Gerald_Beranek
New member
- Location
- Ft. Bragg, Ca.
During my travels on the redwood Highway a number of large trees would always catch my eye. One big tree at Confusion Hill for sure. 14 ft. dia and as true in form as any big redwood that comes to mind. A real beauty. I stopped a few times to look at it (drool) and come up with a plan to get in its top. It's climbable. The difficult part was finding the landowner and persuding them to let me. Yeah, back in my mind I could see them laughing, pointing their finger and telling me I was a crazy fool for even asking. Oh, the fear of rejection.
I could stand it no longer. So two years ago I went to the gift shop at Confusion Hill and inquired about who owned the tree. The proprietor there gave me a name and phone number to call. I learned a local timberman named Rogan Coombs owned the land the tree is on. Some weeks went by before I built up the nerve to call and ask the impossible. Making that call was like stepping into a denists chair. A gravely voice came on the phone, "Coombs Tree Farms, Rogan here." I introduce myself and made the proposal. "So you're Jerry Beranek" Rogan said. "You know, right now I'm looking at a poster on the wall of a guy topping out a large redwood. So you're the one, huh." Rogan went on to tell me some stories of his days working in the woods and a little about his family history on the coast. Our disscussion went on into the afternoon. Upon closing Rogan gave me permission to enter his land and climb that big tree. I couldn't believe it. When I hung up the phone I was giggling with delight.
I called Greg Liu and Wes Burns and told them of this good fortune. Well, wouldn't you know, on the day we got together to climb the tree it rained us out and we never made it to the top.
Here a few weeks ago I called Rogan again and asked if I could use the tree for another climb. "Oh, sure!" he said. Ah, life is good!!
Climbinfool, Tree Preacher61 and myself spent two and half days camping on the river and climbing that tree. The weather was beautiful. A friend, Tatanka Russell from Ft. Bragg, showed up. Greg and Jessie set an elavator line to get us up in only minutes. Easiest 200 feet in our lives. The finaley, for Greg and Jessie, was a traverse between tops at 175 ft and a single line rappel. Tonk and I didn't have time to do the traverse, but Tonk did go up a second time to pull out all the rope. It was his first SRT ascent. The last morning I woke up with the gout in my right ankle and all I did was hobble around and shoot video of those guys.
From our measurements we found the tree to be 256 ft. tall. And, as well as it hold its diameter, it has to be in the neighborhood of 100,000 board foot, and over 1,000 years old. It's a beauty, but nonetheless a wild tree with some pretty honkin dead limbs throughout. Of which brought us a few anxious moments. It certainly poses an element of danger. I told Greg the next time we're cutting the deadwood out.
I'm really glad I took the time to inquire and ask about this tree. Look what come of it. Yeah, I can see future gatherings of climbers at Confusion Hill. For now, I have some video editing to do.
I could stand it no longer. So two years ago I went to the gift shop at Confusion Hill and inquired about who owned the tree. The proprietor there gave me a name and phone number to call. I learned a local timberman named Rogan Coombs owned the land the tree is on. Some weeks went by before I built up the nerve to call and ask the impossible. Making that call was like stepping into a denists chair. A gravely voice came on the phone, "Coombs Tree Farms, Rogan here." I introduce myself and made the proposal. "So you're Jerry Beranek" Rogan said. "You know, right now I'm looking at a poster on the wall of a guy topping out a large redwood. So you're the one, huh." Rogan went on to tell me some stories of his days working in the woods and a little about his family history on the coast. Our disscussion went on into the afternoon. Upon closing Rogan gave me permission to enter his land and climb that big tree. I couldn't believe it. When I hung up the phone I was giggling with delight.
I called Greg Liu and Wes Burns and told them of this good fortune. Well, wouldn't you know, on the day we got together to climb the tree it rained us out and we never made it to the top.
Here a few weeks ago I called Rogan again and asked if I could use the tree for another climb. "Oh, sure!" he said. Ah, life is good!!
Climbinfool, Tree Preacher61 and myself spent two and half days camping on the river and climbing that tree. The weather was beautiful. A friend, Tatanka Russell from Ft. Bragg, showed up. Greg and Jessie set an elavator line to get us up in only minutes. Easiest 200 feet in our lives. The finaley, for Greg and Jessie, was a traverse between tops at 175 ft and a single line rappel. Tonk and I didn't have time to do the traverse, but Tonk did go up a second time to pull out all the rope. It was his first SRT ascent. The last morning I woke up with the gout in my right ankle and all I did was hobble around and shoot video of those guys.
From our measurements we found the tree to be 256 ft. tall. And, as well as it hold its diameter, it has to be in the neighborhood of 100,000 board foot, and over 1,000 years old. It's a beauty, but nonetheless a wild tree with some pretty honkin dead limbs throughout. Of which brought us a few anxious moments. It certainly poses an element of danger. I told Greg the next time we're cutting the deadwood out.
I'm really glad I took the time to inquire and ask about this tree. Look what come of it. Yeah, I can see future gatherings of climbers at Confusion Hill. For now, I have some video editing to do.
