report on March "Second Saturday" climb

Possum Top's gigantic tulip poplars were the film stars Saturday, March 13, when a two-person documentary team from Birmingham showed up for the monthly Second Saturday Wilderness Climb in the southern Appalachians near Suches, Ga.

The tree-top interviews 90 feet up in Naomi, one of the 104 old-growth poplars that dot the ridgeline at Possum Top, likely will become part of the long-term documentary that the team -- writer Alisa Blackwood and photojournalist Randy Crow -- hopes to enter in several southern film festivals in 2004 and 2005.

Blackwood, an editor at a Birmingham-based cooking magazine and former reporter for The Associated Press, said she read about recreational treeclimbing in an on-line magazine article in early March and decided it would be a great subject for their documentary.

A week earlier they had shot several scenes with climbing instructor Tim Kovar at an introductory climb on Arizona Avenue in Atlanta.

They also plan to interview recreational treeclimbing founder Peter Jenkins in Atlanta on a later date, and hope to travel to Boca del Drago, Panama, later this year to film canopy researchers in the rainforests at the Institute for Tropical Ecology and Conservation.

She and Crow caught up with the Second Saturday treeclimbers about 9 a.m. at a fast-food restaurant near Dahlonega, Ga., then followed them north along twisting mountain roads for about 30 miles to the popular climbing area at Possum Top. It was the same site where expert climbers from throughout the East and Midwest had gathered last September to discuss the future of the outdoor adventure and research activity.

Saturday's weather was cooperative for the climbers and the documentary makers, with an early morning low in the upper 30s and an afternoon high in the middle 50s under a partly cloudy sky. It was typical weather for mid-March in the Possum Top area, where the steep elevations range from about 2,400 feet to 3,700 feet.

They filmed the various pieces of climbing gear being loaded into backpacks, then followed the climbers into the thick woods at Possum Top. A half mile later everyone agreed to climb in Naomi, a 200-year-old tulip poplar that had plenty of thick limbs for rope anchors -- and for camera mounts.

Crow was able to film two methods of getting lines into the tree when Joe Maher broke out his BigShot and Abe Winters demonstrated his cradle throw. The photojournalist was also able to capture two climbing styles when Maher went up using a single-rope technique with Jumar ascenders, while Winters went up on a double rope using his body-thrust method.

Maher and Winters soon had ropes set up for everybody, including a 200-foot, 16-strand rope for Crow and his heavy camera and Leica lens. That's where the fun began.

Blackwood and Crow had each climbed only once before; short introductory climbs the previous weekend in Atlanta with Kovar. Fortunately, the Second Saturday climbers had brought along a lot of extra harnesses in various sizes, along with a variety of carabiners and other equipment.

The two documentary makers soon were aloft using the double-rope technique, and both made it to 70 feet after several minor harness adjustments for comfort. Crow used that vantage point for a tree-top interview with Winters, who discussed the safety aspects of tree climbing, and to film other climbers who came up later.

Assisted by other climbers, a nervous but determined Crow was able to transfer to a second setting and climb about 25 feet higher in the tree for an in-depth interview with Maher on the various reasons people climb trees, and to continue the interview with Winters.

Both Blackwood and Crow were still nervous when it came time to descend, but they each made it back to firm earth with no assistance from other climbers. They were, however, belayed from the ground for safety reasons.

During the climb, six hikers on a nearby nature trail stopped to watch for about a half hour. The hikers included a professonal Christmas tree farmer who was interested in learning to climb; he invited the tree climbers to visit his farm and surrounding old-growth wilderness in northwestern North Carolina at a later date.

Once everyone was on the ground, the equipment was quickly repacked and hauled the half mile back to the Possum Top parking area. Blackwood and Crow then interviewed Maher on his use of treeclimbing techniques for canopy research in the rainforests of Central America, and Winters on how treeclimbing fits into his professional field of experiental education.

The late-winter sun was already starting to dip beneath a southern ridgeline before the climbers and documentary makers turned their vehicles toward home and hot "Bully Burgers" and onion rings at the Dawsonville Pool Room

The next Second Saturday climb will be held April 10 and is open to all experienced climbers who have their own equipment and who will be in the Atlanta and north Georgia areas that weekend. The climbers will meet at 9 a.m. that day at the Waffle House restaurant at the north end of Georgia 400, at its intersection with Georgia 60 near Dahlonega.

Very well written post! I sure wish I could be down there and participate with this group.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the documentary does well and that we all can see it.

Was he from near Burnsville, by any chance? I know of a really cool tree farm that's surrounded by the largest land trust in the US, including lots of good climbing trees. I've climbed up there a lot.

Josh

The Christmas tree farmer said he was from Warrensville, N.C. I'll know more when we get in better contact with each other. From what I've been hearing from Tear and other sources out there, some mighty big hardwoods can be found in that part of the Appalachians.

A really incredible place that you probably know about is Joyce Kilmer. Part of the Slcickrock Wilderness Area, it is a patch that was not logged by the Vanderbilts. It's got some of the largest tulip poplars I've ever seen. I've hiked through, but never climbed there. I've also heard that there have been some issues with climbers there before. That's in Southwest NC.

Further north, NW of Asheville is Linville Gorge, "The Grand Canyon of Dixie." It's a fun hiking, biking, tubing, and of course tree climbing area. It's a good place to hike into, climb a small oak or pine and be able to see out over the gorge for miles.

I'll be in the area all summer, but I'll have to leave my gear here in upstate NY. So if folks want to come climb, and have extra gear, let's do it.

JOsh

Wild Bill,

As I've mentioned before, I try to keep in touch with your website postings. Several times you propose that everyone meets at a waffle house.

The climbers will meet at 9 a.m. that day at the Waffle House restaurant at the north end of Georgia 400, at its intersection with Georgia 60 near Dahlonega.

I'm just curious if you own it?

Regards,
JimK

I don't think Wild Bill owns it, here in the south there's so many Waffle Houses we use 'em instead of street signs. "Go to the first Waffle House up 400 and turn left. At the next Waffle House you come to, turn right and it'll be the third tree on the left." Hell, they're a whole lot easier to see. That and Big Chickens.

Rod

Many years ago, in my dreams of fantastic wealth, I had the brilliant idea to open a restaurant in my small mountain community that would be so special and so homey that nobody could resist its appeal for fine dining. I was going to call it "Hillbilly Bill's Breakfast Barn," and we would serve nothing but breakfast about 18 hours a day -- pancakes, waffles, a dozen kinds of omelets, biscuits with sausage gravy, homefries, hashbrowns, chipped beef on toast (I always loved that ol' SOS at breakfast, from my days as a hired killer for Uncle Sam's Marine Corps), and lots and lots of good ol' grits. Those of you who're not from The South might not understand the appeal of this particular food, but grits is "the goo that holds the South together."
Anyway, to make a long story a little shorter, the first Waffle House opened in my little town before I could get around to opening my own place. Then a second Waffle House opened...! (The true measure of a Southern town is not how many traffic lights or motels or gift shops there are, but in how many Waffle Houses can occupy the same highway intersection.) Those things, which I respectfully call "The Awful Waffle," beat me to the punch and I never fulfilled my etreprenurial dream. But, being one who's fond of cheap breakfasts served by well-rounded and toothless waitresses who call all their customers "Hon" or "Darlin'," and scream their orders in their best hog-calling style, I have faithfully patronized their establishments.
However, if an IHOP decides to open at the same intersection, I'm certain our "Second Saturday" meeting spot will change.