Don't go thinking all those days spent climbing trees as a kid went to waste — as it turns out, you can actually go professional with tree climbing.
The International Tree Climbing Championship, which takes place on August 2 and 3 this year, is a competition that brings together arborists from around the world, testing their skills at both getting up a tree and taking care of it.
A sport that can help improve nature? We're in.
Arborists are professionally trained to help maintain trees, which means they spend plenty of time going up and down branches, determining which route will be safest and which will inevitably end in a fall to the ground. But they're not just playing — the serious harnesses and equipment used even in the competition are definitely not for kids.
This year, Hamilton, Ont. arborist Krista Strating is part of the team representing North America at the contest, which is taking place in Milwaukee. She's one of 19 women competing (there are 38 men in their own competition), and her chances of winning look good thanks to a first place finish at the North American championships in California in April.
Strating can climb a 60-foot tree in about 30 seconds, according to The Epoch Times, which will be helpful in the speed portion of the contest. The other components include testing agility, first aid skills, pruning care and more.
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