№ 14: Two Minutes
In a previous letter, I talked about a challenging linden tree that I found in a nearby park, which turned out to be a pleasant surprise in an area otherwise devoid of climbing opportunities.
I thought it would be interesting to break down, move-by-move, what it’s like to ascend the first portion of that tree. But, instead of showing you photographs, it might be a little clearer if I abstract things. I’m no illustrator, but I can do a decent job at tracing pictures.
Let’s start at the bottom and work through step-by-step.
Luckily for me, the top of the trunk has a deep notch that I can fit my hands in.
Using this as a handle, I can pull myself up. Meanwhile, I try to place my feet on any little bulge in the trunk that I can find, so that they can help stabilize me. They can only offer a little bit of support, though, as there’s not enough to stand on, and tree bark is weak.
Eventually, with a significant effort, I move my center of mass high enough up that instead of pulling myself up with my hands, I am pushing down on the trunk with them. From here, it's easy to get into a standing position. For the rest of the ascent, let's switch views to the other side of the tree.
The stem on the left of this figure is the same as the faded out one in the background of Figures 1–3. Standing atop the trunk, the first graspable branch is far overhead.
To reach it, I begin working my way upwards, bracing myself between two large stems (I guess they’re branches, but they’re vertical so I am calling them stems even if that’s possibly not technically correct).
I mostly hold myself up with friction, pressing hard with my feet against the bark of each stem. To get upward force, I tuck my right leg under my torso…
…and then I use it to push my torso upward.
I repeat the process several times, lifting my torso, then lifting and tucking my feet back underneath, until eventually I can reach my target branch. Pulling on this branch lets my arms share some of the work that my legs are doing.
Eventually, I reach the end of my upward walk. At this point, I can't keep climbing without major changes. I will need to rotate my whole body approximately 180° clockwise, so that the stem that's currently at my back can be at my front, allowing me to reach its other branches. This will be the hardest move of the whole climb.
To get ready, I do a partial turn, rotating my hips to the right and taking my lower right leg and pressing it against the stem. It's not really holding onto anything right now, but I need to get it into position. I'm holding myself up with both my hands, plus my left foot that's pressed against the far stem.
Then I let go with my left foot, and my body swings out, rotating the rest of the way. I use my right leg and arms to control my swing…
…until my left foot can find purchase on the stem.
From there, it's a simple matter of reaching over with my left hand and grabbing onto a second branch.
The last step is to get my body above those two initial branches, so that eventually I'm standing on them with my feet, vs. dangling from them with my hands. To get closer to that goal, I pull with my arms and push with my feet to get myself higher.
Once I'm high enough, I lean my torso back, so that I have room to bring up my right foot and put it on the branch that my right hand is holding. Around the same time, I thread my left leg into the gap between the two branches on my left side.
From here, I am free to work my way up the ladder. My feet are resting on the branches that I once held onto with my hands. I free my hands and find new branches overhead to grab onto.
At this point, I can finally take a break. The tree, under my feet, is supporting my weight, rather than requiring me to hold myself up via my own strength. By the time I’ve reached this point, I am definitely winded and weary. It took less than two minutes, and I ascended only a short distance, but getting into the first branches of this tree takes more effort than almost any other climb I've done. The rest of the tree will be comparatively simple.
Hopefully this has all been of interest to you. Importantly, it’s been pretty interesting to me: when making this climb, I did not have this level of understanding of what I was doing. As I’ve said before: your body knows what to do. When I am up there, my understanding of how to overcome obstacles is mostly non-verbal. I know where I want to go, and muscle memory handles the job of getting me there — this is how we all get around, with our body filling in the details to give the brain what it wants. Reviewing this climb gave me a new appreciation for what I accomplished.
Tracing these images was a fun exercise and a chance to practice skills. But, there’s also video, if you want to see the whole thing. I filmed most of this on a whim, not quite sure what to do with it. I’m glad to have found a use.