ABS 15 Midwest Regionals- VE Minneapolis

December 7 was ABS Regionals at Vertical Endeavors in Minneapolis. I climbed in the afternoon which was nice because I had time to eat breakfast and wake up so I was ready to climb. I started warming up shortly after my brother went out for his climbs. I was warming up and just taking my time not rushing any of the moves. I was my time to check in to the chair. I turned my music on and just sat back and waited for the time to be called and my turn to climb. My first route was different from what I excepted, it was more a parcore route. The start was static but then you had to run to two jug that were around the bend, or you could jump to them but it would be really far away. I wasn't able to get the move to the jugs but I was close to it. My second route was a little easier to read. The start was fun and the rest of the route was fun. The moves were easy but the hold were a little bit harder to hold on to. The third route was rather hard compared to the rest of the routes.  The holds were little edges that was just enough for finger tips and nothing more. I wasn't able to figure out the moves for this route after about the fourth move. The fourth route was a really cool route. The moves were a little bit harder but the holds were good enough that you didn't fall off when trying to traverse. The moves were a lot if fun and I was only one hold from finishing the route. It really gave me an extra boost to keep going. I was really excited for the next route because when I saw it, it looked rather easy. It was pinches and in a slight over hang which made it a bit easier. I made it all the way to the last move. Got one hand on the finish hold and attempted to get my other hand to the top and slipped. I was able to get to the same spot one other time. I was really close so I figured I could get the last move on my last try. I was able to get to the same spot. My last route was Probably the hardest to start. The start was on a pinch facing left going to a pinch that was facing right. It took me a few try to get my feet to hold and get the next move. I was able to get about half way. I was really happy with that because by the time I got there I was super tired. We had to wait for the Male Juniors to finish before we would get results. When results were posted I saw I took 9th place. I was happy with it because I'm not much of the bouldering type and I'm moving on to divisionals. I received an invite Friday. It was a lot of fun and I can't wait to go to Iowa because I have a whole month to train and get ready. We got back late Sunday due to weather and just relaxed the rest of the weekend. I was alittle sore Sunday and Monday which stopped me from doing to much for training. I continued training and I'm working on more power type route to help build the power I need. All of the pictures are loaded to my facebook and flickr accounts. Check them out to see the route that I climbed. I would also like so say a big thanks to FiveTen, Bluewater Ropes and Rock Candy Holds.

Climb This Climbing Competition

Saturday November 23 was the climbing competition at the Kenosha YMCA.  Advanced was starting and that was the category I was competiting in. I started on a the wall I knew was the easiest. It went pretty well so I was looking at the other routes to figure out what order I wanted to them in. I figured out I was going to do another easy one then get the harder ones and try the rest after that. I finished the second route rather slow but it was easy. I was taking my time to make sure I got a complete the route. I went to the second hardest route and tryed it and got stuck right at the first draw. For the day I kinda had a problem reading the route right and/or executing my plan of attack for each route. I then tryed other routes and one of them I could get through the starting move. The two other were alittle difficult in the beginning but was able to work fast then and work my way up the route. I only completed two routes but that's ok. I was trying to work through the routes and go about them different ways. After qualifiers I was in 4th place. For finals, I was 2nd to go and I made it the furthest on the route. The route was alittle difficult at the start. But it got alittle easier then got difficult again. I made it to the third draw rather easy. Then made a move up held it and my hand slipped right off the hold. I know I could have attempted to make another move. I was 4 holds further than everyone else. Due to this I made a point come back and was 100 points from taking 2nd place. I was happy with how I did because I know I tried. 

Sunday I went in to climb and try the routes. The one that I had trouble starting I was able to finish the the route starting after the starting move. I tried all of the routes included the finals. I was able to complete the final in 3 falls. I climbed pretty well considering I had a competition the day before and I was reading all the routes correctly. I even tried some of the route in begginer and intermediate. The routes were a lot of fun! All of the photos are loaded to Facebook and Flickr. All of the videos are loaded to YouTube and Facebook. Check them out!!

