Olds resident Kali Alcorn is excited after competing in the World Tree Climbing Championships in San Antonio, Texas.
Alcorn, an Olds College graduate, finished 13 out of 20 competitors in her category.
She's confident she can do better in other upcoming competitions this fall.
“I'm really happy about it,” said Alcorn. “I mean, I just started climbing not that long ago. I'm a new climber and I didn't go to school for it per se. I know all the sciences, but I didn't know the climbing part of things.
“My goal was not to get last, so I'm really, really happy. I'm the number 13 female tree climber in the world, I suppose I could say. That's cool.”
Alcorn says apart from not being as familiar with the climbing aspect, she also only had “a really basic kit” of climbing gear, compared to a lot of the other women she was competing with.
Alcorn qualified for the Worlds by winning the women's division of this event for the Prairie region in Winnipeg last year.
Alcorn is confident she can do better if she practises more, works on her conditioning for the event, and if she gets better gear.
“It's expensive to get all the gear going, because you're paying hundreds and hundreds of dollars for one tiny little piece of gear. Then to have that piece of gear, you have to have the other stuff that goes along with it,” she says.
Alcorn works for For Trees, a Didsbury-based tree care company.
"I'm the number 13 female tree climber in the world, I suppose I could say. That's cool."KALI ALCORN
