Ch.45 (cont.)
“Well
I intend to get you up in that tree.” Lee said so that others could not hear
our conversation.
I said
to Lee below my breath . “I don’t know if I can climb that tree like you and Ann can.”
“You don’t have to climb I have a winch remember
I just have to get you in the harness and get the rope up into the tree and
then start the winch and then we can hoist your dead ass up into the tree. Come
on Guy it’s a once in a lifetime opportunity, to be able to go up and do some
carving in one of the largest trees on earth. When will you ever have this
chance again? Also you will be saving one of the largest trees on earth. If we do
nothing then it may cause permanent damage to the tree, or in the course of
seven hours will be more damaged than it is now. I can probably do it by myself,
but would rather have you and your expertise with trees up there. You know more
than I do. You only have to be about 170 feet off the ground and I will have
one regular line and a safety line on you. In case something happens that won’t
allow you to fall more than ten feet at the most.”
“Well Lee to say the least I never
thought I would ever be climbing and the idea of climbing into the largest tree
on earth does sound appealing and it will probably be a once in a lifetime event
for sure, so I guess I should try but to
say the least you are going to be pushing me to the limits.” I said as I smiled
back at him.
“If anything happens to you or you want to
back out just let me know.” Lee said. I will have you back on the ground in no time.
If nothing else you can show me how much to remove I will be happy and can get
the job done.” Lee said .
“Ok.”
I said “Let’s do it. “
And with that Lee took out the tennis ball
launcher and loaded the launcher with a tennis ball and powered up the air
compressor off the battery and was soon up to full pressure and Lee aimed the tennis ball launcher at the limb above
and to the side of where the fire was smoldering. It was necessary to go higher
and to the side to avoid burning the ropes we would be climbing on as well to
be able to suspend ourselves midair while running the chainsaws and clearing
away the smoldering debris and do the cleanup work to allow healthy healing of
where the limb was originally ripped from. His first shot was low an so Lee
added more pressure to the launcher and this time was successful in getting the
tennis ball and the attached line over the limb and soon the ball and line was
attached to a climbing rope and we soon had our ropes slung into the General
Sherman’s branches . The closer I came to climbing this giant the more scared I
became. I looked at the base of this tree and it was nearly a 100 feet across
and it was 165 feet to the first limb. A little over half a football field to
the first limb, and still the tree was 50 feet across at this point. The limb
that had fallen was 4 feet in diameter and would have easily killed someone if
they had been below the limb when it had
fallen.
Lee had to take to take two climbing ropes
and put them together to get enough length to be able to use the winch we had
brought along. It was a capstan winch which worked by the principle of wrapping
a rope around the round drum a couple of times then this would give you a mechanical
advantage enough to lift my dead ass into the General Sherman as Lee called it.
Lee was showing one of the fireman how to use the winch as Ann helped me readjust her harness to me and was telling me how to lock on the safety
rope to assure I wouldn’t drop to the ground. You only have one chance to get this
right when climbing a tree of this size. A camera was fitted on my helmet and a
live video feed was going to be broadcast as we were doing the work. The arborist who was supposed to be here would
get a live feed to his laptop as we did the work. This way he could give us his
input also and this helped ease the park director’s mind. We tightened up the rope
on my harness and soon I was up in the air. Lee was bringing up the chainsaws
with him and I was supposed to get to the area where the fire was smoldering
and suspend myself there after locking in on the safety line, and just wait for
Lee to get to the same area. We had ascenders but to use the ascenders in a
tree this size would take forever and we really just wanted to get up and see
what was going on with the smoldering fire by the fastest available means and
the winch was working fine.
They had attempted earlier to douse the
fire with water dropped from a helicopter and this failed to snuff out the fire
so what we were doing may be the last attempt to try and save the tree and I only
hoped it would work . Twenty feet into the air and people were waving at me as
if I was on a lunar mission and needed to save the world. At forty feet the
people were beginning to get smaller as I would look down at where I came from. At eighty feet it was only then the trees real
majesty was beginning to take shape as
the people below became insignificant and it was then I realized that up here
it was only me and the General Sherman . You don’t fully understand how
something this big could have survived this long. At hundred and twenty feet I
was beginning to fully appreciate the engineering of the ropes that held me in place
as I was suspended in the air. To say the least I was scared shit less and yet
I was calm in the face of danger and looked forward to the task ahead of me. I
was beginning to see the smoldering where the limb was attached and had to move
around the tree some in order to avoid getting the ropes into the smoldering
fire. I quit looking down. I had to
concentrate on what I was doing. I had no time for fear. We had a daunting task
ahead of us as the closer to the fire I came I saw that it was worse than I
thought.
I was perhaps ten foot below and to the
right of the smoldering fire and saw that an accumulation of limbs and debris
was fueling the fire. A voice crackled over the head set as I began talking to
the park director as to the status of the fire in the tree. It looked as if it started
in the debris, but was now eating into the heart of the tree as the areas where
the limb was torn out had become pithy which is where the wood rots slowly and
is dry and vulnerable to fire more readily. We would need to remove the debris
and then carve the pithy part of the decayed wood out and then burnish the area
with fire sealing the wood and finally ending with a tar like substance
specifically designed to seal the area preventing something like this from
happening again. As I came face to face with the area I stopped the ascent by
speaking through my headset to the park director on the ground. I looked out
from where I was and it was awesome to be able to view the world from such a
hefty loft. Birds were sitting in the limbs of other sequoias around and were
viewing me with suspicious eyes as I managed to tie off on the safety line.
