Swinging Birches

[Jamie123]

I've been reading one of my favourite books - "Ghosts" by Adrian Plass - to my wife as a bedtime story. Last night we got to the part where two of the characters go "birch swinging" - like in the poem by Frost.

Here's proof that it really can be done:

Birch Swinging / Tree Parachute - YouTube

There are some birches in our quadrangle. I'm tempted, but a bit worried that (a) I might kill myself, or (b) I might get into severe trouble for setting students a terrible example.

Has anyone here ever tried it and survived?

Edited January 29, 2022 by Jamie123

[Grunt]

We'd do it as kids.  I never knew it had a name, though.

[Colirio]

As a teenager, we did this quite a bit. 
 

We would even let the kids hold on and then let go so that they could slingshot to the top and climb back down the tree. (I didn’t say that we were intelligent teenagers…) 
 

I will warn you that they do snap, crack, and uproot at times depending on the health of the tree and condition of the soil. 
 

I would say that if you are in a physically fit state to be able to climb and then drop the distance to land on the ground unharmed, then you might have a lot of fun and build some healthy hand callouses at the same time. But you need to be wise, sufficiently fit, and cautiously observant.