Climbing Narcissist » Competitions

Woods & Metcalf Repeat At 2012 Dark Horse Championships

Narc — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 15:52:49 +0000

With the 2012 edition of ABS Nationals fast approaching many of America’s top boulderers headed for the east coast last weekend to participate in the finale of the 2012 Dark Horse Series. In a repeat of last year’s comp, Daniel Woods and Francesca Metcalf prevailed over a pretty strong field.

2012 Dark Horse Championships – Metrorock – Everett, MA
Men’s Final Results	Women’s Final Results
Daniel Woods Rob D’Anastasio Carlo Traversi Alex D Johnson Andy Lamb	Francesca Metcalf Angie Payne Kasia Pietras Katie Lamb Nadya Vorotnikova

Pat Bagley posted a huge gallery of great images from the comp and there is the now standard LT11 highlight reel to recap the action. As a bonus, here’s Daniel Wood sealing the victory as he levitates his way up the final problem:

Woods & Metcalf Repeat At 2012 Dark Horse Championships from Climbing Narcissist

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Registration Opens For 2012 ABS Nationals

Narc — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 13:15:25 +0000

Registration is now open for the 2012 edition of ABS Nationals.

This year’s comp will be held in Colorado, but rather than taking place in the usual spot of Boulder it will be held a couple of hours south on I-25 at the Colorado Springs Auditorium in Colorado Springs. The joint USA Climbing-UBC Pro Tour event will be held February 24-25 with a citizen’s comp on the 26th. If this year’s comp is anything like last year’s, which was won by Sean McColl and Alex Puccio, it should be well worth tuning in for.

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2011 Yank-N-Yard

Narc — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 13:31:17 +0000

Last week I mentioned how the indoor comp season is starting to get underway, and below you’ll find a report from the recent Yank-N-Yard comp help in Albuquerque, NM that was kindly put together by the folks at Stone Age Climbing Gym.

When it comes to the climbing scene, New Mexico often plays second fiddle to Colorado, its more populous neighbor to the north. However when it comes to putting on an event with flare, style and attention to detail, New Mexico exceeds all expectations! Innovative free hanging volumes? Check. Professional lighting? Check. Sound System? Check. A DJ flown in from New York? Check. A rowdy, enthusiastic crowd cheering on the nail-biting finals round? Of course! The Yank-N-Yard proves that what starts as a grassroots event has the potential to blossom into something more, and it also proves that a professional climbing comp doesn’t hinge upon a climbing metropolis like Boulder or Salt Lake to attract a worthy field of competitors. Build it and they will come goes the adage phrase, and the competitive climbing world is no exception.

As for the star studded cast of boulderers? Naturally, most hailed from the big brother to the north. The exceptions being Jon Cardwell (OK, he might live in Boulder, but he’s Albuquerque born and bred) and Sierra Blair-Coyle of Scottsdale, Arizona. In the men’s category Jon was joined by Carlo Traversi, Nic Sherman, Michael O’Rourke, Ian Dory, and Asher Shay-Nemirow. In the Women’s category the rest of the field was made up by Flannery Shay-Nemirow, the twins, Jesse and Tyler Youngwerth, Megan Mascerenas, and Sarah Fullerton. Youngsters Michael O’Rourke (age 17) and Megan Mascarenas (age 13) proved to be the surprise finalists and they topped the wealth of upcoming talent showcased by this event.

As mentioned before, the Yank-N-Yard’s roots are that of a local competition and Stone Age hasn’t forgotten. In staying true to the Yank-N-Yard’s roots, Stone Age still painstakingly sets a citizens’ redpoint format competition comprised of almost 100 class A problems. This year, 130 dedicated locals took part in this jam session prequel that kicks off the glitz and glamour finals round. Stone Age seems to have come up with a winning formula: If an event is in need of a lively crowd to cheer a pro final’s round, look no further than a 3.5 hour citizens jam session, and let the finals kick off the after party.

