China’s first internationally certified female professional tree climber has turned a fear of heights into a career spent high in the canopy, pruning urban trees.

Yu Yanling, a former track athlete from Xiamen in southeastern China’s Fujian province, was once afraid of heights. Now in her 30s, she has climbed trees as tall as 60 metres.

She discovered the sport by chance at university, after seeing students suspended from branches by ropes and witnessing the joy it brought them, according to the mainland media outlet Jizhou Studio.

Her athletic background helped her master the skill quickly, and after graduation she began taking on tree-related work.

Unlike conventional pruning, which is often done from outside the canopy, professional tree climbers work from within, reaching dead or dangerous branches that machinery cannot access.