Jack Richardson of Guardian Tree Services swings limb-to-limb 50 feet off the ground in the canopy of a black walnut tree in Ann Arbor Friday afternoon.

Lon Horwedel | AnnArbor.com

At 6 feet 2 inches tall, Jack Richardson excels on the hardwood—but he’s not playing basketball.

Richardson won the Michigan Tree Climbing Championship on Aug. 29 at Oakland University. By triumphing in the event, sanctioned by the Arboriculture Society of Michigan, the 30-year-old Ann Arbor resident qualified to represent the state at next summer’s International Tree Climbing Championship in Chicago.

The state championship is Richardson’s third in the last five years. The professional arborist and co-owner of Guardian Tree Experts said he used to do specialized training for the competition, but “life got too crazy” after his business launched in 2008.

“I just decided to show up this year and see how it went,” he said.

He prevailed over 30 other competitors, most of whom are professional arborists. The skill they demonstrate can be deceptive, Richardson said.

“When you’re at the competition and look at a lot of these guys running around the tree, it looks easier than it really is.”

Jack Richardson won a statewide tree climbing contest.

Lon Horwedel | AnnArbor.com

Five events make up the championship contest. The most points are at stake in the work climb. The competitor starts this event high in a tree and must use a climbing rope and harness to go from station to station, performing tasks like using a pole pruner to ring a bell and tossing pre-cut limbs down to a target on the ground. A controlled descent on ropes concludes the work climb.

Other events are the aerial rescue, speed climbing to a height of about 60 feet and a throwing drill that requires accurate placement of a climbing line in the treetop. The secured footlock, another specialized type of climbing, completes the program.

Richardson says he best enjoys the work climb, while the aerial rescue of an injured climber presents the least welcome challenge.

Competitors wear a wide range of safety equipment such as specialized helmets and footwear, and they use various mechanical means of securing themselves against a fall.

The championship-event climbers mounted white oaks and Norway maples on the grounds of the John Dodge House on Oakland University’s East Campus in Rochester. A beech tree and a horse chestnut were also involved.

ASM spokeswoman Nancy Carpenter said the championship, which has been held for about 16 years, keeps drawing more and more entries and is emerging nationally as a top event. The typical competitor exudes “contagious excitement—they really like what they do.”

Arborists share several characteristics, she said. “They have a passion to work outdoors, a passion for the environment and a passion for the care of trees,” she said.

Richardson said two body types tend to predominate among climbers. “What you tend to find is shorter, stockier, stronger [physiques] or lanky and sinewy.” 

Weighing 185 pounds, the former Trinity College baseball player counts himself among the latter.

Richardson noted a team sports background serves an arborist well because one is literally putting one’s life in another person’s hands on a day-to-day basis.

Richardson was awarded $650 in prize money from the ASM to defray next July’s travel costs to Chicago for the international competition. Various sponsors gave such prizes as a 150-foot climbing line, a large-toothed hand saw and hearing protection for use with chainsaws.

Ronald Ahrens is a freelance writer for AnnArbor.com.