Queen Creek Canyon and Arizona Vacation

We left Wednesday night and got in around 8pm in Arizona. The next morning we got up around 5 and got ready to go climbing for the day. A guide was coming with and showing us the routes and the areas that were good for climbing sport. He set up a 5.9 to start us off and it was really easy.  After we did those he set up two 5.10. One was a 5.10 b the other was 5.10c. Both of the hard cruxs were at the start if the route which made it a little but more difficult. I flashed everything so far but was a little pumped because it was a lot of finger pockets. After I finished the 5.10's, I did the 5.11b which was much easier than the 5.10c I think. I flashed the 5.11 and then tried the 5.12c that was set up. The start was alittle strange but I figured it out just could get past the draw. I had a heel toe cam even with the draw because my hands were slipping. The two holds that I was holding on to were really crimps in an over hang which made them really hard to hold on to. I made it the furtherest on our group. Everyone was getting tired so we did two more 5.10's to finish the day off. I flashed everything for the day but the 5.12c which I got about half way on. So it was a good day overall. Friday we took it alittle bit easier because the rock was really rough from the day before. So we decided to go indoor skydiving. I had never done skydiving before so it was going to be a fun learning experience. We got there and we had to watch a video on the basic of skydiving and the signals the instructors were going to be using to help us. It was a short video and them a few minutes later we were starting with the first person in the group. There was six of us and two other people schedule for the same time. I was 6th in the line to go. I was alittle nervous cause I wasn't to sure how it was going to feel. Once I got figured it out it didn't take long for me to do it on my own. My second time around the instructors helped me get stabled and the rest of the time I did on my own. The last 30sec of my turn the instructor helped me go up and down and around in circles; it was pretty cool. After skydiving we went to lunch then to a climbing gym just to keep the bodies moving. I had a pretty good day climbing I onsighted two 5.10b and a 5.11a. I also finished a 5.12b. That was rather long for the height of the gym. After I finished lead climbing I bouldered for the rest if the day and worked on the system board. I did pretty good on the system board for being tired. I was able to complete three V3 and on V4. I was pretty happy with that considering I was tired. Saturday we went back to Queen Creek Canyon but we went to Atlantis. Getting there was alittle weird because it was down hill so we were almost sliding down the hill to get there. The area was really cool,the climbing area was like a bowl and there was climbing all around you. To start the day off I set up a 5.8 that was about 85feet. After that we set up a 5.10b and then two 5.8s. It was an easier day but it was fun. Everyone was tired and it was hot. We went back to the house and played Monolpoly the rest of the night. Sunday was the last day that we were on Arizona. We wet to the pool and I learned how to play pickle ball. I played 3 games of singles and won all three. After wards we packed and and played cards until it was time to go. Our flight left at 7 and we got in around 12:30 am Monday morning. I got to use my new BlueWater Rope. It was really smooth and was super light. I was really excited because I was waiting for this trip to use the rope and I love it. Right before we left Wednesday my new shoes and shirt came in from FiveTen. The shirt is very soft and the shoes fit perfect.

All of the photos and videos from this weekend are loaded to Facebook, YouTube, and Flickr. Check them out there are some really cool pictures. A big thanks to my sponsors, FiveTen, Bluewater Ropes, Rock Candy, Kask Helmets, Kaisers Pizza & Pub. 

