I know this has nothing to do with space exploration, but my Dad posted a video of his trip up and down the spiral staircase he built around the outside of a tree on his property (I grew on up Hornby Island, BC). The staircase has 99 stairs and goes up for about 75 feet (25 meters). He’s built a platform at the top where you can sit and see mountains and the ocean. And I spend my summer visits pulling the kids off the thing. Here’s a link to Dad’s blog (he’s a photographer, by trade, so I have a well documented childhood).
P.S. Oh, and Dad made it clear that the bird’s nest was old and empty.
That looks so dangerous…!!
Awesome, but dangerous!
hehe…. easily done… Just stand next to a young Redwood (?) and add a step every 10 years.
Tip: When you start, leave a sandwich on the first step, so when you’re done with the project, you can just zip up the stairs and grab lunch.
10/10 for good form on this project – it has made my day. Thanks for posting it, too – it has everything to do with space. If the people running the space program had your dad’s vision and commitment, we’d be building staircases on Mars by now.
Damn that looks shonky. Awesomely shonky.
Nice place your dad’s got…
Mannnnnnnn, that is so cool. Your dad is a badass. I wish my dad did that. That would be a sweet spot to sky gaze. Hope you enjoy
instant vertigo.
Some day you will look back and wonder why you let your kids up there alone….;-)
fraser you grew up on hornby?!
my family have vacationed there each year for about the last 25 years.
ahhh what a small almost-sphere we live on.
here, check out my one and only youtube movie upload. it’s a cormorant taking off from the hornby harvest festival at the old man’s farm by ford’s cove:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZhvYFJzXXe4
(for other readers: hornby is quite a small island, so it’s a real coincidence)
Interesting carpentry work. It is a safe structure for those who remains stone sober.
Alcoholic drinkers and dopers need not climb the sturcture lol !!!!!!!!!!
Excellent Post! At last we know that Universe Today is populated with real, live PEOPLE!
I would suggest that your father invest in an arborist’s harness and 150′ of Samson arborist nylon line. He would need to know how to make a prusik knot, but then he would be totally safe.
Half inch line is the standard. It’s cheap life insurance. I have topped and trimmed trees for a living, and spent a summer on an L4 fire tower in Idaho, 55′ to ground level. He will be totally safe with the harness and line.
If he got a heart attack or stroke, he could rig it up to deliver him to the ground unhurt as long as he fell outside the staircase.
Uncle Dougie, North Bend, WA.
The ultimate tree house! Must be interesting in a strong wind! You must be Fraser, my wife Summer Joy, says. She lived next to Bob on Hornby for years. We’re living in England at the moment but will be moving back to Merville on Van Isle in a few months. I was very surprised to see your post, small world!!
Thanks for sharing this Fraser.
Inner space…the final frontier!
The only thing missing is an emergency eject harnass, that you could slide down from the top! LOL
Seriously, this was really cool, and lots of hard work to build. Just think of all the squirrels that could benefit from it too! 🙂
I can’t see anything… 🙁
One of my colleagues tends the garden for an elderly neighbour. I visited once and he showed me around. Including the garden next door.
An elderly teacher had built a ‘ship’ when he retired. Mast, platform, draw bridge, everything you’d expect. For a kid that is. He’d built it for himself.
More power to him, I guess.
Didn’t stop him from dying, though. ‘s all overgrown by now.