Any climbing arborists on here?

So I'm almost done with college and I have no idea what I want to do. I studied ecology biodiversity and evolutionary biology. I love plants. And I love climbing. So the idea of being a climbing arborist is like a no brained. But I have a friend that tells me about how his family is in the business and they see a lot of injury and deaths. So I have some questions about it.

How dangerous is the job? How unpredictable are trees when you cut them? Is it fun? Do you enjoy what you do? Do you still have the desire to rock climb after work or are you beat from working all day? How much does the climbing technique translate from tree to rock (talking about ropes, knots, ect)? When you're a climber do you have to do line clearance or is that specifically reserved for someone else? Any growth opportunities in the field?

Any other general experience stories would be cool too.

Thanks for any responses!

I was a groundsman and tree climber for a company for awhile after college. Only did it for a year (explained below), so take what you will from what my experience was.

The job is not very safe, but if you’re careful and work with a good crew you can mitigate the worst risks. Most of my injuries were my fault- I sawed my knee twice, once requiring stitches, but those obviously can be avoided.

Trees never seemed as crazy as some folks wanted me to believe! With proper, careful cuts, you can have a pretty good idea where a limb/lead/trunk is going to go and what it’ll do. Sometimes you’ll get weird bounces but overall I think it wasn’t as bad as I was told.

The work was fun and I still wanted to rock climb, but it took about two weeks before I came home with any energy left. It’s hard work and took some adjusting.

While having familiarity with ropes and knots in general helped, I definitely had to learn some new knots and skills. The transition was easier for me than the guys with no climbing experience at all. If you can already tie a bowline you’ll be in decent shape, imo.

My company didn’t do many specifically line clearance jobs- that was all reserved for another company by the city.

Ultimately, I quit to go to public health work. I got a very large tree dropped on me by a careless foreman, and was so dizzy I couldn’t drive the next day. I decided the risks were no longer worth it, and I had lost my nerve for the job. Some days I miss it though- working outside with your hands and tools all day can be a lot of fun.

I’d say give it a try- work a few seasons and see! Good arborists can make pretty good money with experience, and there are trees everywhere, so you’ll always be able to find work.

I learned to do tree work while working for the USFS and did it for three additional years while in grad school.  I very much enjoyed it, but it's definitely dangerous and hard work.  The saws, heavy equipment, chippers, working at heights, huge chunks of wood being dropped, etc. all contribute to creating a pretty hazardous work environment.

 I"m guessing most injuries result from chainsaw accidents.  My advice for working with saws is to wear all of the protective equipment, try to get as much training as possible (even if you have to take a course or read on your own time) and be really, really careful.  The knots and equipment are different, but being a rock climber is definitely an advantage.  

Off the top of my head and I can think of at least three climbers and two non-climbers that I know personally that have made a career out of tree work so it's definitely an option.  When I was doing it during grad school there always seemed to be more than enough work- trees are everywhere and the job is not for everyone!  I found it helped my rock climbing- you get really strong/fit working in trees.  So, if you like hard work with omnipresent danger, working outside and with heavy tools and equipment, it's a great gig!  I'm sure you could get hired on with a local company to try it out, they generally are always looking for good people.

My partner is an arborist, climbs v-hard.. he claims that mentally framing the experience as time outside, getting views no one else does, being physical and breathing the clean air makes it worthwhile. However it seems brutallly exhausting, he’s missed climbing to sleep, and frequently pontificates on the questionable sustainability as a lifelong career. His boss is a human tank, easily could be a linebacker.. seems like that physique helps a lot. I think my partners extensive training for climbing helps with the work, not the other way around.

My other friend does forest management, same vein but less demanding, definitely more travel, maybe another option?

Jason Norkeveck wrote: So I'm almost done with college and I have no idea what I want to do. I studied ecology biodiversity and evolutionary biology. I love plants. And I love climbing. So the idea of being a climbing arborist is like a no brained. But I have a friend that tells me about how his family is in the business and they see a lot of injury and deaths. So I have some questions about it.

How dangerous is the job? How unpredictable are trees when you cut them? Is it fun? Do you enjoy what you do? Do you still have the desire to rock climb after work or are you beat from working all day? How much does the climbing technique translate from tree to rock (talking about ropes, knots, ect)? When you're a climber do you have to do line clearance or is that specifically reserved for someone else? Any growth opportunities in the field?

Any other general experience stories would be cool too.

Thanks for any responses!

1. The job is dangerous. It used to be third most deaths in all professions. 

2. You gain experience with different species and their characteristics. Some good some super scary.

3. Yes you have to it doesn't pay very well.

4. You won't want to climb after work usually for the first couple years of busting your ass everyday. Depending on workload..

5. Rock climbing techniques help but you're mostly climbing while supported by ropes from overhead.

6. No you don't have to do line clearance. Private, commercial, and municipal arboriculture are options to utility.

7. Yes. I'm a Registered Consulting Arborist and a Board Certified Master Arborist which provides ample opportunities but requires many years of on the job training and certification.

Learn as much as you can to not end up an old broken tree worker. There's a ton unfortunately.

Edit to add I've been at it for 22 years

My roommate owns a small arborist company. He makes good money but it is a seasonal job. You will most likely be working on days when it is nice for rock climbing, and have very little work in the winter.

To emphasize, it's typically hard, backbreaking work.. if you didn't grow up on a farm or in manual labor situation, you don't truly know what that means for the day to day..

Cool for awhile while your body is there, but have an exit plan.

You can easily get seriously hurt.

Go to grad school and get a job at a university or something like that. I wish I had done that with my Ecology degree. I own a tree service and it is hard work. I appreciate all the time off I get, but I work for it.

Although I’ve never seen any accidents in the arborculture world, I read about them all the time. It is A dangerous occupation. Just look at a greenie using a saw. Rock climbing is much much safer IMO

I've watched several large trees being removed nearby to my house, and it sure looked like really hard work, and dangerous. Nobody has mentioned beehives! There was a gigantic one in a huge pine next door that required a crane (6 or so sections of approx 20,000 lbs each). The guy who went up to get that section off was fully suited up, covered helmet to toe, in HOT weather. Looked heinous. For OSHA and also state law reasons, the procedures and gear for tree limbing and removal are a little different from rock climbing practice. Head for being up in the air, the same.

Kelly, above, does not only tree service (which is the hard and risky part, not as well paying) but also is a  consulting arborist, which is relatively practical certification for you to train up and get with your educational background (compared with an architect, engineer, soil scientist - bunch of certifications that require much more than for an arborist). Master Arborist, definitely not so easy. Anyway, there's steady and good work for consulting arborists, not as grueling and better paying. Applicable in many parts of the country.

Plus in some geographic areas there are lots of opportunities in environmental consulting (what I do). There are many many wildlife biologists but relatively few botanists, and of them only a tiny slice are really expert. Also extremely few who know plants and soils too (which take a long time to really learn). You don't have the schedule flexibility at first, but might achieve it later. Sometimes get to work in really cool remote places or on private lands with owners who only let people who are working for them in. Sometimes. Enjoy whatever direction you go!

Jason Norkeveck wrote: So I'm almost done with college and I have no idea what I want to do. I studied ecology biodiversity and evolutionary biology. I love plants.

I'm not an arborist, but there should be a lot of demand for them on the Colorado Front Range in the coming years as the emerald ash borer spreads. Just an FYI.

Some other fields you may want to consider are plant pathology, entomology, pest surveillance, or greenhouse management. Less strenuous in general.