Question
Hi,
There is a huge vine about the diameter of my upper arm climbing from the ground up 60 feet or so up the tree.  It's so high I cant distinguish any foliage.  I was going to cut it thinking it could be parasitic or at least not helping the tree.  But examining it, I first wanted to ask you something.  I noticed the bark appeared to be just like the maple's and was wondering if it could actually be a root from the tree that has turned back up and somehow climbed like a vine.  That probably sounds absurd, but not knowing a lot about such things, I wanted to check before cutting it.  
Art

Answer
It is not a root from the maple. It sounds like a vine to me. When you cut it off paint roundup on the fresh cut area. Cut the vine and immediately paint the vine stub end protruding from the ground with the concentrated Roundup(glyphosate). It maybe very difficult to pull the vine out of the tree crown without breaking branches. IF the vine can not be pulled down from the tree without breaking branches just leave it and as the vine decays it will either fall off or you can pull it later. Cut the vine as far up the tree as you can reach and leave the rest to decay.