Want to climb this tree? That’ll be $20

What do filling your tires with air and checking airline baggage have in common? They both used to be free. Add tree-climbing to that list.

Carpenter Mark Larson wants people to pay $20 to climb the 300-year-old oak at his home in Monee, a Chicago suburb. At 80 feet high -- that’s 25 cents per foot for the climber -- the tree has been rigged with ropes and nicknamed “Goliath.”

“There’s nothing in the Midwest like it,” Larson says.

For their money, adventurers get helmets, harnesses, gloves and Larson’s expertise, which he honed with an Atlanta-based group called Tree Climbers International.

Depending on the climber’s strength, skill and determination, it takes up to an hour to get to the top.

At the peak, a vista of cornfields competes with owls, squirrels and tree frogs for your attention.

“You feel like a kid up there,” says Larson, 49, who grew up climbing trees for free and without safety equipment in forest preserves near Glenwood, Ill.

“It’s very serene.”

Larson said about 30 people have paid the $20 to climb the tree since he opened to the public three weeks ago. “I never really got into it for the money,” he said.

Using a tiny guitar that fits in his backpack while he climbs, he entertains guests with hits by the Eagles.

“If you’d told me I was going to grow up to make money climbing trees and playing live music, I’d have been pretty happy,” he said.

--

kijanssen@tribune.com