How High is too High?

**jloden** · 10-26-2010, 19:06

Originally Posted by jbo_c

There was a WSJ article last week(or maybe the week before) about those Redwood hangers. Shouldn't be hard to find.

Well, I didn't find that yet, but I did run across this:

The Wild Trees: A Story of Passion and Daring

In The Wild Trees, Richard Preston unfolds the spellbinding story of Steve Sillett, Marie Antoine, and the tiny group of daring botanists and amateur naturalists that found a lost world above California, a world that is dangerous, hauntingly beautiful, and unexplored. The canopy voyagers are young–just college students when they start their quest–and they share a passion for these trees, persevering in spite of sometimes crushing personal obstacles and failings. They take big risks, they ignore common wisdom (such as the notion that there’s nothing left to discover in North America), and they even make love in hammocks stretched between branches three hundred feet in the air.

Whoa, maybe I need to look into getting one of those treeboats even if they are ~5lbs

**jbo_c** · 10-26-2010, 21:54

Was more like a "travel" type piece. In the Personal Journal section.

Jbo

**cfisch9** · 10-26-2010, 22:02

Those treeboats definitely look pretty interesting. I would love to see what it is like hangin' 300 feet up in the Redwoods.

**Wabbajack** · 10-26-2010, 22:03

Are there any issues with being so high up? Birds and squirrels come to mind.

**WonderMonkey** · 10-26-2010, 22:52

They will add some weight to your backback but you may want to look into a deadfall harness like hunters use. I use one (while hunting) each time I'm in a climber.

**shrek** · 10-27-2010, 06:13

Ed Speer (NotToWorry) tells the tale of rigging a pulley system to take him up about 40' in some trees, to stay out of the reach of some rather large brown bears.

**Knotty** · 10-27-2010, 11:17

If hanging high I'd make sure all my gear was heavy duty. Example, 1/8" amsteel whoppies instead of 7/64" and no lightweight hammock materials. You want a lot of safety margin.

Too many stories of people doing regular hanging and suddenly they're on the ground because a tiny unseen hole in the hammock caused a split or the supposedly strong enough suspension or tree hugger failed.

**bdbart** · 10-27-2010, 12:15

I agree with Knotty... you have to have confidence in your equipment... my friend has a GT ultralite and does not trust it when we hang in trees... he uses my "extra" hammock instead

**sonic** · 10-27-2010, 12:57

a harness sounds like a necessity.

what about an under net, sort of under quilt safety net type of thing.
a rope hammock made of amsteel. yummy.
I like the pulley system Idea.
What if you got to pee?