Perspectives

Today was the last and for me, the best day of our climbing.  We started off in a grove of oak trees and each go to pick our own tree to climb.  After loading up with all of our gear we all headed up our trees.  Tim showed Colin and I a great way to set a traverse between our two trees to either send a person or a camera from one to the other.  It requires a bit more gear though in actuality we can create it from everything we were already carrying.  A couple extra pulleys make life a lot easier and is something we will be taking full advantage of during our time. 

After Colin and I got the traverse all set up and we were comfortable with it, we sent a “camera” (actually a water bottle) back and forth.  This was extremely helpful as we immediately found some problems with the setup and came up with some solutions to provide a smoother traverse for the camera.

I then sent my rope over to Colin’s tree and using a SRT anchor in my tree and a DRT anchor in his tree, worked my way out to the middle of the two trees.  This provided a great angle to photograph Greg in the third tree though I didn’t have a camera with me.  Moves like this are going to be essential to photographing throughout the cloud forest.  Actually being able to do it, not just talk about it in theory, was a huge help.  To me, this practical experience today was one of the most beneficial parts of the entire course.

After finishing up our course, the three of us stopped at New Tribe, Inc, a manufacturer of tree climbing equipment and the company that organized our course.  About two hours later, we departed New Tribe with a bunch of new equipment and New Tribes’s support through an equipment sponsorship.  We are very grateful for their support and it will make our climbing experience infinitely more productive.  Please check out their site and if you do any climbing, please look at their gear.

Today Tim showed us Single Rope Technique (SRT) climbing and while DRT is best for moving around once in the actual tree, SRT technique is the fastest and most efficient technique to get up to the canopy.  Especially for Colin and I who will be spending large amounts of time in the canopy typically with a fair bit of camera equipment, this will be the best way to get to the canopy without expelling a ton of energy unnecessarily.  Once there, switching over to DRT is fairly easy and then we can haul up our gear and get to work. 

Today was also sort of the end of our “classroom” work in Ed.  Tim has been better than any of us had hoped with a wealth of knowledge and a willingness to share it.  I have really enjoyed his teaching and loved his philosophy to essentially keep it as simple as possible minimizing the amount of expensive gear and links in the chain that could possibly fail.  These last four days have really given me a taste of what this summer will be like and I can’t imagine not having this experience before arriving in Costa Rica.

Tomorrow we are headed to some new trees that Tim has coined wild trees and have never been climbed.  It will give us a chance to start from the beginning and do exactly what we we will be doing in Costa Rica on our own.  I am really looking forward to the opportunity.

I am quickly learning the value of spending time in tree in order to get more efficient and comfortable in the canopy.  Today was our final day focusing exclusively on DRT and we added a few new techniques that really make things a lot easier.  By adding a second short rope that can be thrown around nearby branches and then used to pull yourself closer, you gain an immense amount of mobility in the canopy.  After using one of these lanyards several times, I am convinced that this is going to be crucial to my ability to photograph whiel hanging on a rope.  Not only does it allow great mobility, by adding another anchor point, it eliminates swinging and spinning which is a huge help.

In the afternoon, Colin and I were assigned with the task of assembling a TreeBoat.  TreeBoats are essentially a glorified hammock designed to allow someone to sleep safely and comfortably in the canopy overnight.  Now that we have realized how much time it takes to move around the canopy, I think that I will be spending a lot more time in the trees.  In fact, if I have a 3 hour climb in order to get into position where I want to photograph at sunrise, that means I need to be up 4 hours early to get to the tree, get into position, and wait for wildlife to adjust to my presence.  That eats up a lot of the night so I am thinking that if I can get into position in the afternoon then I can shoot at sunset, spend the night in the tree, and photograph at sunrise.  Talk about an amazing opportunity.

Rigging a TreeBoat isn’t exactly the easiset thing and it took Colin and I nearly three hours the first time.  Mostly we kept putting it in spaces that wasn’t quite large enough so it took us three tries before we finally had it rigged.  Once we got it up though it was quite comfortable and I think it will be a great tool for our project this summer.

Tomorrow we start in on Single Rope Technique which is a lot more efficient and best for very tall trees.  It requires a lot more gear and it can be a bit difficult to move around in the canopy but it should be another tool to utilize.

Colin looking up to retrieve a throw bag

Well, yesterday I said that climbing was a lot easier than I had originally thought it was.  I must admit, this morning was a lot harder than yesterday as we learned several new techniques.  However, by the afternoon, I got things under control and things did weren’t quite as difficult.  Climbing uses different muscles than you might think.  At first, I thought it was going to require a lot of upper body strenght like rock climbing does but in reality this is more about core strength.  Essentially, its like doing a lot of standing and sitting though in some rather awkward positions. 

Today, we continued to learn Double Rope Technique (DRT).  This is the simplest technique for climbing though not the most energy efficient.  Essentially, all you need to climb a tree safely is a rope, that is if you are willing to climb in a rope Swiss Seat which is anything but comfortable.  Add a nice harness, a couple carabiners and possibly an ascender and things are much more comfortable and easier. 

We also learned how to make pitches and move around the canopy of a tree.  While this typically isn’t all that strenous, it is amazing how slow and time consuming it is at first.  As the afternoon progressed, we got better but I think the three of us were all a bit shocked at how time consuming climbing can be. 

Tomorrow we are going to continue working on moving in the canopy but will also be trying to rig some cool new toys like Tree Boats!  More to come…

Greg testing his confidence in the rope and harness

With an early 4:30 AM start, Greg, Colin, and I made our way from Berkeley, California up to Cave Junction, OR arriving just after midday.  It was a fairly easy drive with some beautiful scenery with Mt. Shasta and Lake Shasta and much more. 

Our course started with an introduction to our instructor, Tim Kovar, and the walnut tree we will be climbing the next few days, Ed.  A quick but thorough walk through of all the equipment and we jumped in harnesses and got on the ropes and within an hour or so were up in Ed walking along branches.  The ascending was a whole lot easier than I thought it would be, but the experience was way better than I ever imagined.  Being able to essentially float rather comfortably and easily in midair and go up or down at will is totally freeing.

I am thrilled by the opportunity, and the possibilites that this technique will open up for us are seemingly endless.  I know that this skill will go way beyond this specific project and enable me to capture photographs that many people can only dream about.  Hopefully tomorrow I will have some photos to show.