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Another day in the Jungle...
Jul. 15th, 2004 12:16 amOkay, tree-climbing.
I got up at 7 and ate some breakfast, and was then ready to climb at 8. I climbed with three other people--our climbing instructor and two other students. First, we strapped on all of the equipage that's needed for climbing. Since some other people had already climbed on previous days, all of the kit was a bit muddy...and I soon learned why. Shortly after I got ready, it started to rain...So we waited for a couple of minutes and eventually the rain subsided. Off to the tree.
Getting started was the most interesting part, because of the way the whole setup was arranged. First, the ropes which we climbed were looped over branches high up in the tree, and both ends were hanging free. That meant that there was one person on each end of a rope. Therefore, if I were to start climbing before my buddy did, I would mostly just succeed in pulling him off the ground. The rope was also a bit stretchy, so it took a bit of foot-pumping to get off of the muddy ground.
I had brought a water bottle with me, and had made a nice handle for it out of some string and some duct tape. About 3 feet off the ground, the string snapped and the water bottle plummeted. Talk about an auspicious beginning! I think that was what made me the most nervous. Also, at the base of the tree our ropes weren't up against the trunk, so there was lots of swinging around and such. But soon I got the hang of the whole climbing business. First, I would slide the right ascender holding the foot loops up the rope while in a seated position. Once that ascender was as high as it would go, I would use my right hand and feet to stand up and simultaneously slide the left ascender up as high as it would go. The left ascender was attached to a loop of rope attached to my harness, and when it was as high as possible, the harness would support all my weight. Then I would slip my prussik knot up the rope and repeat the whole process, inching along the rope towards the top.
After I cleared the lower canopy, I started to get the hang of the process and enjoyed shoofing along the rope. The view from the top of the tree was great--we could look out to neighboring trees and watch toucans and oropendula birds flying around. I could have stayed up there all day! But alas, it started to rain, and then to thunder, and a tall object such as a tree is clearly not a good place to be in a thunderstorm, so we attached our rappelling figure-eights and rappelled back down.
And that was tree climbing! I may get to repeat the whole process at Cuerici, the next site we'll be visiting, but as I mentioned before, we won't have any internet access there. So this will be the last posting for about a week, and I'll have to update you on all of my adventures after that.
I spent the afternoon napping, which was great, and now we're packing up and having a little fiesta, so that's it for now!
I got up at 7 and ate some breakfast, and was then ready to climb at 8. I climbed with three other people--our climbing instructor and two other students. First, we strapped on all of the equipage that's needed for climbing. Since some other people had already climbed on previous days, all of the kit was a bit muddy...and I soon learned why. Shortly after I got ready, it started to rain...So we waited for a couple of minutes and eventually the rain subsided. Off to the tree.
Getting started was the most interesting part, because of the way the whole setup was arranged. First, the ropes which we climbed were looped over branches high up in the tree, and both ends were hanging free. That meant that there was one person on each end of a rope. Therefore, if I were to start climbing before my buddy did, I would mostly just succeed in pulling him off the ground. The rope was also a bit stretchy, so it took a bit of foot-pumping to get off of the muddy ground.
I had brought a water bottle with me, and had made a nice handle for it out of some string and some duct tape. About 3 feet off the ground, the string snapped and the water bottle plummeted. Talk about an auspicious beginning! I think that was what made me the most nervous. Also, at the base of the tree our ropes weren't up against the trunk, so there was lots of swinging around and such. But soon I got the hang of the whole climbing business. First, I would slide the right ascender holding the foot loops up the rope while in a seated position. Once that ascender was as high as it would go, I would use my right hand and feet to stand up and simultaneously slide the left ascender up as high as it would go. The left ascender was attached to a loop of rope attached to my harness, and when it was as high as possible, the harness would support all my weight. Then I would slip my prussik knot up the rope and repeat the whole process, inching along the rope towards the top.
After I cleared the lower canopy, I started to get the hang of the process and enjoyed shoofing along the rope. The view from the top of the tree was great--we could look out to neighboring trees and watch toucans and oropendula birds flying around. I could have stayed up there all day! But alas, it started to rain, and then to thunder, and a tall object such as a tree is clearly not a good place to be in a thunderstorm, so we attached our rappelling figure-eights and rappelled back down.
And that was tree climbing! I may get to repeat the whole process at Cuerici, the next site we'll be visiting, but as I mentioned before, we won't have any internet access there. So this will be the last posting for about a week, and I'll have to update you on all of my adventures after that.
I spent the afternoon napping, which was great, and now we're packing up and having a little fiesta, so that's it for now!
