Lumberjack Show

We’ve recently returned from a brief west coast trip, visiting Vancouver and the Okanagan Valley. While in Vancouver we ventured up Grouse Mountain with Jon and Nadja for some scenic views of the city and a pleasant dinner at the Observatory Restaurant. We enjoyed a very entertaining afternoon, taking in a couple of interesting shows that are part of the Grouse Mountain experience. Today, I’ll share some pictures from the Lumberjack Show, featuring two champion performers showcasing their skills. An impressive outdoor set features two logging camps from the early 1900s, where Johnny Nelson from the Green River logging camp prepares to battle Willie McGee from Blue Mountain to determine the top lumberjack. The 45-minute show offers fast paced entertainment and features log rolling, a 60-foot tree climb, two-man peg and raker saws, axe throwing, and an exciting springboard chop – the only three-board event in North America.

This picture features “Willie McGee” completing the last stage of the springboard chop. In this event,  the lumberjacks notch the tree, plant the springboard in the notch and ascend the tree. It requires three plants of the springboard to reach the level ( about 20 feet) where they can “top” the tree. It obviously requires good balance to wield the axe while balancing precariously on the narrow board. They complete this event in about 40 seconds.

Having demonstrated their proficiency using the axe for its intended purpose, the two lumberjacks showed they are also pretty good at throwing it.

Traditionally, lumberjacks had to be nimble to walk upon floating logs as part of their jobs. This job skill evolved into the competitive sport of log rolling, changing direction and speed with the purpose of dislodging your opponent. In this event “Johnny Nelson” displays his athleticism with this leap which he landed successfully!

“Johnny” works pretty hard with this raker saw to cut through this log faster than his opponent, “Willie”. They both accomplished the cut in less than 10 seconds.

The 60 foot tree climb is perhaps the most exciting event. Equipped with a rope and some cleats, the loggers climb a sixty foot pole, ring a bell at the top and scramble down as quickly as they can. They complete the ascent in about 12 seconds. Having rung the bell, the descent is a controlled “free fall”, using the resistance of the rope on the tree trunk and a few timely plants of the cleats to keep their speed below terminal velocity. It doesn’t take anywhere near 12 seconds to get down! You can see that “Johnny’s” feet are not in contact with the pole at the instant this photo was snapped.