allowed to walk on public streambeds that run through private property or whether hunters can cross “private airspace” by using a ladder to get from one checkerboard square of public land to another.) Others had heard that the United States is a warren of private lands, governed by threatening signs and stand-your-ground laws: The week of the swim trespass, the news back home was full of stories of people being shot after accidentally driving up the wrong driveway or knocking on the wrong door. Kate Rew, the founder of England’s Outdoor Swimming Society, remembered with shock when she arrived at the Pacific, eager to swim, but couldn’t find a beach that wasn’t private property. Another activist, Owen Hayman, told some friends he was visiting in Montana that he was headed out for a walk and was surprised when they replied that they would first need to drive him somewhere. A farmer I met in Gloucestershire, who thought the English already had plenty of access to his land, nonetheless seemed to sympathize with my plight as an American: “You can’t go anywhere, can you?”
but beyond that the accessing of sensitive habitat for no justifiable reason other than to do it and show others you have sticks in peoples craw. the person who linked me the first article was upset at the lack of respect for such a rare and delicate environment on display. by contrast the social media environment promotes production of content to reach wider and wider audiences. go viral and you can get a payday out of it. what do yall think about tree-climbing exploits like this when you see them on youtube or insta, and how many more arent being documented at all?
