Western Chapter Tree Climbing Championship: organiser, place, schedule, entry slots and history

This page reports what the Western Chapter ISA says on its championship site. The national and regional events are in the table of championships. The organiser's own results posts are on its site, and this page names no climber because it has not read terms that allow reuse of names.

Where and when

The chapter's post of May 4, 2026 confirms the 2026 Western Chapter Tree Climbing Championship (WCTCC) for June 6 and 7, 2026, at Meadow Park, 2333 Meadow Street, San Luis Obispo, California. The schedule page runs from set-up on Thursday, June 4, 2026.

Schedule as listed

Day	What the schedule page lists
Thursday, June 4, 2026	Tree set-up from 6:30 AM to 4:00 PM, closed to climbers and the public.
Friday, June 5, 2026	Tree set-up and a judges meeting, closed to climbers. A day of safety workshop from 7:00 AM to 4:15 PM. Climber check-in and gear inspection from 1:30 PM to 5:30 PM.
Saturday, June 6, 2026	A climbers' meeting at 7:30 AM and preliminary events from 8:30 AM, running until complete. A climb for people aged 40 and up at 3:30 PM, after the main events.
Sunday, June 7, 2026	The Masters' Challenge from 8:30 AM, with the awards ceremony after the final climb.

Entry slots and rules as published

The climber page says the 30 contestant slots go first come, first served, with 5 of them possibly reserved for the women's heat and 5 more names taken as stand-by. Entry forms with payment had to be postmarked by May 20, 2026. The first 23 forms with payment were to be scheduled. Two slots were reserved for the Arizona and Hawaii state champions, and the rest for the top five finishers of the 2025 Masters' Challenge and the women's champion if needed. The chapter reserves the right to limit the number of climbers from one company, and it refunds the entry fee of applicants who are not scheduled, after the event. The page gives no fee amount. It says the entry fee includes a commemorative t-shirt, fruit, water and lunch.

The page says certified tree workers and certified arborists who compete receive 3 continuing education units automatically. It also says a climber at a chapter championship may waive the work climb part of the skills exam for the ISA tree climber certification, if the other requirements are met. All participants and volunteers complete a participant waiver.

Events and the chapter champion

The about page says men and women compete in five preliminary events and that the top three in each event are placed. The highest combined scorers move on to the Masters' Challenge, which it describes as the championship round, with stations like those of the work climb. The climber page says the top four or five men go to the Masters' Challenge, and a women's Masters' Challenge is held if enough women sign up. It says the Masters' Challenge winners are named Chapter Champions and represent the chapter at the International Tree Climbing Championship. The chapter pays the champion's costs of attending up to US$1,500.00, and the page says the amount may be higher for events outside the continental United States.

The first championship, 1949

The history page quotes the chapter's 75th anniversary book. It says the first chapter championship was held at the first conference after the chapter's affiliation in 1949, and that the committee judged it on time because it had no earlier example. The rules it lists were open to anyone working in tree care, with a throwline to a limb 60 feet up, a limit of five throws, and disqualification if the judges saw commonly accepted safety rules broken. The page says winners received between US$5 and US$35, a silver trophy cup and a free year of conference membership.

Results

The chapter posts champions, competitor lists and photo albums on its championship site. See the Western Chapter championship site for them.