It would require total failure of both
climbing ropes and the harness to allow me to hit the ground. Looking down from
up her I realized I would probably die from hitting the trunk of the tree
before ever hitting the ground. Anyway I go I would be a goner.
Lee was next to come up and soon he too
was up to my level and we sat there, suspended in our harnesses assessing the
smoldering and developing a plan of action. I started grabbing the debris and
sending it to the ground. Soon I had most of the fire out. Then we focused our attention
on the pithy wood that surrounded the fire, as it was burning into the tree.
Lee had brought up two of our carving chainsaws and soon we had these fired up
and were working away at the soft wood that surrounded the glowing embers at
times. I
would carve directly into the fiery mess and soon al traces of the fire
was out but we still had a large area of where the limb was attached and after
consulting with the arborist through our video link ,and also with the park
director we agreed to remove all this pithy wood and clean up the scarred and ragged wood
leaving a clean face to that area where the limb was attached. Lee and I readjusted
our harness and was soon sawing our way down through that area removing all the
jagged hunks where the limb was once attached. We had A line attached to the
ground and soon as we needed the chainsaws fueled we would send them down and Ann
would fill them up and send them back to us. We also had a basket sent up for
debris which we attached to the lower reaches of the limb to avoid dropping
hunks of wood from the tree. I finally managed the courage to look down when
sending the chainsaws down and saw Darla in the distance taking pictures of us.
A large crowd had gathered at the base of the tree and when we sent the report
down that we had cleared the last of the burning embers out of the tree and the
fire was officially out we could hear the cheers from the crowd from our perch
high above.
At times the wind would blow and you would
feel the giant tree move slowly and sway gently as it took a pretty good wind
to even try and move this giant. I would sit in the seat of my harness and push
my feet away from the tree and soon I became quite adept at moving around up
there. Lee looked at me and said.
”Kind of like this old man don’t you?” I
just nodded and continued working.
We were at it for almost a couple of
hours and soon we had the whole area taken down to good hard dry wood and we
had it pretty well smoothed over when Lee looked at me and motioned for me to
turn off the video and audio feed to the ground . I wondered what he was up to
and as I turned the feeds off and sat there suspended and soon he let me into his plan. Before burnishing the wood he wanted
me to carve a happy face into the area where the limb was. Not enough to be
seen from below but enough for us to know and laugh about for years to come .
I started the chainsaw and with all the skill
I could muster I began carving a huge happy face into the side of the tree. It
wouldn’t hurt the tree after all it was burning when we got here and the happy
face would have no protruding obstacles to slow the fall of the debris.
I
worked quickly and soon we were sending down for the propane tank to burnish
the happy face. I torched the side of the tree and soon the whole area was
covered with black soot. We wire brushed out the feature of the happy face and
turned the camera back on and took only close-ups of the whole happy face
sculpture. This way only Lee and I would be able to tell it was there. When
viewed from the ground it was doubtful that anyone could tell what we did and
we felt that was best. Soon we were finished after four hours of hanging in the
General Sherman we were final being lowered to the ground. I looked up into the
tree before descending and realized I was a little less than halfway into the
tree at that point and I just took a moment to absorb all I was seeing. This
truly had been the fulfillment of a dream Leann and I had. Actually it was more
than the dream and beyond my comprehension that I would be able to do what I
did in a tree so famous. As I came down the cheers and well wishes from the
crowd went up and news crews were scrambling and pushing park visitors out of
the way I looked out into the crowd and thought I saw Leann. I looked again as
I was slowly being lowered and yes it was her. Damn it.
I waved to her and as she saw my wave
looked at me and smiled and waved and kind of saluted me, then walked off alone
up the path back to the Waksuchi Lodge, I couldn’t believe it was her all along
and she must have been tailing me I looked as I was still being lowered and there
was Darla who had a big broad smile on her face as I came closer to the ground no
doubt evidently proud of my accomplishment.
What should I do? Chase after Leann or stay and enjoy the moment
with Darla who by no fault of her own has been with me and has taken time to
try and make things work between us. I guess it was a no brainer as I had no
choice but to stay and enjoy the moment with Darla as throngs of well-wishers
were soon patting me on the back and telling me what a good job I had done. We
had interviews with Lee and me where we described what it was like to save the
largest tree on the planet. And I took the liberty to encourage more tree
planting as a way to avoid global warming.
The park director encouraged us to have dinner on the house at the Waksuchi
Lodge and then Lee and Ann asked him if it would be all right if they could
climb up into some of the other sequoias and the director said he was not
supposed to allow it, but since we did what we did for the General Sherman he
saw no reason why we shouldn’t be allowed. He offered to pay us for our services
and Lee and I declined saying it was a privilege to be able to help out. We
laughed and talked over the event on our way to the lodge. I saw no trace of Leann
again. In ways I think she knew I had moved on and yet though I felt as if we were
still connected somewhat but she also knew that she needed to remain out of my
life. To let me find the happiness of company I now sought in Darla, and to see
where this path will go.
No comments:
Post a Comment