How the tree climbing championship changed since 1976: the rule book's own history, with the national contests that followed

This page reports what the organisers say about their own history. It names no competitors, because the sources list them and this site links to those lists instead. The events, entry route and rules are on the guides to tree climbing competitions and to the rule book's conduct, penalty and protest rules.

How the rule book tells it

The introduction of the 2026 ISA rule book says tree climbing competitions began in 1976 with the first ISA Tree Trimmer's Jamboree in St. Louis, Missouri. It gives the Jamboree's first purpose as keeping classic skills alive for aerial rescue, where a climber with only a rope might save a life. It says the competition grew, its purpose widened and the name changed to the International Tree Climbing Championship to reflect that eligible competitions come from around the world. It lists the aims of competitions as promoting safe working practices, showing improvements in equipment and techniques, giving the public some industry recognition, and giving climbers a chance to swap ideas.

When	What the rule book says changed
1976	First Jamboree, St. Louis. Four events: Work Climb, Aerial Rescue, Rope Throw, and Footlock or Body Thrust Speed Climb. The climber with the most points was the champion.
Later, no year given	The format grew into five events: Work Climb, Aerial Rescue, Throwline, Footlock and Speed Climb. The highest point total decided the winner.
1996	The highest combined preliminary scores earn a place in a championship round, the Masters' Challenge. Finalists start fresh with no preliminary points, and up to 300 points can be earned. The winner of each division is named World Champion and is awarded an automatic place in the following year.
2017	The Ascent Event becomes an official preliminary event. The book says footlock was becoming a thing of the past with changing equipment and techniques, and that the Ascent Event is meant to push climbers to think critically about their systems.
2026	The book is valid from October 1, 2026. The footlock rules are online only, and the world record attempt for the secured footlock is replaced by an ITCC record for head-to-head ascent.

The list of host cities

The rule book prints a hall of champions by year with the host city for each. It shows 1987 and 1988 with no host and a note "No Insurance" and "No Jamboree". After 2019 the next row is 2022, so the list has no row for 2020 or 2021. The first rows with a women's champion are 2001. Hosts outside the United States in the list include cities in Canada, England, Australia, Denmark and New Zealand. The names and chapters in that list are on the ISA Hall of Champions page, which also prints the head-to-head ascent records set in 2026.

ISA's stated purpose for the event

The ISA mission and history page ties the championship to ISA's goals. Among its statements: competitions and technical requirements support safety in the profession, resting on training, education and peer accountability; the rules and specifications support best management practices and industry standards; and the event gives component organisations a way to recruit volunteers.

Spain: a contest since 1996

The Spanish arboriculture association, AEA, describes its national climbing championship as starting in 1996 in Madrid, after its first national arboriculture congress, as a demonstration of the daily work of tree climbers. It says 15 competitions have been held: 13 national championships, one national open and one Spanish-Portuguese open. The page says a championship committee was set up in early 2012, and that the national event runs under the international rules published and hosted by ISA, with the committee reserving the right to define what those rules leave open. It says the first phase is five events and the second, the Masters' event, is for the four best scorers. The page also says climbing championships have been held since the start of the 20th century, beginning in forestry, with the United States as the country of origin. That is the AEA's wording; the ISA rule book dates its own competition from 1976.

United Kingdom and Ireland

The Arboricultural Association's page for the UK and Ireland Tree Climbing Competition says the contest is run under ISA rules, with working practices that follow the UK and Ireland technical guidance on tree climbing and aerial rescue. It says that from 2026 the competition is separated from the Association's annual conference so it can be hosted in new trees, and that winners go forward to the European and International championships. It links a results listing of winners by year starting at 1995.