Tree climbing competition at Hextall Park sees the Prairies' best come to Calgary

There's no cat in need of rescue, but climbers are making their way up trees at Calgary's John Hextall Park this weekend anyway.

The top tree climbers in the Prairies are in the city for a competition that will root out two climbers worthy of making it to the International Tree Climbing Championships in New Zealand next year.

Bowness is playing host to the best professional arborists from Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba for the 2024 Prairie Chapter Tree Climbing Championship (PCTCC).

Gerard Fournier, head judge of the competition and owner of arborist company For Trees in Didsbury, Alta., told CBC News he's been involved with the PCTCC for 33 years.

"I started out as a person picking up twigs, and a timer, and a technician, and a competitor, of course," Fournier said. 

He said as head judge, he teaches other arborists how to score competitors and judge events accordingly. 

"It's very meticulous, of course, there is an international rules committee that examines all of the incidents that may have occurred over the past year or so in all the chapters," Fournier said. "There's chapters all over Canada and all over the United States and all over the world."

The international competition started out in California, where the first contests were held as a way to train arborists to save a life in an aerial rescue using only a rope, according to the International Society of Arboriculture. Eventually, the competition evolved into the event it is today.

"I don't know if it's going to be in the Olympics any time soon, but occasionally when we're in Europe it's usually picked up by ESPN and stuff," Fournier said.

"It's pretty incredible.

"The greatest benefit, I think, to the participants, is the camaraderie and the training opportunities, because you can learn so much by just watching how other people do their thing," Fournier said.

Bernadette O'Connor attended the PCTCC on Saturday to cheer on her son, Andrew Adamson, even though it's a little scary for her to see him so high up.

"He's been climbing trees since he was a kid ... he's an arborist at heart," O'Connor said. 

"My heart beats a little faster, but I know he's got all the safety harnesses on."

She says her son has always been into high intensity sports such as skiing and climbing — ever since he was a young adult he has been working in the mountains in some capacity. Through the winter, she says he's a ski guide who also assesses snow for avalanche risk. 

"He's always been a rock climber too, and so when he had his safety equipment on, I didn't worry about him, but I would sometimes just walk away. I didn't want to watch," O'Connor said.

Fournier praised Calgary's urban forestry division for their help getting the trees at John Hextall Park ready for the competition and for allowing the tree climbers to hold the contest there, as it's been nearly a decade since the city hosted the PCTCC.

He says professional arborists are usually the main competitors in the event, but there are also people from other tree climbing professions that do not involve cutting trees who participate. He says Calgary has a high number of arborists per capita compared to other municipalities in the Prairies, and this year's turnout was more than adequate.

"Probably 43 or 44 climbers, six or seven of them would be women, the rest would be men. I would say we have about a dozen first-time climbers here, which is awesome," Fournier said.

Jordyn Dyck, an arborist at Trilogy Tree Services in Manitoba and four-time women's PCTCC winner, told CBC News she got started tree climbing when her boss duped her into entering the competition years ago.

"And I just never stopped," she said.

Dyck has competed internationally in Knoxville, Tenn., and Copenhagen, Denmark. She says the community around tree climbing is supportive and caring.

"You really end up pushing yourself mentally and physically, at work and at competition as well," Dyck said. "And for me, I feel like ever since doing this job, ever since competing, I've just become a better version of myself because of all those challenges and all the support that comes with it.

"It's literally the best community I've ever known."

She adds it can be frightening when climbing some of the taller trees, but she loves the thrill of being that high up.

"It feels almost like a secret club that you're invited to, because not a lot of people get to climb in the spaces that we climb in," Dyck said. "You get to go 60 to 80 feet up in the top of a tree, and to be able to see the city from that vantage point, to be able to feel your fear come up and then keep going, it's just, it's a really special experience."

There are five preliminary events in the PCTCC that encompass everything an arborist does in a typical day on the job, testing a competitor's tree climbing speed and proficiency with a rope among other skills. 

"The winners of all the preliminaries in the men's and the women's division go on [Sunday] for the master's challenge. And that's a sudden death competition that incorporates all the other skills into one event," Fournier said.

The winners of the master's challenge, one man and one woman, earn a spot in the international championships in Christchurch, New Zealand.