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squatch
Boulder climber
santa cruz, CA
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Topic Author's Original Post - Feb 18, 2010 - 10:29pm PT
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RIP
the bushy section was laying on the big ledge above pitch 2 this last weekend.
it's still slingable as part of the anchor for a little while.
there will be a burial ceremony at the base with Royal Robbins speaking.
please do not bring cut flowers.
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bvb
Social climber
flagstaff arizona
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Feb 18, 2010 - 10:37pm PT
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end of an era.
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Gene
Social climber
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Feb 18, 2010 - 10:39pm PT
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May it rest peacefully with After 6 tree.
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PhilG
Trad climber
The Circuit, Tonasket WA
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Feb 18, 2010 - 11:37pm PT
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Truly sad. One of the few times this web site has caused my eyes to well up with tears...
Further proof there is no God.
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Captain...or Skully
Social climber
Last clip of Lichen Lunch
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Feb 18, 2010 - 11:49pm PT
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All is well.
The Earth has time.
Time is on HER side.
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Captain...or Skully
Social climber
Last clip of Lichen Lunch
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Feb 19, 2010 - 12:12am PT
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Diggin' the PimpDaddy.
Oh, yeah.
Check out all his Majesty.
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Captain...or Skully
Social climber
Last clip of Lichen Lunch
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Feb 19, 2010 - 01:11am PT
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Yet!
All is well. Millions of years, Kevin.
Millions.
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mcreel
climber
Barcelona
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Feb 19, 2010 - 03:49am PT
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So, what happened to it? Rockfall, icefall, climbers farting on it?
Enquiring minds want to know!
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squatch
Boulder climber
santa cruz, CA
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Topic Author's Reply - Feb 19, 2010 - 04:16am PT
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i wish i knew.
all i can do is think of the obvious scenarios of it's death,
• a Peregrine needed nest material, broke it off and couldn't carry it
• during a recent climbing trip, Gandalf decided to practice his staff
magic on inanimate objects
• Royal did a recent repeat of his route and decided it needed some pruning
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John Moosie
climber
Beautiful California
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Feb 19, 2010 - 04:45am PT
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Likely that heavy snowfall a few weeks ago did it in.
So many trees fell or limbs broke off.
In 20 years of living in the park, I had not seen a storm do that much damage to trees.
then again Gandalf is a bit rusty..
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Ed Hartouni
Trad climber
Livermore, CA
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Feb 19, 2010 - 12:14pm PT
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from time-to-time my botanist wife and I have a gentle argument about climbers' treatment of the flora which occupies their path... we choose up sides as expected, I advocating for the climbers, she for the flora.
Of course I point out that as climbers, we try to tread gently, and that anyway, there is a great expanse untrod by us, so lots of opportunity for the flora to have a space.
She says that we don't really know how heavily we do tread on these places, and that the expanses may not be so great since we actually don't know what occupies the places that we go.
While it is unlikely that the individual who died recently up on the Nutcracker (and I am referring to the tree) represents the last of it's species, it may be true that in other places, there are unique representations of flora, left over from a time and a climate long ago, that thrive up to the point of the climbers visit. We will probably never know. It is true on the few outcrops of cliffs in the great flat middle of our country, that those outcrops, unplantable, useless to agriculture, represent the last refuge of an ancient flora.
I promise to be minimal in my "gardening" (a wonderfully Orwellian appropriation of a word describing an act which is the opposite of the word's meaning) and assure her that as a group we tend to be careful not to do harm, but it seems inevitable that the flora will eventually succumb to heavy use on a route. That tree was probably not a direct victim of an act by a human, nature is fully capable in generating its own violence against life.
That was a great tree, it represented to me the improbability of life, that individual clinging to the cliff, implanted, finding just enough of what it needed to make a life, a life that numbered in years, exceeded that of most of the recent climbers that passed it on their way from the bottom to the top of that cliff. It was a familiar individual which I met occasionally, a stranger you could always count on when you were in a particular place, where though you are strangers, there is the gleam of familiarity upon meeting... I'm sure the tree didn't recognize me, but that hardly matters as we were the children of the realm of the living, kindred, though distant relatives.
