And you thought bungy jumping seemed strange...
Written by: Beck
People will never run out of ideas for new sporting fads it seems. The newest fad/sport involves
hoisting yourself up to the top of a ~200 foot tree and hanging out (HAW!) there for the night.
[T]he emerging sport of tree climbing, a pursuit that takes the childhood passion of hoisting oneself into a favorite tree's branches to new—and sometimes extreme—heights.
And ya know... I can kind of see the appeal to this. I used to climb trees at my grandparents' house when I was a kid, and I've climbed up rock cliffs when there was a perfectly good rock ground I could have stayed on. So why not hoist yourself up a tree and hang out in a hammock for a while?
Naturally, you can't have a sport that involves trees without people acting all... Californian.
"It's a mystical experience," says certified arborist Peter Jenkins, founder of Atlanta-based Tree Climbers International, which teaches a climbing course that takes people to points among the canopy from 60 to 200 feet high. "The wind comes up and stirs the tree, like it's speaking to you. It's about being with nature, and being with yourself."
Why can't these people just learn to enjoy themselves without trying to attribute something "spiritual" do everything from their recreational activities to their bodily functions?