This year marks an important milestone in my climbing career. As we come to the end of NCTC’s tenth year in business in my home town of Marquette MI I’m looking back at the experiences that have led me to completing of over 2,000 jobs successfully with my own business!
Looking forward I’m excited to share my love for tree care and all at height access industries by providing equipment sales and sponsored climbing events to our local community! I invite you to read about my journey from rock climber to tree care professional and how NCTC has maintained its success over the last ten years!!!
Photos: NCTC’s first job 2014, Climbing above Little Shag Lake 2024
I started climbing at the age of 16 after being introduced to rappelling while working in the kitchen of a private wilderness club. The following winter I learned the fundamentals of rock climbing “belay” techniques at a climbing wall at our local collage Norther Michigan University. In the spring a few friends and I learned to set “top rope” setups and began rock climbing outdoors.
This eventually led west to the bigger mountains and alpine walls that stretch skyward for thousands of feet. For me the passion of climbing has always been about problem solving and coming back to the ground safely. This passion laid a foundation for my future career and my involvement with developing new rock climbing areas in my home state.
Slideshow: Mt Wilson CO age 19,Sandlot Crack MI age 17, Moonlight Rib SD age 21, Sun Slab MI age 17, Spearhead RMNP CO age 22
At the age of 19 I became a felling foreman logging a pine beetle epidemic in grand county Colorado. The lodgepole pine forests that were being decimated by the beetles were a result of the first nation Ute people who in an attempt to drive the European settlers out of the valley set fires that would open the cones of the lodgepoles and create a prolific forest of pines as far as the southern Indian peaks wilderness to the northern reaches of Rocky Mountain National Park.
After 3 years and 30,000 trees cut I was ready to move on from the beetle kill and away from the ground work as a sawyer. This led me to Donner summit CA near Reno NV where a rope access training facility provided SPRAT (society of professional rope access technicians) training.
Rope access is best described as a vehicle to work. What you choose to do with the training is really up to you, I tried some sky scraper work but found the city life was not for me and the upper peninsula was calling.
Photo: Me working on expansion joints on a sky scraper in Colorado Springs
After training as a SPRAT tec (rope access technician)I moved back to Michigan in 2009 to regroup and decide how to apply my climbing and SPRAT knowledge. During my years of logging the pine beetle kill in Colorado I always wanted to combine my passion for rock climbing and rope access with my work as a sawyer. I found work on a local arborist crew and began working with two of my tree climbing mentors.
Slideshow:(2010) Massive maple Negaunee MI, Early SRT climbing Munising MI, White pine trim Sand River MI. Age 23
In 2014 North Country Tree Care was established in Marquette MI out of a need to bring honest and safe tree care to an area with very few options for reliable service. With my passion for aerial rescue and respect for sawyer work and tree felling NCTC’s approach to tree care was quickly adopted by the local community as the go to service for technical tree removal and pruning with an attention to detail.
Regularly recommended by other tree services and with a client list from the US Forest Service, NOAA, Marquette County, Michigan DNR and countless private clients within the city of Marquette we’ve proven our ability to solve problems big and small in the local tree care industry.
Moving forward we hope to provide a hub for the tree climbing community thru our sponsored events, educational clinics, and access to the best equipment in the industry with recommendations from my 18 years of industry experience!
-Brandon-
Slideshow: NCTC team members at work
Special thanks to mentors present and passed beyond this world. If I left you from this list I apologize and hope to add many names through out my life long journey in the vertical world
Steve Marquez, Mark Bighia, Shawn Autio, Ashton Wilson, Ben Erdmann, Bill Thompson, Paul Peppin, Karsten Delap, Dave Nettle, The entire Michigan Ice Fest family and all the wonderful professional athletes I’ve had the pleasure to teach alongside through out my years as an instructor, The members and management of the Huron Mountain Club for their trust in my skills as an instructor and rock climbing developer over many many years, and the Upper Peninsula Climbers Coalition past and current members for their stewardship of the climbing I’ve loved and learned on since my youth!
Slideshow: Mark Bighia (grcs work 2010) Shawn Autio (SRT trimming 2010)