The 2009 Triple Crown Bouldering series kicked off this weekend with the annual competition at Hound Ears, NC. One of the more interesting aspects of these comps is simply seeing what climbers even show up. Last year’s Hound Ears event featured top 3 finishes on the women’s side by Alex Johnson, Kate McGinnis and Alex Puccio while the men’s side had top 3 finishes by Jon Glassberg, Jimmy Webb and Wills Young. Out of this group only Jimmy Webb returned to a top 3 finish at the 2009 edition of Hound Ears. Here is how the rest of the field shaped up:
Open Women
- Sasha DiGiulian
- Kasia Pietras
- Francesca Metcalf
Open Men
- Jimmy Webb
- Brion Voges
- Max Zolutukhin
It’s worth noting that Phil Schaal, fresh off a huge summer of hard sending, failed to crack the top 3*. It’ll be interesting to hear his thoughts on how the comp went.
Check out DPM for a nice write-up, a few pictures and more results from the comp.
*Thanks to the commenters who reminded me something I should have pointed out initially, namely that a) Phil finished 4th despite terrible skin and b) he was up against a field of climbers who have spent more time climbing at Hound Ears in recent years, a pretty big advantage in this type of competition.
Update: Thanks to Brad for pointing out this link to Jeff Zimmerman’s comp photo gallery
Update 2: Brion Voges’ report
