Any discussion which includes female climbers in Australia is very likely to include Jess Hamer. Jess is a strong competitor and popular personality at events both locally and internationally.
The 2025 Queensland Tree Climbing Championship showed yet another victory for female climber Jess Hamer.
The Australian Arbor Age grabbed Jess for a quick catch up between climbs and found the Queenslander, as always, cheerful and inspirational.
Planted
Jess’ career started in horticulture, and while she enjoyed that line of work, there was one aspect of the industry that caught her attention.
“I started off in gardens,” she said. “Then I thought it’d be cool to learn about trees. I started studying trees and really enjoyed doing that, so then I went full time into tree care.
“I’ve been doing climbing work for 10 years now.”
Despite her obvious climbing success, Jess believes good fortune has played its part in her progression in arboriculture.
“I’ve been pretty fortunate,” she said.
“I’ve had a lot of experiences, positive and negative, and I’ve had a lot of good people around me to get me through it all.
“I do have my Level 5 now and I’ve had it for quite a long time. I did my Cert 3 then my Cert 5 straight after.
“I’m enjoying doing both. It’s another new experience for me.”
Free spirit
Jess’ win at the Queensland state championships was hot on the heels of a victory at the QAA freestyle event a few weeks earlier. Jess had not only won the freestyle event, but was among the most vocal and supportive in what was already an enthusiastic crowd.
We wondered what someone who climbed competitively at an international level enjoyed so much about freestyle climbing.
“I like to look at freetsyle as a ‘fun’ kind of comp, she said. “It’s no-pressure training, that kind of thing, and there are very few rules. “Obviously we stay safe – we’re professionals. But even with the safety front of mind it’s good fun, swing-around-and-smash-somebells climbing.”
Ahead
While Jess is an experienced, professional arboriculturalist, she’s continually growing and evolving. Right now she’s looking forward to the next phase of life, which includes a move into more consulting work.
“I’ve only just started doing consulting work in the past couple of months to start dialling back on the contract climbing,” she said. “I’m giving the body a bit of a break, and my partner and I have started trying for a baby, so I’m safeguarding myself with some consulting work.”
What about the future? Does Jess expect to continue working with and caring for trees?
“Absolutely,” she beamed. “I wouldn’t know what else to do or where else to go.”