I (Jared Miller) and my friend (Matthew Weston) had come up with a crazy idea to create a climbing route on a tree which will be LEADABLE!!! Yes... LEADABLE. Who ever thought that you would lead a tree! We have been working long and hard to establish this project, it is one of a kind and we are almost FINISHED!

We have made 2 routes so far and are just finishing off the last few bolts.

OK... I have decided on grades ... Firstly the easier one, which is 10m in hight and slightly overhanging \"Feel the pull\", felt its about a 19. Then theres \"Twited Gravity\" which is about 6m in hight and very overhanging. I gave it a grade of 7c;7c+ (will be difficult for shorties), difficult crux!

We expect to finish completly within the next 2 weeks, and more info will be posted soon! But for now here is a pic.

Please post me your thoughts about this idea

THANX

shame poor tree!¬

Might be barking up the wrong tree here..... but, what branch of climbing would this fall under then?

I agree with Grigri though.... Yes, shame.... poor tree!

You may have inadvertently eventually found a use for all the alien trees we have growing everywhere! I hope he bolted tree is an alien.

Looks like a Syringa to me.

Hey guys, this tree is not damaged will nails and bolts everywhere, as you guys may be thinking, if you look at it it really doesn't stand out, you dont notice the routes, our goal was to keep the tree as clean as possible and to least damage it. I believe the tree is a Tipuana
and not sure if its an alien or not.

A few years back we bolted a route on a blue gum. An ice axe route. Was fairly awesome, before all the hardware was stolen off the route. Not sure if it was a tree hugger....or one of the climbers.

How are the bolts secured?
The tree might push the screws out over time, check this often.
We used to boulder up some trees, found one or two cool problems!

Most trees with a few branches can be led with trad gear (use slings for pro) even without branches you can just make the sling tight on the trunk.

The one route can be lead with slings. Initially thats what we were doing. But then we thought, wouldn't it be cool if there where bolts. I imagined looking at the tree with all the draws in... LOOKS AWSOME. Besides the hard route needs bolts. Ok... How did I put them in the tree? Firstly, I took a 1 meter steel threaded rod and cut 12cm pieces from it. I drilled 10 cm holes in the tree where the bolts are to be placed, leaving 2 centimeters for the hanger and nut. I used a special strong glue and glued them in. It takes 24 hours to dry and even then we didnt climb on them. I wanted to give it a month, so that the tree grows around it properly and holds it. So far this is only one bolt i have done (for testing purposes). We took fair falls on it and it did not budge or make any funny noises. And to be safe, the distance between each bolt is no more than 2 meters.

I used coach screws. That is, a screw with a thick thread and hex head. Recomend drilling a pilot hole or you will not get the screw fully in before the head twists off.

You could also use some large nails I sapose.

I do wonder what tree sap would do to a bolt, nail or screw. Might even presurve them.