2013 ABS Madison Competition

Saturday,the 19th, was an ABS competition at Boulders Climbing Gym in Madison. We left around 8am to get to the gym around 10:30. Climbing didn't start till 12. So I had a lot of time to get everything together and warm up. I started looking at routes around 11 then warming up at 11:45. The routes didn't have very high pionts on them which made it alittle bit more difficult to work around. Warming up on a lower point route then finding two more low points routes. I found some routes than really caught my eye and decided I wanted to try them. I flew through some of the harder routes which were worth higher points. There were a few routes that had me puzzled for a little bit. I looked them over a few times watched a few people and then I gave it another go. Most of the time I got it other times it took me another try to complete the problem. There was one problem I knew I could do but it wasn't going to help me points wise. I need a problem that was worth at least 400. This was difficult to do because that was about my max. I found a few routes that I knew I could do and did but there were that few that I was only one or two holds from the top and I would fall off the route. There was a little over an hour left to climb when I had hit a wall. I was getting pumped on routes much easier than I was on problems that were giving me trouble. I found a route that I knew I would be able to complete once I held the one power move in the route. I was trying more than four routes that were worth 400 points. I had three routes that were worth 400 points and two that were 350 points. I was trying to get all my points in the 400-500 range. It was 20 minutes before time was called and I decided I was done. The routes I was attempting I was barely getting to the same spot as I was when I first attempted them. I finished with 1900 points and three falls for a total of 1870. I was happy with how I did for the day. I ate lunch while scores were being tallied up. They started results and I was really curious on how many points I was from the first place person, if I wasn't. I knew that it would be a close first place run. I ended up taking 2nd place only down but 130 points. I was really happy with that because I am not much of the bouldering type.  

Before the competition came about I was talking with a FiveTen representative. I am part of the FiveTen Team for another year and I will have a blog account on their page. I'm really excited to continue my relationship with FiveTen. There were a ton of pictures taken from this weekends competition. Be sure to check them out either on Facebook or Flickr! 

Also at the end of the month I will be taking a trip to Arizona for four days. I will be climbing outside all the days that I am in Arizona. Stay posted for any further updates and photos. 

First ABS comp of the year

I started training shortly after school started. The first week was an easy program to get back in to the mode of program training. Then they increasingly got a little bit tougher. It has been a little bit tough to keep up with the program because I was sick for about a week. September 20 was a fun climbing comp called Battle of the Ages at Adventure Rock. The gym set about 30 new routes for this comp so everyone would have something they have never tried before. I started with some routes that were low point just to have points. I then started working on routes that would cancel the lower point routes. I finished about 10 routes and the top 7 points would be scored. I was nearing the end and thought I will try a route that had a 100 point higher point value to get me extra points. I was really tired and was unalbe to do the route. In the end my total was 7625. I was failry confident with my day becuase I was not feeing to great and I was still able to do most of 5.10s and 5.11s. They did awards and did my division last. They didnt anounce the scores so I went back later to find out the point difference. I took 2nd place only behind by 100 points so definently being able to finish that last route would have helped me tie for 1st place.

Saturday, Oct. 5,  was the first ABS competition of the year. It was really busy at the gym. There was more than 120 youth competitors. There were 13 female juniors which is the category I am in this year. My start was a little rough but once I got into it I got going and started knocking a ton of problems out of the way. I was a little nervous at the beginning because I was. Making a few silly mistakes but once I got completely warmed up I was able to walk right through some problems that I had trouble with. In the end the ones I had trouble with weren't even in my top 5 which really benefited me. My top 5 routes were all flashes. I was able to complete three routes in the advanced division and two top scoring for the intermediate. When it was coming close to the end, I stopped worrying about the points and tried to just get some routes that looked like fun. I was so tired by the end it really didn't matter because I didn't have a whole lot left. One of the routes I did was all two finger pockets the whole way up. The start for it was challenging. But the finish of the route was a huge jug which made it easier to skip a move and not waste as much energy. It was a fun route and I went back to it after I turned my score card in just to try it again. They did results and I wasn't sure how I did compared to the other climbers. Some climbers I have never seen before. I took 5th in the end which was really good because I spent a lot of time on some routes to get pints that I probally shouldn't have. All in all it was a good day. All of the pictures are loaded to both Facebook and Flickr. Check them out their are some really cool pictures.

Rock Candy Climbing Holds Sponsorship!!!

