B Diggedy
It is what it is..
What's up guys, thought i'd share a story about my last climb.
Backstory:
To begin, I have a little over 10+ climbs under my belt at the moment. I'm self taught(Tree Climbers Companion), running a Cougar saddle and a basic/minimalist srt and ddrt system. Usually I go to a park up the hill from my house that has a bunch of Oak trees. The trees aren't very tall(low and slow), but appear healthy and structurally sound(from my internet education experience). At this spot I've had no problems with anyone bothering me while climbing aside from a couple old ladies coming up and passively interrogating me while wearing a fake smile. This has happened here and at another (more public) spot by a lady on a segway. Both of which I wrote off as a typical case of "I find this unusual therefore you must be up to no good..". In these instances I took the professional route and explained what i way doing while being friendly, and they went about their biz.
Being bored with the same tree(s), i decided to venture out and find something a bit taller and more spread out so i can work on limb walking and get more comfortable with heights. As it turns out, all the best trees are in the more visible areas in town. So i'm riding around and i find this Cypress tree at another park near an intersection in a busy area of town. There was no reason for foot traffic under this tree unless the person wanted to talk to me, so it was safe in that regard. Though it was very visible from a busy intersection. Ive already researched the laws for my area and the only laws that seems to exist concerning trees is that a permit is required to remove one, so "technically" im legit. Good enough for me.
I throw my throwline, setup my srt and get to ascending. This climb i was using a different prusik cord than usual which kept jamming up on me, making my climb take longer. I should have came down and switched it out but i was already half way up. Upon reaching the lowest branch about 15' up and clipping in my lanyard, i hear an "Excuse me, sir!" from the ground. A city workers walking up, i respond "How's it going?" (must not have heard me) "What's up?". The guy says "I'm gonna need you to come down and remove all your rigging sir.". I then inquire(playing dumb) "Why?". He responds "The only people we have work in trees are the companies contracted with the city", I say "I'm just climbing the tree, i'm not here to work and don't have a saw with me". At this point the dude jumps to "Sir you need to come down or i'm going to call the police". For a split second i consider taking him up on the offer(leaving the tree and asking him to tell them i wish to speak to them), but in the interest of conducting myself as an eventual professional i don't(wise). I then respond "Very well sir, it's going to take a few minutes tho", "Yea, man. I checked the laws and the only thing i could find about trees it that a permit is needed to remove. Is there a law against just climbing?". The guy couldn't answer and went on a spiel about insurance and city liability etc yadayada. I was polite this whole time and asked if he knew where i could find more information on the laws. He didnt really know anything aside from that "i couldn't climb", he gave me a card when i finally came down and he left when i started to pack up. Overall a positive ending. I figured this could happen but decided to deal with it when it happened, and it did. What sux though is i was just getting settled into my adrenaline and couldnt wait to see the view from the top. Ill post a pic of the spot later tonight so yall can be like "What! you went to climb there!?". it was pretty obvious
Backstory:
To begin, I have a little over 10+ climbs under my belt at the moment. I'm self taught(Tree Climbers Companion), running a Cougar saddle and a basic/minimalist srt and ddrt system. Usually I go to a park up the hill from my house that has a bunch of Oak trees. The trees aren't very tall(low and slow), but appear healthy and structurally sound(from my internet education experience). At this spot I've had no problems with anyone bothering me while climbing aside from a couple old ladies coming up and passively interrogating me while wearing a fake smile. This has happened here and at another (more public) spot by a lady on a segway. Both of which I wrote off as a typical case of "I find this unusual therefore you must be up to no good..". In these instances I took the professional route and explained what i way doing while being friendly, and they went about their biz.
Being bored with the same tree(s), i decided to venture out and find something a bit taller and more spread out so i can work on limb walking and get more comfortable with heights. As it turns out, all the best trees are in the more visible areas in town. So i'm riding around and i find this Cypress tree at another park near an intersection in a busy area of town. There was no reason for foot traffic under this tree unless the person wanted to talk to me, so it was safe in that regard. Though it was very visible from a busy intersection. Ive already researched the laws for my area and the only laws that seems to exist concerning trees is that a permit is required to remove one, so "technically" im legit. Good enough for me.
I throw my throwline, setup my srt and get to ascending. This climb i was using a different prusik cord than usual which kept jamming up on me, making my climb take longer. I should have came down and switched it out but i was already half way up. Upon reaching the lowest branch about 15' up and clipping in my lanyard, i hear an "Excuse me, sir!" from the ground. A city workers walking up, i respond "How's it going?" (must not have heard me) "What's up?". The guy says "I'm gonna need you to come down and remove all your rigging sir.". I then inquire(playing dumb) "Why?". He responds "The only people we have work in trees are the companies contracted with the city", I say "I'm just climbing the tree, i'm not here to work and don't have a saw with me". At this point the dude jumps to "Sir you need to come down or i'm going to call the police". For a split second i consider taking him up on the offer(leaving the tree and asking him to tell them i wish to speak to them), but in the interest of conducting myself as an eventual professional i don't(wise). I then respond "Very well sir, it's going to take a few minutes tho", "Yea, man. I checked the laws and the only thing i could find about trees it that a permit is needed to remove. Is there a law against just climbing?". The guy couldn't answer and went on a spiel about insurance and city liability etc yadayada. I was polite this whole time and asked if he knew where i could find more information on the laws. He didnt really know anything aside from that "i couldn't climb", he gave me a card when i finally came down and he left when i started to pack up. Overall a positive ending. I figured this could happen but decided to deal with it when it happened, and it did. What sux though is i was just getting settled into my adrenaline and couldnt wait to see the view from the top. Ill post a pic of the spot later tonight so yall can be like "What! you went to climb there!?". it was pretty obvious
.
. Next time bring poo up there and throw it at him like a monkey on a zoo. Then tell him I pay taxes, I own a piece of this tree so piss off or eat doodoo. Just saying.
