trampoline

Gerald_Beranek

Gerald_Beranek

New member
Location
Ft. Bragg, Ca.
I just got back from a climbathon at the Redwoods Rivers Resort. Where Dave Norgard of Twin Cities, Minnesota brought a great bunch of friends to get together and set up a 16' trampoline in a group of redwoods. Wow! It worked out great.

Frans Smith, Mike Mahoney and family, Paul Berneir are locals that made it there. The event attracted a lot of attention and partisapation from guests that were staying at the resort too. A few people that never climbed before made it up to the trampoline and stayed up there the whole afternoon.

We used three trees to pick off in a near perfect triangle and set the rigging at 140'. With a little fussing, getting it all adjusted so it would sway with the trees in the wind without being destroyed, it was set and ready by afternoon. The trampoline was actually sitting on a cargo net and the net took the strain. Boy I'll tell you the trees were really moving.

The tall tree is group is 233' and the trampoline was set at 133'. Frans set the lines and led the way for everyone. Also, lines were set in the top so after getting to the trampoline you could go on from there.

These gathering are great because everyone has something new to share and try out. One thing that recieved a lot of attention and nod of approval was the Simons roller.

The event was well recorded and I will be recieving Jpegs and Mpegs from everyone to put together on DVD. Ought to make for a great 20 minute video.

It was quite the weekend event for me. I had to get home and missed the oppertunity to ride on the zip-line. Got to work you know. Meanwhile the group from Minnesota is still up there having quite the time.

Loved it, Jerry B
 
Kansas City TreeClimbers
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Jerry,

Come to Nebraska this September and see my swing made from an 8 foot Hex tramp hung from a limb at a 50 foot elevation.

It causes quite the activty in the park when we have it flying.

Your rig reads like you have a blast>!!!

See you at the top,
Dan
 
Thank you Dan. Would love to make it out there some time. Got a project going on right now that will keep me busy for a least a year.

Hopefully after that, Thank you!!

Jerry B
 
For some time now Gerry B. has been inviting me to go with him on these rec. climbs.
Each and every time I've gone has been a real 'gateway' experiance. What I mean by this is the experiance of climbing HUGE monster trees, from Ponderosa to Spruce to Redwood. All these trees are of a scale so massivly bigger than anything I've worked on in my backyard trees that climbing them is a truly unique experiance.
during one climb with Gerry, Jesse Bawcom, Greg Liu and others, we climbed up the first ascent (to the first branches able to hold us +/- 110') then when entering into the canopy I found something I would NEVER have thought would be there. Branches at least 5 foot thick! Amazing.
During this last climb w/ Gerry we had a new climber, folks who had never climbed before, and highly experianced climbers as well.
To a person, everyone had a real good time. Everyones face just lit up with the excitment of the climb.
Dave Norgaard even called the Guiness (sp?) book of world records to find out if they would enter the trampoline event in the book!
The second day we hoisted a friends kid up to the trampoline. I think Conner is 10 years old or something. This little guy went all the way up (over 100' of sheer ascent)played around a bit and then LOWERED HIMSELF (with a seperate back up controlled by his dad) on a figure 8. Never once did he lock up from fear, total control all the way down. He did lay down on the ground hugging it for awhile but he got up with a big smile.
I highly recommend rec. climbing for anyone seeking a truly unique experiance. And Gerry is just the guy to lead.
Frans
 
Glad you guys had fun climbing. Those are a great bunch of trees. As soon as the tourist season is over , I would like to get back with Jerry and deadwood some more of those trees for more climbers.Theres some dandies towards the back that would make a half challanging climb.

Greg
 
Here is shot of the first trampoline set-up. Originally it was built with a plywood floor, but for obvious reasons an actual trampoline was more convenient.
Here it set up at about 60ft. in a buddy's cottonwood tree.
 

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Cool.

since you're talking about trampolines and zip-lines.

I set up a zip line at my house the other day. Using

1/2" wire rope (skidder cable from Baileys). I used 300 feet of

it. It starts up in a big tulip poplar, maybe 55 feet up and travels down

across my yard and across my pond. The rider sits in a climbing saddle and

uses a 1/2" Stainless steel pulley. We pull riders to the to the top of the

tree using double line, a pulley for the attachment point and the french

prussik and micro-pulley for the hold. The cable attachment points are to almond

eyes on 3/4" threaded rod. The rod hole is drilled all the way through the tree.

A bull line also is inserted through the cable eye as a back-up for the 3/4" rod.

(even though the rod's tensil is 55,000 lbs)

Anyway, I didn't mean to get so lengthy on my description, I'll try to post an

action picture if anyone is interested. My pics are all video, but a friend can

e-mail me some of his. The riders go REALLY fast. Almost too fast. I would

describe hitting the water like when you wreck while water skiing behind a boat.

The tree "climb" is just as exciting to the "virgins" as the zip line ride.

I've had 3 people now that are terrified of heights do it and they loved it.

My brother gets them started on the ground and I stay up in the tree and guide

them to safely hook up to the zip line.
 
I set my cargo net up in some woods out in Orono. Jim Steele, Cody [Jim's dog :) ] a buddy of Jim's and I spent the night about twenty feet up. Not a long way I know. We snugged up the net pretty level. After spreading ground pads we had a pretty good deck. Cody had an "I trust you but I don't really like this" look on his face. Jim clipped Cody's leash to the net just like we had our lanyards on.
 
I must be outta the loop, what was the reason for doing that? Just messing around, making a platform?
 
Butch, no real reason, just a way for several guys to campout up in the redwoods. Tree boats and portaledges could be used, but everyone would be isolated to there spot. With the platform evryone can hangout together, like sitting around a campfire.
Originally, the platform was to be built out of plywood, but when your traveling across the country and deep into the woods that could be a real pain in the arse, so the idea of a trampoline without legs placed upon the net seemed to be the easiest (I'll take credit for that, even though I didnt make the trip)

Believe me I wont miss the next one, my big little brother wont let me forget how I didnt come with them, and I sure to regret not going.


Besides, who needs a real reason to climb some big redwoods with Gerry B.

you up for the next trip butch?
 
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