Today, August 15, 2013,  I got a Rock Candy Product Sponsorship! Super excited because they are some of the best holds on the market right now.

White Mountain Climbing Camp

I spend two weeks in the white mountains of New Hampshire. In those two weeks I went to four climbing areas that were all about 45 minutes away from the White Mountain School Campus. We went to Rumney, Cathedral, Mt Oscar, and Eco Crag. My favorite place to go climb was Rumney because it had a huge amount of sport climbs that you could do. Rumney was the place I preferred to go because I like sport climbing and I really wanted to work to get better at it. The climbing at Rumney was really technical which was really nice and some climbs had a mix of small power moves. The first few times we went to Rumney I was able to go to Waimea. Waimea has a really high consistency of hard routes. The easiest route there was a 5.10a. The routes I worked on while I was there was Restless Native and Technosurfing; both of which are 5.12. I worked on Restless Native the first two days. Restless Native is a 5.12b/c and I was able to get up through the first crux. I made it through the crux in two moves and I worked up a few moves past it then I got super pumped. I came down and took a break for a little bit and then gave it another go. I made it to the same spot and got the same pump. I then decided I should try it another day. I tried Technosurfing. I wasn’t able to get the starting moves. The starting moves are lean backs and it a little awkward because you need to bring your hips in really tight with the wall. It put a lot of pressure towards my lower back so I decided I should try it another day. The next day it rained so we weren’t able to climb because all the climbs were wet. We went back the next day and we head straight to Waimea and we didn’t need a warm up because the hike up to Waimea was a little hard. I jumped right on to Restless Native and gave it a good go and made it through the crux moves and up further than I did the last time I tried it. I was super excited because I knew it was going to be a good day of climbing for me. We were able to get on Technosurfing. I was a little nervous about getting on it because the start is really hard. I gave it a go and walked right the starting moves and through the next 6 draws. I fell at the end of the first crux. I was really excited because I knew I was going to be able to get further than where I got. I tried the crux and few more times and finally broke through and made it to the 7^th draw and got really pumped. I decided to come down and work on other routes. The next day was our off day and Sunday we went to Mt Oscar. I decided I wanted to work on other routes in new areas. I went to Main Cliff Left for three days of the next five days of climbing. I flashed Scene of the Crime as a sport climb. It was a lot of and really technical, you had to be precise with your feet. Gabe set up Armed, Dangerous and Off My Medication. I onsighted this route top rope and gave it a go lead.  I was unable to do it lead. I just let my nerves get to me when I need them not to the most. We came back the next day and I sent the route lead. I was really excited because I had walked right through the entire route. The next day we went to the 5.8 Crag. There I flashed “Romancing the Stone: which is a 5.10c. This climb is a little weird because you want to have a lay back but the type of moves just don’t allow you to do so. The finish on this route is about 7 feet of straight jugs. I was happy with how I was climbing because I was getting tired. My body was not really al the excited with pushing more and more each day. The last day of climbing I went to Main Cliff Right. I got on a 5.8, a 5.7 and a 5.5 all sport. When we were all done climbing each day we would put our gear in our dorms and head up to the game room and do fosse ball tournament. We would have dinner and then have an activity for the night before Evening Meeting. There we would talk about what we did for the day, what we liked or didn’t like and what our plan for the next day was. We would go back to our dorms for the night and we had till 10 to do whatever we needed to do. I brought the GoPro along with me and it took more than 500 photos and 10 videos. I kept track of all the routes I was able to complete weather it was an onsight or a flash.  I got home August 3, 2013 and took a few days off but I will soon be getting ready for the upcoming ABS Season. All of the pictures and videos that were taken at camp are loaded to my Facebook, YouTube and Flickr Accounts. Check them out, there are a ton of really cool photos for the surroundings.