In years to come the remnants of that individual will slowly return back to constituent elements. The individual's passing fading from memory, as the existence of the individual also fades.
But I will try to have a thought of remembrance upon passing that spot, and use it to meditate on all the other individuals that our brash species push aside, obliviously, as we try to wring out of our own existence all of the experiences we can. And perhaps I can tell the tale of that tree to others who will never have a chance to meet it.
So we are all diminished by this passing, but it is a passing that we all make, part of the symmetry of living.
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Crillz
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Feb 19, 2010 - 12:20pm PT
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I bet a rock took it out, but in the kick back picture that dude slung that sucker right at the breaking point.
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Studly
Trad climber
WA
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Feb 19, 2010 - 12:53pm PT
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Ed, that was awesome!
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Captain...or Skully
Social climber
Last clip of Lichen Lunch
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Feb 19, 2010 - 12:57pm PT
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it was, huh, Studly?
Thanks, Ed. You've quite a way with words.
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billygoat
climber
Pees on beard to seek mates.
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Feb 19, 2010 - 12:58pm PT
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Treehuggers! Why don't you quit your whining and make some paper.
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Jay Wood
Trad climber
Fairfax, CA
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Feb 19, 2010 - 01:03pm PT
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I've had some beautiful times sitting on that tree.
LOT of trees went down in the valley this winter.
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rockermike
Trad climber
Berkeley
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Feb 19, 2010 - 01:58pm PT
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I don't even recognize or remember no tree??? Maybe that is (was) on the left variation of pitch 3? I've always gone right. Or perhaps it is on the direct start pitches (which I've never done)?? In any case RIP old man. I've always sensed that the trees are ancient spirits just watching us - keeping track of what we do, good or bad, as we pass.
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le_bruce
climber
Oakland: what's not to love?
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Feb 19, 2010 - 08:10pm PT
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Paying my respects - RIP, tree.
Imagine all of the hands and feet, of the greats and the grunts, that have touched its bark over the last half century. Long live the Nutcracker tree.
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justthemaid
climber
Jim Henson's Basement
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Feb 19, 2010 - 08:11pm PT
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Hopefully it's not dead- just broken. We'll have to see if it starts sprouting some young'ins.
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Mimi
climber
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Feb 19, 2010 - 08:13pm PT
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It's always made me angry that climbers trash the vegetation around routes. It's stupid and selfish behavior but I gave up believing climbers were a truly special lot a long time ago. Alas.
Edit: It's history. Just like the Evil Tree on Leaning Tower. Cruel fate.
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sempervirens
Trad climber
Trinity County
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Feb 19, 2010 - 09:02pm PT
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good commentary by Ed.
We oughta think about it. There is a climbing area in the Niagara River gorge where biologists found 700 year old trees growing on cliffs that were 7" in diameter. Those trees were also used as anchors.
A couple years ago I commented on a climbers story of launching wheel barrel sized clumps of sedges off west wall of El Cap. How long did those clumps take to get to that size? What species were they? Are they very rare? His only reply was something about the size of my cajones. I forget how he tried to make that relevant.
But anyway, I'm suggesting we put a bit more thought into the gardening we do. I'm also a botanist, and I've cleaned plants out of wet cracks 'cause they were in my way.
I'm just saying, all too often we climbers talk like we're so light on the land and so different than the other users of wild places; we revere the rocks and mountains. We do. But are we so different?
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Mimi
climber
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Feb 19, 2010 - 09:15pm PT
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Exactly. Just like rock scarring.
"I can do whatever I want and you can't stop me, waaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhh!"
Some of us try our best to be. But for some, no difference at all.
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noshoesnoshirt
climber
Arkansas, I suppose
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Feb 19, 2010 - 09:30pm PT
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I'll fess up. I (and several others) felled a mighty oak from the base of a beautiful new wall in Arkansas years ago. In our defense, it opened up four or five incredible routes, and we did it with a small hatchet (with a loose head that flew off about every 7th stroke - it took all afternoon).
