Expert arborists compete in tree climbing competition; Athens, GA

Local tree competition puts the ‘limb’ in ‘climb’ The Red and Black:
Patty Jenkins began climbing trees when she fell in love.
“I married the guy who founded the sport,” she said. “I met him somewhere, he pulled a baby squirrel out of his pocket, and he thinks that’s what won my heart.”
Years later, she’s the head administrator for Tree Climbers International, an educational group dedicated to teaching tree climbing safety. Her husband, Peter Jenkins, opened the world’s first tree climbing school in Atlanta in 1983.
Tree Climbers International partnered with the Georgia Arborist Association to organize the GAA Professional Tree Climbing Competition Saturday at Whitehall Forest in Athens.

Five groups of professional climbers participated in various arboreal challenges designed to test their abilities to maneuver up the trunk and in the tree canopy.

Texas Tree Climbing Championship lets arborists compete in skill competition; Texas, USA

Thirty arborists, a few tall trees, one title
By Joshunda Sanders

AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF

Sunday, May 31, 2009
The life of an arborist sounds quaint: You get to look at the pretty canopies of live oaks and dangle, safely, from the branches of a pecan tree 35 feet above the ground.
But there's nothing fanciful about being a skilled tree-climber, especially when it comes to outdoing your peers.
That's what 30 arborists, most from Texas but some from as far away as New Zealand, had in mind Saturday at the 26th annual Texas Tree Climbing Championship, hosted by the Texas chapter of the International Society of Arboriculture.
The two-day competition also offers an opportunity to compete in an international climbing competition this summer"