2013 SCS Nationals and Training Camp

We left Sunday the 30th and stopped in Nashville to take a few rest days and get one last climbing day in before nationals. We stopped at The Crag at Cool Springs. This gym was more of a bouldering gym which was fine because I needed to work on power endurance. They had a few sections for lead climbing and top rope climbing. Many of the routes were bouldering and really hard. A 5.9 would be more like an 5.10 to a 5.10+.The harder the route grade of the route the more the route was stretched out. So we climbed for a while and did sets so it would help a little with endurance. After words we took a break before we started bouldering. The bouldering was good. They were graded by which category they would be put in for a competition. So it was Rec, Intermediate, Advanced, and Open. I did one or two on a Intermediate problem then tried some Advanced and Open problems. Some of the Open problems I would get further on than an Advanced problem. We bouldered for few hours before we got tired and headed back to the hotel. The next morning we got up and left Nashville and headed for Atlanta. The drive wasn't to long just really boring. We got here in Atlanta and did nothing for about 5 hours because we were tired from the drive. We went to dinner and then went back to the hotel and watched a movie that was on FX. The 3rd we checked in got my number and MY T-SHIRT.  The morning of the 4th I got up and about ten minutes later I was like "I'm ready! Lets Go!" We checked in to the gym and wondered around for a while. Found the route that I would be climbing and looked it over for a while. After I was done looking it over, I wondered around again and looked at the other routes that were up. They called for all Bunnies to be at their assigned route for the fore run. I headed back over to where my route was and sat down. After watching the forerunner. They made it appear much harder that everyone had read the route originally. I was one of the last people to go out, so I had time to watch people and see how people were doing. It way my turn to climb and I took one deep breathe and started climbing. All of the holds were jugs because we were climbing in the roof section of the gym. I was doing fine and the it started to lean back and I messed up one of the moves so I had to fix it. My way of fixing it was to hang by one hand, turn around and clipped my draw. I fixed what I had done wrong and continued up the route. I was doing fine and I got to the part where we had to turn around and climb down the nose part of the roof. I was getting pumped I have never climbed on a roof section before and wasn't really prepared for it. I made a move and just barely held on and made another move and slipped right off the hold. I was pretty happy with how I did because I have never climbed on a roof. I fell right before the 9th draw which was about 8 feet away from the last draw. I came down and attempted to untie my knot. I found my parents and sat down for a while and caught my breath. The swing of the fall caught my off guard. I packed up my gear and watched the last few people go. I was surprised by how far some of the other climbers made because they had climbed much better at Divisionals. The next day I was the 15th climber which was nice because I could climb earlier and not get as nervous. I warmed up and went back to watch one of the girls climb the route. I felt pretty good about the route and felt I would do better one it because it was more vertical. I started up the route and I was feeling good about it and made it through the section that seemed to be a little tough. I clipped my 6th draw and made up a few move and looked over the next few moves and realized how far apart the next few holds were. I took a break and thought over the next moves and ho I would go about the next two moves. I was able to just barely reach the next hold and the other wall but my feet popped off the holds. I wasn't able to get my feet back on because they were really far away. I fell and was turned around so I was a little freaked out because I was spinning on the rope but once I was able to stop, I got my knot untie and realized I never had a good hold on the next hold. They gave me the point for the hold which was nice because I really don't know if I had control of the hold completely. We left knowing that I wasn't going to make semi finals because they are taking only top 16 and after just one day I was in 34. So for my to advance I would have had to flash the route. I was happy with how I did because I was a little bit nervous about the routes but felt a lot better when I got on the wall. When I got on the wall the rest of the world was just muted and I was just climbing and focusing on what I need to do. I had a lot of fun and I am really excited for the up coming seasons in both Bouldering and Sport Climbing. After I finished climbing we packed up and headed for Milton, Florida. My older brother is living there currently training with helicopters. We got there Friday evening and then headed out to dinner with him and his wife. Saturday we spent the whole day at his house. Well mostly because he truck decided it didn't want to start. We ate dinner at their house that night and hung around till 8. Headed back for the hotel and went to bed because we were getting up early to start heading back home. The next morning we left and drove all the way to Louisville, Kentucky. Stayed the night there and the next morning finished the drive. We were home around 1:30 the next day. All of my videos and pictures are loaded to Facebook, Flickr and YouTube. Check them out because there are some pretty cool shots.

