Baum? #1(Training ground) Red Hill, Victoria, Australia
By Team❂aky on 21-Jun-14. Waypoint GC57EDT

This was a wonderful tree.
The bananas were not skilled in any way other than enthusiasm when eyes were first laid on this treasure.
Our attempt consisted of a cricket ball wrapped in tape tied to string to achieve our target. Too high on our first visit.
The next visit had a slingshot made from Office Works rubber bands to project the ball. The arms not long enough to stretch to capacity. Over or under the string seemed to foul every time. Once over a branch the ball was not heavy enough to progress further.
Unfazed this was an exciting adventure.
The third attempt showed how often string could tangle on the ground or in a tree. New methods were developed. The most obscure and later doomed to fail in higher trees was plumbing pipe, joined together and reaching over the branch. Worked well in the vertical but hopeless when approaching horizontal. The Instant Rope Setter was born.
But finally the Bunnings trailer rope was set and 2 short 6mm Prussic knots and a rope harness got us there.
Total exhilaration.
Shakeing we signed our log with illegible script. This would become our standard practice.

But time moves on.
Memories become just that.
Time unfortunately wearies and erases these moments.

This has been a wonderful chase in our game. It is no longer.

So thankyou Team?aky for giving us the opportunity to reflect on this pearl. Part of so much enjoyment you have given us in this game we love.

Winding down my caches, this ones turn tonight

This was indeed a great training ground warm-up for the Hardcore Challenge.
But somehow they don't get any easier, even at 12m.
It was like a training camp here this morning - ropes everywhere.
Thanks, TeamOaky.

Like a duck to water.
Up and ad em
or is it
up and at them . . . I'm not sure !!

A great training cache before the big challenge.

A fav for me - first tree cache that I have climbed WITH ropes !

Thanks TeamOaky.

An offer to join a group with some gear was too good to pass up so a meeting time was agreed and this being the training ground was an appropriate spot to get familiar with the gear on hand and compare the launchers etc. The line was launched and secured and training was put into practice. Particular thanks to Jacko83 The Pacman and beckNmonts. TFTC.

The plan was to start with the training ground and lead up to the "BIG" one afterwards. So in the company of many teams, some who practised on a smaller tree first and others who just blitzed the 12m ascent (even a newbie, who had never touched ropes in his life), we spent a good part of the morning here braving the chill in the air.
Thanks TeamOaky for the perfect tree for a warm up.

Training ground? Hmm that’s a bit higher than I expected. MontsII had a look and promptly offered to jump out of the way when I fell. Well that’s a bit mean. Armed to the hilt with shiny gear, I was slightly stressed over magpie attraction. Thankfully I only saw a kookaburra. Laughing at me. I’m used to that. All this and the others had not even arrived. Upon arrival - is my launcher better than your launcher competitions were held. I won’t dare say who won. Anyway, one line made the right fork and up we went. And up. And up. It’s harder than it looks. It takes longer with multiple people going up. But we all got there. TFTC Teamaky

A good tree.

Nice solid forks, cache is close to the trunk, no ducking and weaving on the way up.
Perfect choice for a warm up!
With some crew with brand new gear, and some who have tested the ropes before, we spent the morning with two ropes up discussing what works for us. Given we are only rookies ourselves, this was not training ground however a good opportunity for those to watch and learn.
Up, signed the log, got a pic and down again. Measured at 12m...3 times the size of that coming up!
Thanks Oaky for an exemplary TTC to warm up on!
A fave from me.

Seen gz. Don't think we'll be attempting this one for quite a while!

Not that the bananas know what a "Baum" is
But
The name implies exactly what happens here.

It doesn't matter how many times the vertical ascent is made there is always huge FEAR when these treasures are sort. It is possibly due to the lack of any preparation. It seems like any fear that existed at any previous sites compounds to the next one in an attempt to find an easier way to tackle height. But with few successful experiences the bananas continue to try something different every time.

That translates to no methods has been found to ease any tension, and no two climbs have been done the same way. But it is a case of get back on "The Horse" even though massive blood was drawn on a recent attempt. History of broken ropes, falls, failures, Police intervention and ridicule have not helped. But still the training continues.

Failure continued after dropping the pen and the attempt was repeated to return to how it was found. With one exception.

