A talented tribe of regional nature lovers converged on Bainbridge Island recently to spend a sunny Saturday morning in the woods getting high.

About 100 feet high, actually.

The fourth annual Bainbridge Island Open Masters Tree Climbing Competition saw both recreational and expert climbers as well as professional arborists and excited onlookers gather at a private residence on Agate Point Road NE Saturday, April 25 to catch up, converse and, of course, climb.

“The climbers who show up to this event are mostly working arborists from Portland, Seattle, Kitsap and [British Columbia],” said Katy Bigelow, the event’s organizer. “They all love trees enough that many of them spend extra time away from their day job climbing and competing in trees as hobbies.

“All the climbers climb this event spur-less and often use up-to-date and specialized climbing equipment,” she added.

Indeed, conservation is a major focus point of the event and, in addition to the ban on spurs and spikes, climbers in the competition go so far as to use protective sleeves so as to keep their ropes from rubbing hard against the tree’s bark and causing damage.

There’s a lot more to it all than people think, Bigelow said, and that includes the contest as well.

The competition is about much more than just getting to the top first, Bigelow explained.

Teams of climbers must race to the top of the two chosen trees, each about 100-feet tall, and complete a series of challenges before making a safe, but rapid, descent.

The treetop trials include searching out and removing dead wood, ringing a precariously placed bell and even rescuing a stuck “kitten” — actually just a small weighted bag, but the climbers on the ground were kind enough to supply sound effects for realism.

Logan Collier, a returning participant from Portland, Oregon, said that even his close friends are often surprised to learn how much is involved with the tree climbing competition.

“Most people, when I do say we’re doing a tree climbing competition, think we’re doing the lumber games with chainsaws and all that nonsense,” he said. “But ours is actually a very athletic event.”

The Bainbridge Island event adheres to a slightly different format than most other tree climbing competitions, Collier said, as there is only one event and the mood is much more low-key.

Larger regional contests and the annual international competition, he said, include up to five different challenges in numerous different trees.

“This one is a little bit more for funsies,” he laughed.

Collier, a third generation arborist who has been active in the industry for more than a decade, said that most competitions were really just an excuse to get together with friends and colleagues and spend more time in great trees.

“It’s working with these living beings that are really the most courageous beings on Earth,” he said of the job’s appeal. “Every other animal or anything else develops a fight or flight response, [but] trees, whatever happens to them, they have to deal with it.”

Most arborists, Collier explained, work with the tree’s health as their primary focus.

“For most of us, we kind of focus more on preservation work,” he said.

Dead wood removal, branch weight reduction and general health evaluations are all part of a typical day at work for an arborist, Collier added.

“Whatever the tree needs,” he said. “We are kind of self-described tree doctors.”

To bring the competition to a more public location is the goal for the future, Bigelow said, which would allow the public to attend.

“This is the fourth year I’ve held this event,” she said. “Every year it’s been at private homes and the amount of spectators and climbers has had to be limited.”

Bigelow said she has reached out to the Bainbridge Island Metro Park & Recreation District to inquire about the possibility of hosting a larger version of the event next year in a public location.