The finals were set by the eclectic route setting team comprised of locals Matt Moore and Claude Smith, and experienced outsiders, Kyle McCabe (Head setter for the NorEaster Pro Tour) and New Mexico ex-pat Cody Roth. The finals consisted of three boulders with five minutes on and five minutes off. None of the three were pushovers, and sends were hard to come by.

Boulder one for both men and women featured mega volumes and intricate technical movement. In the Women’s category Sierra Blair-Coyle, Megan Mascarenas, and Jesse Youngwerth pulled off the only tops. Megan flashed the problem which put her firmly one step ahead of her peers. As for the men, five of the six came ever so close to sussing it out, but close only counts when you’re throwing horseshoes and hand grenades! The crowd was hungry for a send and former local Jon Cardwell kept his poise and didn’t let them down, sensationally flashing boulder one, thus putting the heat on his fellow competitors.

Boulder two featured the first of the two suspended volumes and once again saw tops in the women’s category coming from Megan Mascarenas and Tyler Youngwerth with Megan managing to dispose of this bloc on her first go. In the men’s category the air remained electric as the competitors made steady progress, but just couldn’t quite seal the deal. That is until Carlo Traversi stepped up to the plate with a much needed send on his second try.

Boulder three, featured a free hanging volume dubbed “the coffin”, and it lived up to its name for both men and women. In the men’s category all bets were still on when it came to this boulder. As for the women, Megan Mascarenas pretty much had both feet through the door to first place after flashing the first two problems. As fate would have it, boulder three turned out to be a beast of burden for both men and women. Megan’s run of flashes ended here, and as her five minutes counted down so did her run of tops.

In the end it all comes back to the essence of our sport; good friends, exciting movement, and a fun scene. Carlo Traversi captured the heart of the Yank-N-Yard when he said it best “The vibe here is hanging out with friends, climbing, and just having a good time.” Of course, the top finishers walked out the door with a $1,000 paycheck which is not too bad for a weekend of climbing.

Check out highlights from finals here

2011 Yank-N-Yard on Yale – Stone Age Climbing Gym – Albuquerque, NM
Men’s Final Results	Women’s Final Results
Jon Cardwell Carlo Traversi Michael O’Rourke Nic Sherman Ian Dory Asher Shay-Nemirow	Megan Mascarenas Tyler Youngwerth Jesse Youngwerth Sierra Blair-Coyle Flannery Shay-Nemirow Sarah Fullerton

2011 Yank-N-Yard from Climbing Narcissist

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3rd Annual Dark Horse Series

Narc — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 13:25:12 +0000

As fall wears on and winter starts to rear its ugly head, many of us head for the friendly confines of our local gym. While the cold, dark days can be a bit on the depressing side there is one aspect of the winter climbing season many of us look forward to: COMPS. In addition to national series like ABS, there are many local comp series cropping up around the country. One such local series is New England’s Dark Horse Series at the Metro Rock gyms. Here’s more information on their upcoming 3rd season.

Dark Horse Series OFFICIAL PRESS RELEASE:

As mortal creatures, our time on this small planet is fleeting. The very presence of our being is but a spec of dust recklessly hurdling deeper and deeper into the universe’s infinite abyss of space. As we all together tear through the boundless black cloak of night, we often lose ourselves in the doldrums of our monotonous existence. Sometimes we become lost–unable to find ourselves. A long, long time ago, one man knew this and decided to make a change. He realized that in order to truly live, one must test the actual machinery of the human soul–the very fabric that bears the quintessential language of a beating heart. He figured that since there is no guarantee for tomorrow, one must live for today. And so began the quest for the Dark Horse…

Louder Than 11 is the media partner for the event and has created a whole new competition promotions experience. The Dark Horse, a three part video series leading up to the Championship round in February of 2012. Part 1 Video link:

Metro Rock throws a huge competition every year called “The Dark Horse” and this year, season 3, is no different. Big cash purse, amazing new problems on a huge new wall, and the quest for The Dark Horse. New England’s finest bouldering competition is right around the corner.