I would like to say a big thank to a sponsor who has helped me out the most this year. Thanks to FiveTen they have equipped me with climbing shoes and a ton of support which helped me get to nationals. I would also like to thank KASK Helmets, So ILL, ClimbTech, and PowerBar.

Hoosier Heights Division 3 Championships

This past weekend was Division 3 Championships. This is the last step before nationals. I have not been at divisionals in a since my first year. Last year was due to injury. I was really nervous going in because I was worried I wouldn't be ready for the routes that were set for our age group. At the same time I thought I was because I have been training really hard and knew I would be ready. I showed up in ISO and was really happy to know that I was for sure going out 4th in the running order. I sat around for alittle bit, they then went over rules and had us line up so we could go out for our route preview. My first route looked to be a 5.10 with a lot of really nice holds. The top of the route started to get a little bit more crimpy and the holds got a little bit smaller. Our second route looked like a lot of fun. The beginning of the route was all jugs. It then worked in to sloping jugs, then slopers, and finishing with a few really big crimps that were almost like jugs. The second route looked to be about a 5.12. We headed back to ISO and I started warming up by doing a few power moves so my legs would be warmed up. I then worked in to holding the really small holds so my hands would be ready for crimps and pinches. Once I was almost completely warmed up I went and I did a little stretching so I wouldnt hurt myself. I would jumping straight into route that might tear tendons if I didnt warm up and stretch before climbing.  I finished warming up by doing a couple hanging exercises in the steeper wall. By the time I was finished warming up it my time to check in at the chair and get ready to climb. I handed my bag of to my coach and all I took with were my shoes, harness, chalk bag and bottle, the stick and my A Game. I headed down to my first chair and had 5 minutes to sit and tie in. After I tied into my rope I did a couple last minute stretches for my hands and forearms. Time was called for the climber than were climbing and transition was started. I handed my card to the route judge checked over my knot and the belayer. It was now my time to climb. I looked over the route one more time, mostly looking at the finishing moves. I flew through the first 4 draws. I got to a hold that wasnt quite an undercling but used it for my rest. During my rest I looked over the rest of the route. Figuring out the finishing moves of the route. I made it to the top and was very happy because I knew it would go pretty well on my second climb. I headed over to my second chair, where I waited and stretched my arms out. I knew this route would be tougher on the forearms because of the type of holds and the pitch of the wall. It's my turn to climb. I look over the route one last time and give it a go. The beginning was fairly easy we on move that was a little unbalanced. I made it through the parts that I thought I would have trouble with. I then found the rest just past the early crux, I took a break and looked over the finishing moves on the route. My arms were getting pumped, while the rest helped, I was still realitivly tired. I started up the route again and found another quick rest before getting into the steepest part of the wall. After each move my arms became increasingly tired. About 10 from the finish it, I had given my all and gave one final push to the next hold. It was a better hold than the one I was currently holding. I wrapped my fingers around it and some how held on. I was than able to push another 3 feet closer to the finish. I had gotten the high point I could tell just by the noise of the crowd. I came down attempted to untie my knot, needed alittle help. Went to go find my coach and talk to him and see how I did. He told me I had the high point from what he saw with the other two climbers ahead me. I was really excited yet nervous because there were still 8 climbers that needed to climb. I sat watch nervously. Assuming ever one had finished the first route. After watching everyone climb the second route I had