The book now records some success.

Now there is no expectation that finding something will ever be easy as shortcuts are always being attempted but it continues to be "This Ride" that occupies our thoughts.
So.
Where to next?

Took a little bit too get the line set but a nice quick ascent after that TFTC!!

Once I spotted the cache all hidden amongst the fallen bark and branches it was a quick set up and equally quick climb to the cache. I think I got all the training I needed on the FTF tree around the corner that I did before coming here. 25 minute arrive and depart here, just what I needed!

TFTC TeamOaky!

Rained out at home and looking for some T5 adventure on a very rare authorised day out I turned to FB and was soon advised that it wasn't raining down here so I thought "that sounds like a great idea". Loaded up and headed south 2 1/2 hours later I pulled up at GZ to notice I could park in a great spot and check out the challenge. After recent adventures this one looked like a perfect training ground and so I tried out a couple of options for setting the throw line. Happy with my seventh shot I took a look at my new bit of gear the limb/rope saver, quickly realised that I needed more training before using it and went back to basics. Everything else was pretty much plain sailing I quickly reached the cache stopping to chat with a lovely old muggle walking her dog who wanted to know what I was doing. "Im an arborist in training" I said "and like to climb trees to check my equipment and to keep in shape". Very happy with my reason she kept on walking. So the cache side of the journey was all pretty good no major hassles and I tried using the D4 as part of my ascending gear and decided it's not really working for me. Must take more notes next playdate.

It's about now my day went pear shaped, all packed up I jumped in the car to grab a cache in the park and head off after the other T5 caches. Click Click wrrrr wrrrr... bZZZbzz. Oh thats not good dead battery. Hmm ok thats very odd twin batteries shouldn't have this problem. Hmmm not sure if they run together I tried a quick Mc Guyver with some wire to connect the two with no luck. A distress call on FB soon had cache owner Teamaky to the rescue. Motor started I headed to the next cache. Many thanks a Fav for me.

1800 - 1810 DNF GAFF1, then went back to the car and read about something that twigged, and sure enough they (those juniors who live in my 'borough') were looking across at the container. While they were waiting for their mum and dad to bring tea back I sent my cord up, and then pulled up a borrowed rope. All good practice for a couple of days time. Prussiked on up, and found that I was able to leave a Correct Site Marker in there (a surgical marking pen). Found @ 1910 in the end
Nobody around (had contacted one of the earlier loggers, but they were overseas), so no one to explain what i was to. Then come on down, pack up, and head off to find a couple more caches before settling down for the evening.
Brought through for mileage: 12-12-12 Event, 2012 Olympic Cab, 3 Bros NSW, Auckland NZ'13, B 2 B Travel ingot, CII-35Z, CITO - Upper Swan and Beyond geocoin, family travel, GCookie EARTH Cache 10 year Celebration Coin, GCookie FIZZY Coin, Geo-Kayaker GOLD TB, Hello Cocky TB, Iconic Bridges 2012, Jacqui and Steve, Katniss the Kitty, Kengu, Native American Drummer boy, cache critters Baa, Neigh Neddy, and Oink, NZ Mega 13 signature, Oz Mega 2014 GCookie, Relay For Life Tag, thank you - moliva, 'The Clock Tower', TransAustralia, Trumpey Smurf, Tyler's TB Golf Ball, World Geocoin Series-Middle East, and trackable shirts.
TFTC Team Oakey - a bit easier than my own tree climbing cache at Johns River. Favourited

[font=Lucida Console][blue]Training Ground Indeed[/blue][font=Verdana]

After somebody carelessly put a big-shot into my hands, I obviously had to give it a try. Sunday was a good day for it so a Kookaburra in the next tree was probably wondering about the red thing rushing upwards followed by a yellow line ... a couple of times. It took me some time to get my very first slinged pilot line but with some mental support of Mark, the actual rope was in the tree soon after. Signed the log. Enjoyed the view and left a geocoin.

[green]Thanks for the fun and Cheers
Philipp[/green]

The cache is actually not in the tree that's in the photo but in a smaller tree nearby. I've tried a few times to get it in the photo tree but failed, may try again soon as I think this would make a better location (slightly more difficult)

Make sure you get a visual on the cache/ attachment devise before climbing and best not use the same fork for your rope as you may lock the cache up,if that makes sense
Cheers

I was out here today at the market and decided to check on the location of this cache.

