Hi Moss,
You can watch Ascending the Giants on YouTube.
The problem that I see with recreational climbing in SOME of the western forests, particularly the rainforests, is that there are so many sensitive canopy organisms (epiphytes). Many of the fern mats, moss mats, and lichens that grow in the crowns of rainforest trees are centuries old, yet only tenuously attached to their host trees. One carelessly-placed rope or boot can permanently destroy these creatures and the biodiversity that they themselves support. Of course I speak only for myself here, but this my reason for hoping for restrictions on recreational climbing in old-growth western rainforests.
That said, there are plenty of trees in the west, such as giant Sequoia, which support very few epiphytes... and they are spectacular to climb...
~MEA

P.S. Moss-- Will Blozan is AWESOME!

Hi Treeman,
You can watch Ascending the Giants on YouTube. I believe the production company is called Uncage the Soul.
I'm SO glad you didn't promote the 'extreme' redwood climb thing following The Wild Trees release... thank you.
I love my ART positioner (with a swivel)! But I'm a little confused... which hemlock climb are you referring to?
~MEA

Ok, I checked out the Ascending the Giants web site and their YouTube video, at least one that I found. I didn't hear any comments about researchers but it must be somewhere. I remember these guys, a pair of arborists from Portland, Oregon. We had a discussion about them somewhere on the TCI message board. Overall they have good intent and a good message for the general public. They speak quite a bit about leave no trace and low impact climbing. They are promoting a "peak-bagging " mentality. If they're the only one doing it then it's not too much of a problem. The question is how many climbers will be inspired to follow them? We know that if the same champion trees in PNW old-growth are climbed repeatedly that there will be wear and tear on the ground, understory and in the canopy.

Just wondering though, isn't the vertical range of a big shot and fishing reel combo firing a 3 or 4 oz weight similar to crossbows or compound bows used by PNW research climbers?
-moss

Hi Moss,
In the version of Ascending the Giants that I saw (also on YouTube) the tall tree researcher comment is in the first minute. Yes, I too thought that the video was well done in terms of inspiring people to get out into the woods... whether or not they plan on climbing. Their message generally is a very good one-- educating more folks about how great trees are... yay! I only hope it won't inspire too many people to climb the epiphyte-laden trees of the Olympic peninsula.
Regarding your other question, I've never used a Big Shot-- can it shoot 250+ feet? I watched some folks using one in Australia and they too were aiming for the lowest branch of a very tall tree. Perhaps that is less an issue of range and more due to some other factor... not sure.
Anyway, thanks for your insights.
Cheers,
MEA

MEA wrote:
...Regarding your other question, I've never used a Big Shot-- can it shoot 250+ feet? I watched some folks using one in Australia and they too were aiming for the lowest branch of a very tall tree. Perhaps that is less an issue of range and more due to some other factor... not sure.

I've only fired one with 10 oz bags and 1.75 or 2mm throwline. With full extension of the sling I think I can hit 120+. I've never tried it with a fishing reel and 3 or 4 oz weight so I have no idea. Be curious if anyone is hitting 200+ feet with that combo, it seems like it should be able to. With trees in my area (New England) there isn't any reason to shoot 200' since you'd be going well over the top of our tallest trees.

I figure with any tree entry there is going to be some disturbance of epiphytes, clearly the less number of times an individual PNW tree is climbed the better. I imagine that you have tag lines in trees you are studying so you can ascend directly to the upper canopy without having to screw around with shooting lines (and the potential branch thrashing that's involved) for every climb.
-moss