The 2011 edition of ABS Nationals kicks off Friday in Boulder, CO. While the event is returning to familiar ground this year there a couple of changes worth noting.
The first big change is that the comp will not be held at one of Boulder’s climbing gyms, but rather a custom wall is being built by Vertical Solutions in a warehouse which should allow for more spectators and a greatly improved experience for those spectators. Here’s a little preview of the wall:
The other big change is that thanks to the new collaboration between ne2c and USA Climbing the event will be streamed live on the internet for the first time. The broadcast will take place Saturday on the UBC’s website at the following times:
- Semi-finals – 10 am MST
- Finals – 7:45 pm MST
There will be 3 rounds to the competition with the following format:
There are three rounds of competition: Qualifiers (6 problems) on Friday the 11th, Semifinals (3 problems) on Saturday morning the 12th, and Finals (3 problems) on Saturday evening the 12th The first two rounds will be run in the traditional format: multiple climbers on the wall at the same time and fixed climbing and rest periods. There are 4 minutes on / 4 minutes off for Qualifiers and 5 minutes on / 5 minutes off for Semifinals. The finals round will be held in the World Cup Finals format where all competitors climb on the 1st problem in order before moving on to the 2nd problem and if a competitor is already on the wall at the 4 minute mark, they can continue that attempt.
Competitors will be ranked according to the following criteria, in descending order:
- Number of Tops
- Number of Bonus Holds
- Attempts to Top
- Attempts to Bonus Hold
Looking at the running order for both the Men and the Women, things look pretty stacked as usual. Most of the top women like Alex Puccio, Alex Johnson and Angie Payne are scheduled to compete while the men’s side of things looks strong with a long list of climbers slated to try to dethrone multi-time champ Daniel Woods. Notable by their absence, however, are the likes of 2008 champ Paul Robinson and Chris Sharma who are both in Europe and Ethan Pringle and Dave Graham who are not psyched on competing. Who do you like? Can anyone beat Woods? Will someone not named Alex win for the women?? Let us know in the comments.
| Past ABS Nationals | Men’s Winner | Women’s Winner |
| 2010 ABS Nationals Results | Daniel Woods | Alex Puccio |
| 2009 ABS Nationals results and wrap-up | Daniel Woods | Alex Johnson |
| 2008 ABS Nationals Results | Paul Robinson | Alex Puccio |
| 2007 ABS Nationals Results* | Daniel Woods | Alex Puccio |
| 2006 | Daniel Woods | Alex Puccio |
| 2005 | Daniel Woods | Portia Menlove |
| 2004 and earlier | ??? | ??? |
| . |
Tickets for the event are still available at the ABS website if you’re in the area otherwise there is the live stream like I mentioned. Here are a few other pertinent details to help prepare you for the weekend:
- Full weekend schedule
- Citizen’s Comp information
- About The ABS 12 National Championships: What Does It All Mean?
- ABS 12 National Championships Trailer
- Live broadcast
*This was the first post ever made on this blog almost 4 years ago!
Portia is also signed up and it sounds like she’s been tearing it up this last year this well. it would be cool to see her win again!
there are loads of strong men, but i do not see anyone on the same level as woods…but it can always come down to the route setting
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Is Paige Claassen competing?? If she has the bouldering power (seems like she’s only on rope lately) she could definitely give Puccio a run for her money!
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Her name isn’t on the running order so probably not
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What happens with the walls once the comp is done? I know Boulder’s running a bit low on gyms…
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I believe the wall becomes part of the traveling UBC circuit of comps but I could be mistaken
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