anyone who's worked in asycamore knows that the leaves when disturbed during cutting and chipping will cause respiratory distress: coughing, wheezing, watering eyes and choking. I think if you're climbing in the summer keep a dust mask in your firstaid kit, if your careful you might not have trouble("might not" should be emphasized, but you should be prepared.

Verry interesting. I've heard about many different parts of the tree causing problems from the powdery surface of the bark to the flowers but the leaf hairs sounds like the real thing. I've never had any reaction climbing in sycamores fully leafed out but then again I wasn't doing any work in them either.
-moss

If i remember correctly, my climbing partner was causing a bit of a stir in the canopy of this Sycamore...i think he was trying to encourage a widowmaker to fall so was stirring up the pollen or leaf hairs or whatever. Since then, when we climb Sycamores, we do so VERY gently.

Becki

Well, it's nice having a professional like sadams to give us the "skinny." Thanks, Sam.
I have a slight advantage beings how I'm an eye surgeon. I'll happily grab a bunch of surgical masks and be certain to have one if climbing a leafed out Sycamore.
Anybody need a few, let me know.
Randy

Most interesting everyone, thank you for the great thread. I adore climbing in Sycamores because of their always interesting canopy structure. We don't have many in the Adirondacks of NY at all, but the ones in S.W. Penna that I get to visit from time to time are some of the most massive trees I have ever seen and I look forward to their company very much.

I experienced a rash once that I determined was from a Sycamore, and related the story to Patty Jenkins whose first question was "Was it in the spring?" I left the conversation with the impression that it was the whitish bark dust in the spring that gave me such an unpleasant souvenir from such a fantastic climb. It sounds like there are a couple of different concerns regarding interacting with Sycamores. It would be really good to get to the bottom of this.

Eric