It took awhile to work out which would be the best to climb. Then matching up the spoiler pic it all became clear. Now i know what gear i need and how to attack it. I will certainly be back for crack at this cache.

If anyone wants to join up to tackle this give me a yell. If i am not away with work then always up for a challenge.

Hooray First to Find @ 9.22am.

This was a very special find that involved a number of skills that we thought we had forgotten. After our DNF last weekend we set about preparing with more specialist equipment as was advised by Team❂aky.
We collected together abseiling and rock climbing gear, ladders and lastly a home made bow and arrow. Finally we set the alarm to enable a dawn raid.
Arriving at GZ we had the area to ourselves and so with a lot of persistence we eventually had our cache conquering setup ready to go. As we started the first climb we realised that to be perfectly safe we were going to be short by a small amount and so to ensure we lived to cache another day, we lowered our ladders and Mr MoorooducRobbos raced off to get an even longer ladder.
On his return everything was put back up and soon the cache was in hand. Once we could see the cache we realised that we had indeed been lucky that we had firstly not disturbed the cache and perhaps even more scary was that we had nearly sealed it shut with our ropes! After the log was signed and photos taken to help us remember the occasion (as if we would forget!) we very carefully removed our equipment taking care not to dislodge the cache, packed up all our bits and pieces and left with big smiles on our faces and on the computer screen.
A big THANK YOU to Team❂aky for a thought provoking challenge that took us out of our comfort zone. Needless to say a favourite point from us.

This entry was edited by MoorooducRobbos on Tuesday, 29 July 2014 at 09:18:50 UTC.

Can not believe this banana has not already logged this attempt.
Took ages to get the leader line over and then on the attempt to get the real rope up and over it broke.
Because this was going to be a solo attempt there was going to be an elaborate attempt to write the log before the climb and if successful another to claim the success.
If it failed this banana thought there would be a rescue attempt.
No need to give locations as the it would be listed on many websites.
There were backups to lower any ill conceived attempts.
But fortunately with all this.....

The rope broke.

This DNF is technically not accurate because we sort of did...
We ran a reconnaissance to GZ yesterday and picked where we thought we were aiming for and doing the calculations we knew the big extender ladder would work for us. Had a bit of a sleepless night envisaging others taking out the FTF before we returned early in the morning. Checked the log first thing and it was still there waiting for us - amazing.
Equipment all loaded we were off to collect this little beauty. As we approached GZ we noticed a couple of cars and realised that there might be sport on the nearby oval later in the day so we would need to get our act together. We did come prepared for this eventuality with a couple of bird books and camera connected to a VERY long pole to ensure nests were empty before we disturbed them. We thought it sounded and looked pretty reasonable for would be Muggles. As it turned out, the Muggles were more interested in preparing for the footy match later today and none came near us.
Upon more extensive investigation of the hideyhole we had pinpointed at about GZ, using first our camera, and then physically checking, all we discovered was a disused nest complete with bird skeleton.
Frustration was starting to tell when a query to the CO had us look in the tree nextdoor and that was the end of our attempt for today. Needless to say we were only half way to the cache and have now returned home knowing that this one will require seriously more professional equipment if one hopes to achieve a smiley. It is no longer a challenge to get FTF, but rather a challenge to just get it!
We will continue to dream about conquering this one that justifiably deserves its 5 rating for terrain. We will be back ... one day. Thanks for the challenge TeamOaky - I think.

No chance of getting this one, sadly.

I was actually going to hide one out here too and had the perfect spot for it too!! But now I got to find another spot because my location is too close to yours now! Plus you beat me to it too! Lol! Nice cache idea but don't like tree climbing! Lol! Unless I can bring my cousin along but he's a basic member but he's a qualified tree cutter kind of person. Plus my cache needs to be hidden really well because of it's large size!

Yep I'm also willing to tag along with anyone who is bringing the right equipment along. Visited cache today to see just how necessary equipment is (very) but it was lower than expected so I'm keen. I shall watch and wait

Published

Anyone around with specialized equipment today? Can meet after lunch.