figured I was sitting in about 8th place. I was sitting high enough where I would not be first to go out for finals. I was super excited. Because last time I had gone to divisionals I didn't make finals. Speed climbing was just getting started. I did my runs and my first climb I finished with a time of 21flat. My second climb I fell not to far from the start. We eases back for the hotel knowing that they would post the results of speed later. The next morning I was up and ready to go before ISO was even being unlocked to set up. We head over to the gym alittle bit after ISO was open. We checked in and found out that the FYB would also be climbing the same route as the FYA.  So when we found out changed our game plan and goofed around till they were half through the FYB  running order. I started warming up and thinking about the route and the type of holds that were on the route. I did some handing excersizes on slopers, crimps and pinches. After I finished the hangs, I went and did some stretches and some tuck jumps. I finished stretching and did leg warm ups. By the time I was finished warming up my name was being called to check in to the chair. I was sitting in the chair tiring into my rope getting ready for the climb. I was nervous all through ISO and now I'm really excited and I started scanning the crowd. Just to see what was going on. There were already 4 climbers in my division that went ahead of me. My turn to climb and I look at the route again. I only have 40 seconds to look it over which it plenty of time to do so. I climbed through the first 10 feet telling my self this is easy. I made it to the 6th draw and clipped it. It was a little bit of a reach but it helped me out. I made the clip and took a quick rest so I would not get tired out like I did on the second qualifier route. The volume had three foot chips screwed in to it. The next was rather easy. I held on and got my foot up high. I stood up for the next holding on. I tryed to move my feet up but popped off the hold. I came down and went to go find my coach. He was standing next to one of the regional coordinators. Tom had told me it was the high point so far.  I sat and watched nervously. Knowing it would be close on weather or not I would go to nationals. All of the girl in my division finished and I knew I was at least 8th place. There was one girl I could not remember where she got on the route. We waited and waited and they started speed climbing but still did not post sport climbing results. Finally headed out te door to post results while much of the people we distracted by speed climbing. I followed them out and saw that I had placed 7th with a 2 hold lead on the 8th place person that was more than enough room for me to secure 7th place. I was really excited. My coach saw it and gave me a hug. We worked so hard between regionals and divisionals and its paying off. I didn't know what really to think at the time but I was shocked and extremely happy I made nationals. Mrs. Fields asked before results were posted if I thought I had made it and I told her it would be really close and of I did make it, it would be my first time going to nationals. She stopped by where they had posted results and asked and I told her I made it and she gave the biggest hug ever. She was really excited for me that I made nationals. All I had left to do was do my two climbs for speed. I was placed 9th after qualifiers for speed climbing. Which really surprised me. I warmed up and checked in. I waited till it was FYA's turn to go and I was going in the second group. My first climb I fell about 4 holds up, which was ok. My second climb I took my time in the beginning and them after the 4th hold I ran to the top. Since I took my time early I finished with a time of 21.95. Only a second slower than the day before. I was happy with my times because I'm not much of a speed climber. I was done and I packed my stuff up and put it in the truck. Texted everyone I knew that knew I was climbing that weekend what happened and that I was going to nationals. They did awards and started at the Youth-D division so it was going to be alittle bit before Youth-A was called. Our turn, I got my ribbon and my invite and had the biggest smile ever. Now it was time to show what I have at nationals.

