Rope ladder

[Oxman]

Ran into these pics of a rope ladder being used by a himalayan Honey hunter.

He says since he is so old that his flesh is dried out, and doesn't swell like the younger men when stung by many bees.

 

[Oxman]

The photographer rappeled down the cliff alongside the rope ladder to get these shots.

The honey hunter climbs down the ladder, and uses the two forked bamboo poles to poke through the honeycomb and break it free. These two poles are tied to ropes, and when the wax is poked thru & secured to the poles, then it is lowered to the waiting workers at bottom of the cliff.

A basket is then lowered to the climber, and when it is full, it is lowered to the ground.

 

[Oxman]

That last attachment is a cropped zoom of this next shot. It is a long view, taken from across the canyon by the photographers wife. The beehive is about 50 feet down this 200' cliff.

The ropes are twisted bamboo. I wonder if they ever use last years ropes?

 

[Oxman]

The job is done in two sections. The first is the brood comb, which is mostly wax. After it is lowered, then a basket is filled with pieces of honeycomb.

Each of the nine men in this Gurung Tribe crew in Nepal inherited the right to collect honey from their fathers, who taught them the needed skills.

A fire is built at the base of the cliff, to distract the bees. Then, a burning bundle of leaves is lowered from the cliff, which the climber shoves under the hive with a bamboo pole to smoke them out even further.

 

[Oxman]

The photographer, Eric Valli has published a book on honey hunters as he was the first to ever capture this process on film.

The climber, Mani Lal, is doing all this while barefoot. His helpers down below climb partway up the cliff and pull the bottom of the rope ladder against the cliff.

 

[Oxman]

When the bees swarm, the man on the rope ladder must brace himself between the rungs and hang on tightly, in case he passes out from the multiple stings. His only protection is a cloth hood. Notice the lanyards on his poles.

He braces himself with a pole jammed up against the cliff wall. The hive is under an overhang to protect the bees from the weather, making it even harder to get to.

 

[Colin]

Shoot, I don't need honey that bad!

 

[Jamin_Mayer]

Is that OSHA & ANSI approved? Seriously. Those guys are on my top 10 list of tough dudes. /forum/images/graemlins/willy.gif

 

[Colin]

I'd like to see what they are smoking that gives them such powerful munchies!!!

 

[tophopper]

And people think tree climbers are nutz /forum/images/graemlins/crazy.gif

 

[TreeCo]

You've got to wonder what kind of tree climbers these guys would make. They probably wouldn't trust our synthetic ropes!

 

[123IMIN]

That's gotta bee the scariest thing on earth to do. Especially when scared of heights and allergic to bees like I am!
John

 

[Gareth]

Nice article oxman. Just shows you what distance people will go to for food. Amazing bravery.