International Tree Climbing Championship: organiser, entry route, events and results page

This page reports what the International Society of Arboriculture (ISA) says on its ITCC site and in its rule book. The table of every other championship is on the championships page.

Who runs it and where it is held

ISA manages the International Tree Climbing Championship, called the ITCC. The ISA mission page ties the event to its goals for public awareness, membership, the profession, professional development and safety, and says competition rules and technical requirements are meant to promote safe work practice. The ITCC page describes it as a chance for working arborists from around the world to show and swap climbing techniques, equipment and practice, with an Arbor Fair for the public alongside.

The ITCC page calls the 2026 edition the 50th, and the ISA calendar lists it in St. Louis, Missouri, from 8:00 AM on October 9 to 5:00 PM on October 11, 2026, with continuing education units available. The ITCC page lists the 2027 edition for September 25 to 27, 2027, in Tournai, Belgium. The hall of champions in the rule book gives St. Louis as the host of the first edition in 1976, shows no event in 1987 and 1988, and lists host cities outside the United States in Toronto, Quebec, Halifax, Montreal, Birmingham in England, Sydney, Copenhagen and Christchurch.

How a climber gets there

The ISA events page says chapters and associate organisations around the world hold their own competitions, and that the male and female winners are invited to represent their organisation at the ITCC. Regional finals also qualify one man and one woman each. The 2026 rule book sets the terms.

A chapter, associate organisation or regional event may send one male and one female climber. The reigning world champions are invited back to defend their titles, and their chapters may send extra climbers.
To send anyone, an organisation holds a competition of the five preliminary events and a Masters' Challenge, and states how it nominates climbers onward.
Every competitor is an ISA member before the competition starts, and at least 16 years old. Climbers aged 16 or 17 need legal guardian consent and may have to show they can compete safely.
If a competition cannot finish its Masters' Challenge, for example in severe weather, the rule book has the organiser name division winners from the preliminary scores.

The events and how they are scored

The rule book gives each preliminary event a points total: Work Climb 80, Aerial Rescue 50, Throwline 35, Ascent 25 and Belayed Speed Climb 10. The Masters' Challenge carries up to 300 points. The number of climbers who reach the Masters' Challenge depends on the size of the division: three advance from a division of 30 or fewer, four from 31 to 40, and five from 41 or more, unless the organising committee announces an exception before the start. The event descriptions page says the highest scoring man and woman in the Masters' Challenge are named world champions.

The rule book says protests go on an official form to the head judge within one hour of the alleged rule infraction. ISA also publishes a scoring program and score sheets, dated October 1, 2026, with printable A4 versions.

Rules, translations and gear

The 2026 rule book is valid from October 1, 2026. ISA publishes the official rules in English and says translated versions may not be the latest. Printed copies are sold through the ISA store. Chapters may still run a secured footlock event, and its rules are online only. The rule book replaced the old world record attempt for the secured footlock with an ITCC record for head-to-head ascent.

Results

ISA's results page has a section for each year from 2012 to 2019 and from 2022 to 2025, with Masters' Challenge champions and score files. The Hall of Champions page lists every world champion and two head-to-head ascent records. Those pages name people, so this site links to them and does not repeat the names: see the ISA results page and the Hall of Champions. ISA asks events to use the hashtags ITCC, ETCC, NATCC, LATCC and APTCC followed by the year.