CLIMB 12
Date: 10 August, 2013
Location: Parkview Labrynth, McMinnville
43˚ 13' 52" N
123˚ 11' 4815" W
Tree Name: Lewa
Tree Type: Quercus garryana (Oregon White Oak)
This is a tree I've climbed frequently over the years, but don't think I've "reported"on in the past. It's as close to a "home" tree as I have. This climb was done in part due to a friend's wedding that day in the labrynth next to the tree. I did some arboreal wedding photography.
Weather: initially partly cloudy, transitioning into a THUNDER AND LIGHTNING storm at the very end.
Placement: 14 gm bag thrown with Target Line thrown using a Big Shot. Had a little trouble isolating branch, pulled up a second throw bag attached to the end of the first throw line to isolate the branch that way. It worked very well.
Rope: Snake bite (for the SRT higher climb for me) and Poison Ivy, camouflage (for DRT ascent my son did)
Anchor Type: DRT (my main climb)
Ascent: Texas style, transitioning to an I'D for tree movement
Pitches: no new pitches, but lots of lateral movement in the tree. The TIP was high enough to allow for this, but used a Cinch and rope to secure (laynard) in both when setting up tree boat and for limb walking.
Movement in the tree: as mentioned, this is a wonderful tree for limb walking, with a lot of big, soft (moss covered) lateral branches with periodic forks to use for footholds.
Decent: Petzl I'D
Problems:
Weather was the biggest almost problem. A thunder/lightning (rare for this area, but INTENSE) came on JUST as we got down. I'd been watching the storm approaching, and was ready to bail out at the first sign of lightning in the distance. But I had a lot of gear that would have been left in the tree had we made an emergency bail out, and I managed to get the ropes and boat down from the tree literally as the first drops were falling. 30 minutes after packing up, the area was hit with a massive lightning storm. Whew!
Things that went well:
1) Wonderful tree to climb, very friendly.
2) I picked and rigged a nice site for the tree boat. I'm learning to see anchor points better for it.
Weather: initially partly cloudy, transitioning into a THUNDER AND LIGHTNING storm at the very end.
Placement: 14 gm bag thrown with Target Line thrown using a Big Shot. Had a little trouble isolating branch, pulled up a second throw bag attached to the end of the first throw line to isolate the branch that way. It worked very well.
Rope: Snake bite (for the SRT higher climb for me) and Poison Ivy, camouflage (for DRT ascent my son did)
Anchor Type: DRT (my main climb)
Ascent: Texas style, transitioning to an I'D for tree movement
Pitches: no new pitches, but lots of lateral movement in the tree. The TIP was high enough to allow for this, but used a Cinch and rope to secure (laynard) in both when setting up tree boat and for limb walking.
Movement in the tree: as mentioned, this is a wonderful tree for limb walking, with a lot of big, soft (moss covered) lateral branches with periodic forks to use for footholds.
Decent: Petzl I'D
Problems:
Weather was the biggest almost problem. A thunder/lightning (rare for this area, but INTENSE) came on JUST as we got down. I'd been watching the storm approaching, and was ready to bail out at the first sign of lightning in the distance. But I had a lot of gear that would have been left in the tree had we made an emergency bail out, and I managed to get the ropes and boat down from the tree literally as the first drops were falling. 30 minutes after packing up, the area was hit with a massive lightning storm. Whew!
Things that went well:
1) Wonderful tree to climb, very friendly.
2) I picked and rigged a nice site for the tree boat. I'm learning to see anchor points better for it.
3) Limb walking went very well
4) I spent 120 minutes up high filming and photographing a wedding down below. I was out on a limb high up, with my son in the boat I'd placed further down (we each had separate climbing lines - me SRT, he DRT). It was fun to be a tree wedding photographer.
Things that didn't go well:
1) Scary weather at the end
THIS is the ground about 100 yards from the tree I was in. This is a lightning strike that happened about 40 minutes after we were down. YIKES!
ADDITIONAL PHOTOS:
One shot of the tree boat placed.
Another shot of the tree boat.
Some of the many beautiful branches
Here's a video, a time-lapse of the wedding I shot from my perch
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