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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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