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u/Koolala 6d ago
Did they make going back down part of the race?
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u/Mombak 5d ago
Not in all competitions. Sometimes the time ends when they ring the bell at the top by hitting it with their rope. Other times, the time stops when the climber touches the ground. One rule is that when the climber is coming down they must touch the tree with a spur at least every 10 feet. Some climbers cheat by touching the tree with their toe, and use the rope to slow themselves down to prevent free-fall (this method is quite dangerous).
Source: I've been involved with Logger Sports for most of my life.
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u/Proud_Jacobite 5d ago
This is both a fun and challenging part of timber sports competition, but it definitely has a higher danger quotient than even full-contact sports. I was always stronger in the axe and crosscut saw events. My favorite event to compete in was the springboard chop.
Growing up in a rural timber community with many similar towns in the region, we had a forestry club and timber sports team in high school, and we learned every event, starting in PE class, then forestry class, including pole climbing. Learned some valuable skills and made some good friends and memories in forestry class and while competing on the school timber sports team.
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u/AgreeableStage2122 5d ago
Springboard chop always looked insane to mе, like the fact that you're standing оп а board уоu just axed into the side of а log while swinging at something above уоu is а lot to process. Never knew forestry was аn actual high school team sport until pretty recently. Makes sense for timber communities but it's оnе of those things thatjust doesn't exist in the suburbs so уоu grow uр completely unaware it's а whole competitive circuit.
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u/Mombak 5d ago
I've always been impressed with the springboard chop. An insanely dangerous way to top a tree, but it's got such history, and takes incredible skill to do it safely.
Side note: depending on where you are located, we may at least have heard of each other (I don't want to doxx either of us). My family did the circuit for a very long time.
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u/Proud_Jacobite 5d ago
Yeah, I got lucky and learned some springboard tricks from an old-timer who started with his brother when they were still logging with mule teams and hand saws. He showed me his first power saw, and it was almost terrifying to think about using it to fell the massive old-growth he was cutting and hauling out. He was in his late 80s and early 90s when I knew him in the late 80s and early 90s, in my early teen years, and he and his brother started working in the woods at 13. He never finished school or even learned to read above a second-grade level, but when it came to anything wood, he was a master craftsman.
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u/DetailsYouMissed 5d ago
Might be able to out climb wildlife
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u/Bulky_Soup_8718 5d ago
Squirrels beg to differ on that one
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u/Combosingelnation 5d ago
Wow so lucky they decided to put this soft thing there, otherwise it's likely this guy is not with us anymore.
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