Metro Rock – Boston

3rd Annual Dark Horse Series

Dates:

November 5th, 2011 (Newburyport gym location)
December 3rd, 2011 (Everett gym location)
February 4th, 2012 (Championship) (Everett gym location)

2010 highlights and behind the success:

Dark Horse Series Sponsors: Five Ten, Mad Rock, Motivation Volumes, Evolv, So Ill Holds, La Sportiva, Cliff Bar, Urban Peaks, Rock On, The North Face, and many more…

3rd Annual Dark Horse Series from Climbing Narcissist

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Schubert, Ernst Win 2011 Lead Climbing World Cup In Boulder

Narc — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 13:45:07 +0000

Last night over 1,000 people packed into Boulder’s Movement Climbing & Fitness to watch the final round of the IFSC sanctioned lead climbing World Cup, the first such event held in the U.S. in over 20 years. Over 20,000 additional climbing fans watched on the live feed as the Austrian duo of Jakob Schubert and Johanna Ernst bested their respective fields to take the win.

For Schubert it was his 6th consecutive win while Ernst made it look easy as she casually moved passed the highpoint shared by a few of the other women. The only Americans to make finals, Matty Hong and Sasha DiGiulian, both climbed well and DiGiulian in particular was right there in terms of competing for a spot on the podium.

2011 Lead World Cup – Boulder, CO
Men’s Final Results	Women’s Final Results
Jakob Schubert AUT Sachi Amma JPN Romain Desgranges FRA Manuel Romain FRA Jorg Verhoeven NED Matty Hong USA Sean McColl CAN Ramon Julian Puigblanque ESP USA Finishes 11. Carlo Traversi 16. Ben Hoberg 18. Noah Ridge 20. Ian Dory 23. Josh Levin 24. Ryan Sewell 25. Ben Spannuth 27. Shane Puccio 28. Owen Graham 29. Alex Johnson 30. Kevin McCartney 34. Steve Hong Full Men’s Results	Johanna Ernst AUT Mina Markovic SLO Momoka Oda JPN Maja Vidmar Angela Eiter AUT Akiyo Noguchi JPN Sasha DiGiulian Charlotte Durif USA Finishes 11. Chelsea Rude 13. Paige Claassen 15. Delaney Miller 16. Alex Johnson 18. Michaela Kiersch 19. Audrey Sniezek 21. Emily Harrington 22. Tiffany Hensley 24. Amelia Metcalf 25. Alyrene Dorey 26. Amanda Sutton Full Women’s Results

I was one of those people who tuned in to watch the live feed, a first for me for these lead climbing World Cups. Even though sport climbing comps are a little boring to watch — minutes of climbers climbing the same ground only for them to fall at or near the same move in a split second of action¹ — it was cool to see some of the international climbers competing. Overall the broadcast was well done even if it did suffer from the inexplicable problem of the director of the broadcast switching to random crowd shots right when a climber was reaching the crux. Dab!

Replays would be really nice for this. ↩

Schubert, Ernst Win 2011 Lead Climbing World Cup In Boulder from Climbing Narcissist

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Lead World Cup This Weekend In Boulder

Narc — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 14:58:00 +0000

This weekend Boulder, CO, and more specifically Movement Climbing & Fitness, will play host to the first lead climbing World Cup held on American soil in over 20 years. 67 athletes from around the world, including 25 from the U.S., will compete Saturday and Sunday according to the following schedule (all times MDT):

Saturday

11:30 am – Qualifiers

Sunday

12:00 pm – Semi-finals
7:00 pm – Finals

You can catch the proceedings live on the IFSC.tv stream.

To commemorate the impending return of the World Cup, the American Alpine Club caught up with Jeff Lowe, one of the people who was instrumental in the last World Cups held in the U.S. There are a lot of interesting tidbits in the interview including this one about the type of purse offered in an event held in 1988:

There was a $17,000 purse, with cash prizes all the way to tenth place. We even paid some expenses for the athletes to get to the event—we really wanted to respect them and make it a great experience for everyone. That was in 1988.