Afterward I felt very guilty. I had always been an advocate of pruning the offending branches and leaving the tree for shade, but I guess I got caught up in the mob attitude. No excuse really.
Since then every time I visited the wall the dead tree lay there as a mark of my shame. It has since gone back into the ground, even the trunk has decayed into soil, but it lingers in my mind.
The follies of youth, eh. At least it taught me a lesson.
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Mimi
climber
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Feb 19, 2010 - 09:36pm PT
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We all go to sleep at night with weight on our chest, noshoesnoshirt. The fact that we acknowledge our folly and cease doing whatever it was is the point. And then spreading the word about it to whoever will listen...
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Ed Hartouni
Trad climber
Livermore, CA
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Feb 19, 2010 - 11:49pm PT
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the tree in question... California Bay?
two friends...
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Studly
Trad climber
WA
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Feb 19, 2010 - 11:55pm PT
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Brokedownclimber
Trad climber
Douglas, WY
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Feb 20, 2010 - 10:19am PT
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It's been a looooong time since I climbed the Nutcracker (1980). Was this on the 3rd pitch? The so-called "lightning bolt crack?" My bet is that it will re-sprout. Trees have a real will to live. Yeah, it's a bay tree not an oak.
Compare the treatment of this tree to the famous "Gotcha Bush" in Joshua Tree; gone.
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Matt M
Trad climber
SA, TX
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Feb 20, 2010 - 11:58am PT
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If it's a rare species of tree I'm all for treading lightly. That said however, the whole POINT of trees is they're one of our best renewable resources. For me the LOCATION of a tree means very little so long as it's not some rare "vertical crack oak". The granite cliffs with the beautiful cracks are not renewable however. Trees kill detached flakes etc. so I'm all for the cleaning of cracks etc. Plant two fir trees for every stump in a crack we create and I consider it a good thing.
A bit harsh? Sure. But INCREASING the tree count while keeping our cracks clean is not a bad thing.
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Mimi
climber
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Feb 21, 2010 - 07:48pm PT
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You don't think I'm like that, do you? Seriously.
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Ed Hartouni
Trad climber
Livermore, CA
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Feb 21, 2010 - 09:20pm PT
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I think if you actually lost it like that, you'd be out there beating up the lumberjacks... not sitting around on your ass being hysterical...
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le_bruce
climber
Oakland: what's not to love?
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Feb 22, 2010 - 01:06am PT
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If it's a rare species of tree I'm all for treading lightly. That said however, the whole POINT of trees is they're one of our best renewable resources.
That's a beauty.
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HighTraverse
Trad climber
Bay Area
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Feb 22, 2010 - 09:34pm PT
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If it's a rare species of tree I'm all for treading lightly. That said however, the whole POINT of trees is they're one of our best renewable resources.
"You've seen one redwood, you've seen 'em all"
A paraphrase of Governor Ronald Reagan
My chainsaws are sharpened and loaded. I've got a dandy lightweight one. Got any Valley climbs that need cleaning up? If I can bring my 50 cal sniper rifle to Yosemite, why not my chainsaw?
You can bet there was a small ecosystem living around that tree. Bugs. Spiders and lizards to eat the bugs. Possibly a couple of copulating wall frogs. Some sparse grasses and mosses.
Not to mention hot climbers catching a little shade on a Sunday afternoon.
Why do we bother to put slings with rap rings around the bases of trees we rappel from? It'll take 20 years of sawing the bark with pulled ropes to kill them.
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roadman
climber
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Feb 22, 2010 - 10:24pm PT
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Ed well said. Thanks
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sempervirens
Trad climber
Trinity County
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Feb 23, 2010 - 07:33pm PT
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That said however, the whole POINT of trees is they're one of our best renewable resources.
Trees are renewabel and that certainly is a very important point. The WHOLE POINT though? Let's remember that they also produce oxygen; contribute to soils; provide habitat for organisms from six different kingdoms of living things; provide, shade, fruits, fiber and more.
