Steph climbing to the top of her sport

• Author: Stuart Whitaker
• Published date: 25 May 2023
• Publication title: Te Puke Times

But she has reached some of the highest branches

In a Covid-interrupted competition career, Steph has placed twice at the International Tree Climbing Championship (ITCC) World Championship.

She is the current New Zealand women’s champion, having won the title five times in a row, and she recently won the Asia Pacific Championship in Singapore.

Last year’s world championship was held in Denmark, where Steph placed third. It was the first since the 2019 event in Knoxville USA, where she placed second.

There will be an element of unfinished business when Albuquerque hosts the 2023 worlds in August. Steph had qualified for the 2022 world event in the New Mexico city, but the worldwide pandemic meant it didn’t go ahead.

“I just want to do a good job, basically, and hopefully, the results will come. I’ve always been close, but haven’t been able to pull the whole thing together at the end,” she says.

Championships consist of a series of events including an aerial, belayed speed climb, throw line and head-to-head ascent.

The blue riband event is the Master’s Challenge, where competitors have to ring each one of four bells hung in a tree.

It’s best described by Steph:

“Basically, what you are showing is a display of your climbing skills and ability. You start at the bottom, install your rope with a throw line and climb around the tree safely, with good anchor points. Everybody’s got a different way of doing things and a different plan, so basically, it’s about the different skills and techniques you display.”

The climb is a timed event which takes between 25 and 35 minutes, depending on the size of the tree.

Planning the route is part of the competition, and competitors are not allowed to watch others before they climb.

A quick Google search reveals one of the common tree types in New Mexico is cottonwood.

“There are some similar [trees] at the showgrounds in Te Puke, so hopefully I’ll be able to do a bit of training there to get ready for that.”

She has also been training with current men’s national titleholder Jeremy Miller in Hamilton.

“We do a lot of training together — we just climb trees and try to mimic...