Dangling Climbers

by Mario Vaden

 

I thought this would be an interesting educational twist for the unusual redwoods pages. Spotting a redwood with an ascending researcher is a rare and unusual sight. Around 2012, and years following, it was obvious that parks or visitor centers began hiding photos and information about people if it pertained to research climbing. But in my opinion, the effort required to study coast redwoods is worth teaching so more people can appreciate the herculean work invested. For a number of years, it was the researchers themselves who covered expenses "on their own dime". Eventually contributions grew.

The work takes several steps. First, a crossbow is aimed at a strong limb far overhead sending a rubber tipped arrow needed to elevate strong fishing line upward ... then downward as the arrow falls back to earth. Next, the fishing line is used to pull a thin rope back up and over the same limb. And next, the thin rope is used to pull a very strong climbing line up and over the limb one more time. The climbing line will be upward of 400 ft. to 500 ft. length. Research climbers climb up using small friction devices called ascenders, making the climb seem like a ladder-like movement. Once they reach the canopy, a variety of lanyards, ropes, pulleys and other tools are used, including cambium-savers to protect bark. Much of the research available to read, or the photos National Geographic captured, were accomplished with the aid of these climbing techniques. The photo below shows researcher Dr. Hiroaki Ishii from Japan, ascending in Redwood National and State Parks.

The crossbow gained an extra use the week this photo was taken. The group needed to stretch a very long measuring tape straight across a ravine but had difficulty raising it over a tangle of vine maple branches. I suggested the crossbow. They fired the line across, and used that to pull the tape over the top of the maples.

 

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