But I agree with Matt about considering its rarity. That way we're likely to consider other important things about that particular plant (or the particular lichen, fungus, even the rock or other parts of the natural environment). And we'd at least need to know what species it is to consider rarity.
A tree that is not "rare" might still be rare in a certain area. "Rare" can be defined in various ways. It could be the only black oak, or california bay tree on that substrate in that valley, etc. Removing it could prevent reproduction of that species over a much larger area.
My WHOLE point is: let's consider these things and get a greater degree of information and knowledge before making impact instead of only considering how to do the route.
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PiKhead
Trad climber
Ecotopia
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Feb 24, 2010 - 07:46pm PT
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NOOOOOOOO!!
Nutcraker was my first time! I popped my cherry on that climb. My first multipitch. My first hanging belay. What a rush.
Did it back in '84 with a great guy from San Diego, an air traffic controller named Alan, last name maybe Webster, not sure. The tree was much smaller then. I was on spring break from college in SF. I was just starting to learn how to climb and Alan was a great mentor. He had me hangin' there shittin' my draws! When he stepped off the sling I was clipped to the slack came out of it and I only dropped a couple of inches, but immediately grabbed that little tree with all my might!
You never forget the first time! :^) Thanks Alan, where ever you are!
RIP little tree!
D. Scott
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donini
Trad climber
Ouray, Colorado
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Feb 24, 2010 - 07:49pm PT
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Oh no! Does it still go?
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GDavis
Social climber
SOL CAL
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Feb 24, 2010 - 07:51pm PT
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Tommy is working to free it as we speak.
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tolman_paul
Trad climber
Anchorage, AK
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Feb 24, 2010 - 08:16pm PT
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I have fond memories of climbing the nutcracker, but for some reason I just don't remember the little tree? I've done the route from both starts, I recall feeling good running it out on the 4th pitch, and the mantle crux didn't nearly live up to the hype, but perhaps that was due to having done enough mantles bouldering.
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steelmnkey
climber
Vision man...ya gotta have vision...
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Feb 24, 2010 - 10:05pm PT
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I remember that tree... my buddy certainly thought it was a good hold...
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Melissa
Gym climber
berkeley, ca
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Feb 24, 2010 - 10:09pm PT
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Can you imagine the horror, if you were hamming it up for that photo one second and sliding down the slab with the tree in your mitts the next?
I can visualize the suspended animation moment.
I totally sent post-tree weekend before last, and it sounds like the OP may have too, so Tommy is going to have to eat his heart out this time. ;-) (It was a 'what the?' moment when the tree didn't come into view when it was supposed to.)
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squatch
Boulder climber
santa cruz, CA
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Topic Author's Reply - Feb 25, 2010 - 03:56am PT
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yeah we sent post-breakage.
although this time we did it all on nuts in honor of the first ascent.
adds some good spice.
we did dab the tree stump though.
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neebee
Social climber
calif/texas
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Feb 25, 2010 - 07:35am PT
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hey there all, say, ed,
very nice post, as to the tree, and to nature-growths, as well...
does seem perhaps the heavy snows made the last impact... trees around here, have had that trouble, too (but none to fall off rock-faces)... just only to fall as "boughs" from where they grew...
thanks for the shares, and the "end of an era" note...
lets folks like me, know more...
:)
edit: say, steelmonkey, very nice picture of the tree...
thanks so much...
:)
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fielgeit
climber
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Feb 25, 2010 - 06:48pm PT
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Nut Cracker Tree and the other god trees that have blessed our lives on Yosemite rock routes: find the relics of all and burn 'em at the top of Glacier Point and push the ashes / embers off the side of the cliff, like the old days and the firefall face light show.
Fielgeit
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Patrick Sawyer
climber
Originally California now Ireland
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Feb 25, 2010 - 08:32pm PT
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Several years back on the Taco Stand, somebody joked about putting up a plastic 'fallen log' on the Arches route. Actually, for future generations, a 'dodgy' plastic fallen tree/log on the Arches would give newbies a chance to see what it was like. Then again, it was scary, climbing across that log. Maybe not.
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