Worlds Tallest Sitka Spruce

RegC

TreeHouser
Joined
Feb 10, 2014
Messages
2,261
Location
Victoria, BC
Near 4 hours drive and 3 hours hike from my place. Pretty cool area once you're there. Be sure your youtube quality is at 1080

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Its a real pita to get to....even after the 4 hour drive. No cell service for the whole second half of the drive. Then you fighting through the worst kind of bush.....sometimes 5 mins just to get a few yards. If youre lucky you might hit a big log pointing the right way.....but mostly theyre all crossed and grown over with thick salal bush. Then you reach a 400ft almost vertical ravine down to the river. Quite a thing to climb back up with a 40-50lb backpack. Although I took a tumble for 30feet off a log and into the river....was in fact the packpack and helmet that saved me getting damaged. But what caught me off guard the most when I was trying to make it out of there in the dark was not so much the dehydration or cramps....rather it was the shadow's created by the headtorch....couldn't make out a dam thing underfoot. Forever tripping and falling down holes that you cant see. A long pole with a steel tip, and caulks were critical. The phone compass and stars got me out of there and back to the truck. By which time I couldn't even climb into the back of the truck to get my water, because of the cramps. Had to reach in with the pole instead. I learned a few lessons that night.
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So climbing the giant would mean camping the night before I suppose. Because those first 200 feet would take some time as all the limbs are drooping. Scott had a little go, but didnt get far before we ran out of time
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I was gonna say - make it an overnight event so you'd be fresh in the morning and could see better.

Sounds like a hella adventure/trek!!! :beer:
 
Pure beauty, Reg.

The southern most limit for the Sika Spruce is right here in my back yard, in Jug Handle Creek, Mendocino County California. There was no market for the spruce here and so the grove was left to stand. Great! One specimen there is about 12 ft by 234 ft. tall with a broke out top. Would have exceeded 250 before the break, I'm sure.

Gorgeous Trees. Thank you for sharing.
 
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Thanks. There's super tall trees throughout that whole area....much of which has never been explored.
Its easy to believe that theres way taller trees than the giant, spruce and hemlock more specifically....you dont have to look too far. Like the hemlock in the pic below, could easily be a record tree, but who has time and means to find out. Not to mention the stuff you spot with the drone, but locating on foot could take forever. Its a cool place, Ill say that again.

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Gotta love that unknown factor, especially in this day and age
 
Reg, you should watch this film. I enjoyed it!

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Omg, worst film ever. Different strokes!
 
Great tree!
Reg, we found a way to deal with the drooping branches, which are also common in Redwood and Sequoia.
Go SRT.

That way you can simply loop the rope over the branch you want, and choke it around the branch with a steel carabiner.
That means it won't go sliding off like when you are climbing DRT.
 
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Definitely Stig. That and a compact slingshot to advance the throwline. The first 200 would still take some time. Beyond that looks a lot easier. Pure speculation of course because the river will be too high and fast to cross within a matter of weeks. Couple times there I was waste deep and struggling to stay upright
 
Excurrent trees may be the current tall tree champs no doubt Reg, but Aussie legend has it that a decurrent Regnans euc once stood over 425 feet.

Yu gettin burned out climbin tall poles yet mate?

I liked your recent reduction pruning vid on the oak.

First time I've seen yu wieldin a polesaw.

Great vids mate.

Jomo
 
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Excurrent trees may be the current tall tree champs no doubt Reg, but Aussie legend has it that a decurrent Regnans euc once stood over 425 feet.

Yu gettin burned out climbin tall poles yet mate?

I liked your recent reduction pruning vid on the oak.

First time I've seen yu wieldin a polesaw.

Great vids mate.

Jomo

Hi Jon. Its Its currently tallest recorded Spruce, not the tallest tree. A redwood holds that title. For arguments sake, theres records of Douglas fir reaching 450ft here in BC, but were long since cut down.

Im not really any more or less tired of climbing poles. I go through bored stages, but thats it. Nice to hear from you
 
Hi Jon. Its Its currently tallest recorded Spruce, not the tallest tree. A redwood holds that title. For arguments sake, theres records of Douglas fir reaching 450ft here in BC, but were long since cut down.

Im not really any more or less tired of climbing poles. I go through bored stages, but thats it. Nice to hear from you

Ah but which is more technically challenging/difficult to remove without a crane with targets below?

Tall excurrent conifer's, or big fat wide decurrent hardwoods?

Surely yu miss girthy ole Beeches a tad?

Your vids keep getting better n better, both technically and visually.

Looks like owning and operating your own company's been a smart move for yu.

Top shelf stuff Reg, love your pruning vids, which IMO are more physically demanding than takedowns.

Great to see an expert who's not snobbish about the new lectric trimsaws too, I like that pistol grip Pellenc.

Jomo
 
Thanks for sharing.
That looks like some incredible bushwhacking!

.... a 450 ft Douglas fir is just crazy. Mind blown....
 
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They both, boadleaves and conifers have for and against, Jon.
Some of dead, rotten firs Ive climbed out here have perhaps put me in the most dangerous situations I can remember. They might be more simplistic in theory, but the state and form of the tree, matched with an unfavorable location might demand every ounce of your experience, intuition and focus to get through the job safely. Not for the faint hearted, as they say. We can only do our best Jon, you know how it is mate
 
Yes, keep tellin yurself it withstood the last big wind, so if I don't shake it, it'll be alright.....

Work safe bro!

Don't shake it anymore than necessary.

Pretty soon you'll be hang gliding.

Jomo
 
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