As to why there haven’t been more World Cups in the U.S. ? Well, running climbing comps is expensive:

Attracting sponsorship is more difficult than people think!

Check out the full interview here.

Lead World Cup This Weekend In Boulder from Climbing Narcissist

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2011 Triple Crown Bouldering Series: Hound Ears Results

Narc — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 00:27:16 +0000

The 2011 Triple Crown Bouldering Series got underway last weekend¹ at Hound Ears, North Carolina, an area open to climbing but one day a year for the Triple Crown.

While the entire Triple Crown is more about raising awareness for access issues and offering a competitive but still fun environment for the community as a whole, I always find it interesting to note who is winning the Open division throughout the series. The main question in my mind leading into this year’s series was could anybody dethrone Jimmy Webb, winner of the last eight Triple Crown events and reigning 3 time overall champion. The answer is that we’ll never know since Webb decided not to compete this year.

This left things wide open for Illinois transplant Brad Weaver to win the Men’s Open division while two time defending Women’s overall champ Kasia Pietras continued her domination by winning the women’s event.

Hound Ears Women’s Open Results	Hound Ears Men’s Open Results
Kasia Pietras 7,609 Isabelle Faus 7,183 Leanna Lockhart 3,359	Brad Weaver 13,128 Nate Draughn 12,508 Andrew Palmer 11,373

Full Results

DPM was on hand for the event, and they compiled this report to go along with this video. There’s also a large gallery of images posted here.

Jimmy Webb and Brion Voges, who took 2nd in the overall standings each of the past two years, both didn’t compete in the comp, but that doesn’t mean they weren’t at Hound Ears taking advantage of the day. Freed from the pressure of focusing on filling out a comp scorecard they each established a new double digit problem, both of which you can see in this video.

Update: In his latest blog post Webb indicates that he will in fact compete in the remaining events.

Albeit a day late due to some inclement weather on Saturday which forced the event to be postponed for a day ↩

2011 Triple Crown Bouldering Series: Hound Ears Results from Climbing Narcissist

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Payne, Dory Win UBC Pro Tour’s The North Face Open At The 2011 Nor’easter – Updated

Narc — Sat, 24 Sep 2011 22:17:57 +0000

The comp is in the books! Here is who came out on top:

Men

Ian Dory
Rob D’Anastasio
Ty Landman
Vasya Vorotnikov
Ethan Pringle
Paul Robinson

Full Results

Women

Angie Payne
Lizzy Asher
Alex Johnson
Isabelle Faus
Kati Peters
Nadya Vorotnikova

Full Results

Check out the Finals live blog to read how some of the action unfolded. More to come!

Update: So, now that I’ve had some time to process things lets take a little closer look at how finals unfolded.

First, the fact that rain cancelled semi-finals changed the entire comp. After a series of deliberations between the routesetting crew and event organizers it was decided to basically cancel finals, which would have been the top 6 climbers after semi-finals climbing a set of 3 problems, and run semi-finals later in the day as “finals” to decide the winners. This meant 20 climbers moving through 3 problems, the same problems they would have climbed had semi-finals actually happened. This raised a some questions with the most important being could these problems do the job of separating all the competitors who had topped out all the qualifier problems on Friday.

For the women, I think most people thought it would come down to Angie Payne, Lizzy Asher and Alex Johnson and that’s exactly what happened. Of the three, Payne came out first after qualifying in 5th position. She stormed her way up all three problems on her first try in impressive fashion setting the bar high for the remaining competitors. As soon as Asher and Johnson fell on problems 3 and 2 respectively (at the same time even) the comp was clearly won by Payne marking her 2nd straight UBC Pro Tour win.

