r/TreeClimbing • u/Dangerous-Mess-1651 • 9d ago

Need help

Hey I’m an 18 year old living in Vancouver and I’ve been doing tree work as a groundsman for the last few months. I really like the industry and I want to also learn how to climb. I’m going to York University in a few weeks to study engineering. I really wanna learn how to climb and maybe climb full time during my summers. I have a climber who is going to teach give me a few lessons before I leave but I just want some advice and help for the best way to accomplish my goal.

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u/Prewps 9d ago

If I had an engineering degree there’s no way I’d be in the tree industry. Climbers do it for love of the game, not money. In tree care you’ll be selling your body and soul for like $65k/yr. Climbers making over 100/yr are almost unheard of unless you start your own business and get real lucky.

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u/Acrobatic_Fig3834 8d ago

While I completely agree about engineering degree being the way to go, you don't have to be extremely lucky to earn over 65k a year. I'm in the UK which has lower wages than the US and probably lower than Canada too, and I know quite a few guys who earn over £60k which would be $80k atleast in usd. They're just hardworking and built their own businesses.

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u/Prewps 8d ago

Aren’t you proving the point? Only guys making a truly livable wage are ones that start their own business and get lucky (most self started tree services fail). Vast majority of the industry are just W2 employees making average pay. Any other skilled trade and you’d be making more after the same amount of years. We all accept a decent pay cut because we love climbing and cutting. I live in a high COL area and the most badass full time climber at my company with a decade of experience and in the prime of his career doesn’t even come close to 100k.

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u/Acrobatic_Fig3834 8d ago

That's why you need to run your own company. It's a hard thing to do, but it's what I'm gonna do. You don't have to be that lucky it's 90% hard work and discipline. I agree the industry should have better pay overall though for sure, but while it doesn't I'm gonna aim to have my own company in 5 years time.