Tree Climbing Farce <-- my silly video!

TREEfool

TREEfool

Participating member
Location
Sioux Falls, SD
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_VAWbyhZxZg
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This is the #1 weirdest video I ever made. I hope you laugh!
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EDIT: This tree is pretty wicked. I decided to return with my dynamic rope and do some selfbelayed faceclimbing. Check out the video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VD918UfKxoE

TFLOGOTRSoloMammothcottonwood_zpsb532aa0a.png
 
Thanks guys!

Moss, I assumed it is a cottonwood but I am no expert. The bark is so deep and gnarled that I can climb it like it was a rock wall!

Edit: I accidentally wrote "white oak" instead of cottonwood so I changed it.
 
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That's a really good video. Super climbing bark I'm guessing cottonwood.

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Thanks! And I believe you are correct. How the heck can all of you guys know what type of tree it is just by looking at the bark!?

I uploaded a picture a while ago of a summer climb and you guys told me it was a cottonwood. This tree's bark is identical and it has the same crazy limbs that tower over the other trees.
 
Those river bottom cottonwoods make a great expedition. Either by water or road it's a great day already finding the monsters. Then playing on laterals and swimming make a great combo. Seeing as I have NO substantial laterals in my work climbing.

Tree species ID is important safety information for a climber. Knowing the decay characteristics is gold. The easy way to learn is to dissect them with a chainsaw like we do. The hard way is a little more exciting. Anyway cottonwood can be solid as a rock or a thin shell of bark and cambium. Often those old ones look like they've been shedding their antlers every winter. That thick bark hides the visual clues, even makes sounding tricky. Still the best climbing tree we have around these parts.
 
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Any ideas of how someone like me could learn more about tree safety without taking a chainsaw to a bunch of trees?

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First off, cottonwood was my first thought except the bark ridges were much more distinct and separated than what's in my area (Massachusetts), could be regional differences in the way the big ones look at the base.

All the Populus genus species (cottonwood, aspen, big tooth aspen etc.) are extremely weak wood compared to oak species. Definitely good climbers when reasonably healthy. For any first ascent on a cottonwood I hang my rope on a fat limb close to the limb trunk union. Once I'm up there I can inspect the rest of the crown for weird hollows and other defects that might not be obvious from the ground. On a white oak for example you can hang your rope on a healthy 3" limb at the trunk union, on a cottonwood I want the limb at minimum twice as thick.

You're going to learn to assess structural quality tree-by-tree, species by species. Be conservative on your initial setting, study the tree from the ground and when you're in the crown. Peter Jenkins has an excellent tree assessment section in his basic tree climbing DVD, you can get it from his website treeclimbing.com
-AJ
 
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Amusing....... Just lose the screw gates.

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Ha! A member on this forum gave me some auto lockers and I use them in the summer but I got locked to my atc on my last ice climbing trip when my auto locker froze over. So I have reverted back to using screw gate biners in winter.
 
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