Climbing an 800 year old redwood tree was not in my
bucket list. Still, to pass up on an opportunity to climb one and
experience an elevated perspective of the world seemed a foolish thing to do. And so,
here I was, 8:30 am on a beautiful spring day in the Santa Cruz mountains with
3 other climbers who thought the same way.
Tim Kovar, the tree climbing expert
and his team were there to help us in the venture. Tim and his team educated us on the equipment used for climbing along with all the safety considerations. Fully geared up, we made our way to the base of the tree.
In retrospect, if I had been 10~15 lbs lighter and/or had
regularly done strength training, the act of pulling my own weight would’ve
been that much easier. The first 5 feet up was the hardest. I had to focus on
the new technique that we’d just learned – adjust lower ascender, stand, pull
your-self up, adjust upper ascender, sit in the harness – and repeat. After
doing it barely a handful of times, I realized that I was not in a good shape,
notwithstanding the regular hiking and all. Like I said, strength training and few
pounds lighter would’ve been ideal today! Taking more breathers than warranted,
I steadily made my way up.
It was great that after every 10 feet or so, the views
gently change and at the same time, the ground keeps pulling away from you. I
am glad that I don’t have fear of heights; I could enjoy the scenery unfolding
as well as feel a sense of accomplishment as things below became smaller and
smaller.
The tree was 200 feet tall, with the climb allowing you
for reaching up 180 feet. One member in our group made it all the way up 180
feet. I probably managed 100 feet or so before stopping and taking some
photographs. My good friend Reed took a video and photo of me, giving me proof
that I actually did the climb! Our instructor Tim took some fancy photos with
his GPRO camera – and I will add it to the album once he shares it with us.
Where we stopped, Tim showed me the damage a lightning
had done to two redwood trees in our vision. It was interesting that the
lightning scar stopped abruptly on one tree as the lightning jumped over its
neighbor and blew out the top and capping the growth there!
For my rock climbing friends, no, the ascending motions
are quite different from those used in rock climbing. However, descending uses nearly identical
techniques. In a short order of few minutes, I found myself back on the ground
while the climb up took 90% of the time we spent by the tree.
Our instructor, Tim is an arborist and is the founder of Tree ClimbingPlanet. We were also joined by Cameron, a guru caliber person on redwoods and
trees in general. All in on, a wonderful experience, well worth every minute of
the time I spent on this.
Not in bucket list doesn't mean that once completed,
you can’t add an entry and check it off... :)
Here are more pictures from the climb, including the short video of the climb from a good friend who also did the climb!