For the men things were decidedly less clear. After seeing the strength of the men on Friday it seemed conceivable that several of them could flash all 3 problems, but that turned out not to be the case. Problem 1 turned out to be the easiest with 5 guys topping it out, but here is where Vasya Vorotnikov let the comp slip away for him when he fell trying to stick the finish hold multiple times.

Men’s Problem 2, which climbed out the horizontal roof on the far left side of the comp venue, would turn out to be the toughest problem of the day. Early competitors struggled to figure out a good sequence on the bottom section and even those climbers who managed to make it past the lip struggled to figure out the crimpy moves on the top section. Only Ian Dory was able to top this problem out, lunging to the finish hold and skipping the intended sequence.

Men’s Problem 3 looked to be a more straightforward power climb up a series of two finger pockets leading to crimps and a pinch high on the wall. Here again though several of the competitors struggled to figure out the middle sequence which required the climbers to reach under to a two finger pocket then do a 1 arm, twisting 180 out to some crimps with the right hand. Those that figured it out were rewarded as D’Anastasio, Landman and Vorotnikov all topped out the problem.

After seeing all the men falling in different places it turned into a guessing game trying to figure out what the final standings were going to be. In the end it was Dory followed by D’Anastasio followed by Landman, but really any of a number of minor differences in where people got on a problem could have changed who won:

If Paul Robinson would have stuck the finish hold of M2 when he lunged for it, he could have won
If Vasya Vorotnikov doesn’t slip out of the finish hold of M1 multiple times, he could have won
If Ian Dory figures out M3 better, he wins even more convincingly. Conversely, if his lunge to the finish of M2 weren’t successful he would have dropped at least a couple of spots.
If Ethan Pringle could have closed out the last moves on M3 he could have won
If Ty Landman or Rob D’Anastasio do even marginally better on M2 they could have won

So, the routesetters did a pretty good job separating everyone since there were no ties, but how cool would it have been to see these top 6 guys come back and climb another set of 3 problems? I know I would have enjoyed seeing that.

Speaking of seeing things, here are two different highlight reels from the event. The first is the official highlight reel put together by the guys at LT11. It has the high quality footage from the live feed which is good because it’s high quality but not as good since the live feed cameras only caught small glimpses of some of the climbers¹ The LT11 clip also features an amazing photo from the exact moment Payne stuck the finish hold on W3 which was a really cool moment. The other highlight reel is of a lower quality but shows more complete attempts.

The biggest complaint many people had at home was that the live feed cut away at inopportune times and this is something that was recognized by the people at the event afterwards. Hopefully they can take some steps to rectify this for future events. ↩

Payne, Dory Win UBC Pro Tour’s The North Face Open At The 2011 Nor’easter – Updated from Climbing Narcissist

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Live From 2011 Unified Bouldering Championships Finale At The North Face Open: Finals

Narc — Sat, 24 Sep 2011 17:37:36 +0000

Three(ish) live blogs in two days? Sure, why not. Check back around 2:45 PM EST for finals of the 2011 UBC Pro Tour The North Face Open. Hopefully the weather will cooperate this time…

Here’s a picture of each of the finals problems. Doesn’t look like much has changed since this morning.

Check out the live feed here

Live From 2011 Unified Bouldering Championships Finale At The North Face Open: Finals from Climbing Narcissist

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Live From 2011 Unified Bouldering Championships Finale At The North Face Open: Semi-finals

Narc — Sat, 24 Sep 2011 11:00:17 +0000

Check back around 9:45 AM EST as I’ll be kicking off yet another live blog, this time for the semi-final round of the 2011 UBC Pro Tour The North Face Open. Click here for the women’s running order and here for the men’s running order. Get psyched!

You should be able to watch a live feed of the comp at the UBC Pro Tour’s website.

Update: Due to inclement weather, which literally started right as the comp was supposed to begin, semi-finals have been cancelled. As of right now all competitors will be moving on to finals at 3pm EDT. Check back here for updates and another attempt at a live blog during finals.

Live From 2011 Unified Bouldering Championships Finale At The North Face Open: Semi-finals from Climbing Narcissist

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