who are the most extreme hangers on hammock forums

[GOLFER]

That is a well thought out response Ty. Wait until I go winter camping down a frozen glacier on my unicycle in only a Speedo!
Turk's videos are always eagerly anticipated by me ..... terrific stuff.
Sometimes just getting out of the house with my wife and daughter still wanting "things" from me is extreme.
Carry onward!
Shug

oh i know what you mean I have 2 daughters, a wife , and a mother-in-law.

[dspittard]

Amazing story, Ed!! I never would have thought to hand myself in the trees like one would do with their food!

DP

[NotToWorry]

WOW i just read ed"s post all I can say to that is that is N***INGFUTS. ED YOU DA MAN
Ishould've read that first. YOU THE KING SIR YOU THE KING.
ED BROWN BEAR SPEERS
WHOA
not to take anything away from shug and turk but, whoa. To knowingly put yourself in a position where your litterly part of the food chain is borderline insane.

As I'm sure Shug & Turk also believe, I'd like to think my adventures aren't irresponsible, just well-planned & thought out experiences outside the usual ream of activities. It's certainly thinking outside the box. But knowing what to expect & then having the proper training, gear & experience to handle the situation does give one a great advantage as well as great confidence. Of course Mother Nature commands respect as she always has the upper hand. For the most fun, know your limits & then push yourself to the edge of your abilities, not beyond them. For many people that might mean just getting off the ground & into a hammock in the first place--what a great start! Be safe & Happy Hammocking!

[NotToWorry]

Ed, can you describe how you rigged the hoist?

Frankly Mac, it's been too long to remember for sure. I recall using at least 1 pulley & 1 Jumar; but the exact arrangement eludes me now. I do recall that the foot end of the hammock was a single length of rope anchored as high in the tree as possible. The rope at the head end of the hammock had the pulley & the Jumar. I remember lying on the ground in the hammock, pulling on the rope & hoisting myself aloft, but I generally ended up too low or closer to the head end tree than the foot end tree & often had to rerig everything to get higher or to be better centered between the trees (often 2 or 3 attempts were necessary to get well centered between the trees)--unless I was well centered, the hammock would be stretched with uncomfortable sag.

I remember using multiple ropes:

1) Anchor rope for the foot end of the hammock. It had to be long enough to be be tied off at the base of the tree with the other end thrown over a high limb & reaching back to the hammock on the ground.
2) Anchor rope for the head end of the hammock. It was tied off at the base of the tree, then thrown over a high limb. This rope had a pulley at the top end thru which the 3rd rope went.
3) This rope connected to the head end of the hammock, then passed thru the pulley high in the tree at the end of # 2 anchor rope, then passed back down to the hammock where it probably attached back to itself near the head end of the hammock with the Jumar. After passing thru the Jumar, this rope then came to me in the hammock where I could pull it to hoist the hammock. Once released, this end of the rope could hang out of my reach, so I had to have a tether line tied off to the hammock itself.

I can't recall if more pulleys were used, but I do remember trying 2 & even 3 pulley setups to get better leverage ratios; but I think in the end I used only one pulley. More elaborate systems using Jumars & pulleys at each end would probably work better, but space & weight restrictions for my kayak trip prevented me from soing so.

I also used a fulltime safety harness that was connected to the Jumar with a short length of rope. If I fell out of the hammock, the safety rope would stop me before hitting the ground; then I'd have to cut the safety rope to fall the remaining few feet to the ground ( a knife for this purpose was attached to the safey harness).

Obviously attempting such a setup can be extremely dangerous--a fall from even low heights can cause serious injury or even death. Anyone planning such a setup should do lots of testing in safe situations before trusting any high setup. This should also include testing the safety harness by actually falling out of the hammock at low heights to make sure the system works. Be safe

[stoikurt]

Too bad it's a federal crime to mess with saguaros which is about the only cacti you could hang off of. Don't even know how sturdy they are but I'd rather not find out with a trip to federal pen

I'd also hate to tie on to one only to find out during the night that it was not strong enough to to support me and have it break and fall inward.

[Cannibal]

Cool story Ed! You're my hero for the whole rest of the week.

[breaker]

Thanks for calling me extreme .... but I have no choice up here if I want to go backpacking. For me extreme would be hanging in 110º heat with no wind and abundant sunshine!!!!!! Gaaahhhh, give me shade, wind and cold!
Shug of the Shade and Gloom

I lived in Roseau MN for like 5 years or so. Wife and I had horses back then. One night we hit -40F and went outside to check on the horses at around 2am or so. I went down 4 stairs and took 2 steps and hit the ground on my knees. I could not breath. I think my lungs frozed because when I moved the scarf up over my face I few min later I could breath again. One of the horses lost his ear that night from frost bite.

Every winter I remember snow plows driving on the lakes and putting up stop signs and lights on the LAKES!. ice fishing was huge and any winter sport you can imagine. It was interesting driving a 4x4 across the ice.

All the stores have plugs and no one locks there cars when they grocery shop. U plug them in and leave them running so its warm when you come out.

Now Summer time you would think everyone wants to come. I think fall was like 3 weeks and gone. But summertime is worse. MN state bird should really be the mosquito. When we did groceries we would only get enough where each person could grab 2 or 3 bags. Then all at one time. RUN! for the door.

Now if you had to come out a 2nd time. Oh my there was a cloud waiting for you. I even did some testing where I would hold my breath and walk out on the porch. Not one mosquito but as soon as I exhaled they sounded the trumpets.

I also bought one of those big square fans you place in a window. Well I put screen on the side it blows into and tossed a light bulb in front of it. When I came out the next morning the fan was so gummed up from mosquito's it fried the motor.

If I was still in MN I would hike in the winter too. The bugs are like wild animals there.

We had a cold spell and for 4 days and nights it never warmed up. I snapped and told the wife find me a uhaul we are going south I have had it. Now I am in TN and LOVE IT!.

But if you like the cold MN is the place to be. There is also jobs there because no one wants to live there. Polaris is there. Warroad, MN only 25 min away has marvin windows. Both places are always hiring.

[default]

Thanks for calling me extreme .... but I have no choice up here if I want to go backpacking. For me extreme would be hanging in 110º heat with no wind and abundant sunshine!!!!!! Gaaahhhh, give me shade, wind and cold!
Shug of the Shade and Gloom

well if this is the case me and just about everyone at the impromtu hang we just had at sesqi count...90* nights...

[neo]

wow i cant believe its been over 4 years since i started this thread lolneo

[Womble]

I like -40°, thats where Fahrenheit and Celsius meet