Perpendicular versus vertical.

I pass these trees quite often and have always been amused at the perpendicular trees at the bottom of the slope. Are they just trying to prove a point, are they pretending they have been there since before the slope or are they just a bit bonkers.
With out this wonderful blip addiction i would never have stopped, taken a photograph of them and examined the situation. I am none the wiser but I love now knowing that one of the 5 rogue trees decided to grow vertically.
What a dark dark day.