All of the pictures of me climbing, of my ribbon and invite, almost with results are posted and loaded to my Facebook and Flickr accounts. All of the videos of my sport climbs and speed climbs are loaded to both my Facebook and YouTube accounts. Also a really big thanks to FiveTen who helped me out this year alot and helping me reach my goals. Also thanks to all my other sponsors such as So iLL, KASK Helmets and ClimbTech

  

2013 SCS Regional Championships

This past weekend was SCS Midwest Regional Championship. It took place at Ibex climbing gym just outside Kansas City. The format was a little different than what we normally do at Regionals but it was fun. I was able to watch other team mates climb their routes. The format was a flash format which meant we could watch other competitors climb out routes and see how they work out the moves. Since it was a flash format you didn't have to do your routes in order. I climbed route #2 first then route #1 30 minutes later. I did pretty well on my first climb. I was really happy with how I did. I got to a spot that had slight power off a slopy foot chip. I made it through the rest of the route fine and found a really good rest spot. I knew how to do the move and I went to go attempt the move and got my hand on the hold but my foot popped off the sloper. I was really happy with how I attempted the route because the route was about a 5.11-. I had a 30 min break between routes which was nice because I could watch the others climbers climb the route. The route looked to be about a 5.10- which made it really nice because I would be able to do the route all the way through without any problem. It was my turn to climb and I made it to the fifth draw and found a rest that I took advantage of for about 2 minutes. I made to the top of the route just fine. I did the finishing move completely different from everyone else who climbed it. I knew it would be really close for me making it to finals before the girls that made it as for as I did may have gotten one more hold or one less hold. After I finsihed my second climb, I took a break to let my body cool down a little and let my muscles relax before speed climbing. About 30 minutes later I went back up to the warm up area and worked on power moves to help me out with speed climbing. I did intervals of power moves switching hands and making each move just alittle bit longer than the last one. The morning speed climbers were called and lined up in the order in which you were climbing. I was about 5 in the Female Youth-A line which meant I could see half of the people do their climbs. I was my turn and I was a little nervous because I am a very techinical climber. I did my two climbs and had a slowest time of 11.7 and fastest of 11.2. I was really shocked on how fast I did the climbs. When I finished my climbs I put my gear away and started watching the climbers in the afternoon session. We had Jack, who is a Youth-C and Michael A, who is a Youth-B. I was able to see Jack climb his first route but not Michael due to the speed climbing. Jack was clibming really good but he was making some of the moves too fast. Since he made a few moves to fast he was unable to hold on the hold and have good feet. He did really good and made it to finals. Michael did really well too. I missed going to finals literally by one hold. I go to the same spot as every one else did and clipped the same number of draws as 8th-10th place did. I was short by one hold. I was still really happy with how I did becuase I havent climbed a 5.11 lead in a little while. Jack made finals and he did really well because he took his time and didnt rush any move he just read the route wrong. He took 10th place in finals.  I placed 11th and Michael took 14th. I ended up taking 7th in speed climbing and getting an invite to Divisionals in Indy at Hoosier Heights. All of the photos and vidoes are posted to Facebook, Flickr and YouTube. The vidoes are really cool especially the routes I had to climb.

SCS Competitions

On April 7 we went down to Homewood, IL for the local SCS event. The gym was packed and they had their largest group if competitors ever. I was excited because I had a great turn out at the competition in St. Louis. The routes at Climb On are usually pretty pumpy because they are a shorter wall which makes it a little difficult to determine the grade of their route before you get on it. I got on a lower point route which was pretty easy so I jumped on something a little bit harder. I had a pretty good day of climbing. Some of the routes were a lot of power moves. That made it harder for me to finish them but most of them I was able to complete. I had a really good  day of climbing and in the end I felt like I placed about 8th. Results came through and I had place 7th out of 13 girls. I was pretty happy with that because I felt really good about how I was climbing all day and the routes were hard. About a week later I got a call from Ben at White Mountain School and Climbing Camp. I had placed in the Top Ten for the nominations and had a chance to attend their school this summer. My parents and I called Ben and got more information on what needed to be done in order for me to attend this camp. We completed all the information and finished writing my essay that was needed. This camp is to help young climbers who want to become proficient in climbing and learn new techniques and training tips, along with how to climb outdoors. Learn how to set anchors, multi pitch climbing and a lot moe. It sounds like a lot of fun to go to and I can't wait to attend.

April 27, was the SCS Event at Boulders Climbing Gym in Madison. We went up in the morning for the SCS Event. I didn't climb it because I was going to do there Open House Comp. I helped coach the younger climbers and help them get pumped and ready to climb. During the comp I was taking photos and coaching Lexi. She was in a slump because she was having a rough time getting in the mood of climbing. Once we got in the grove she was knocking routes of the list and going for the harder routes like hey were nothing. During the morning comp I filled a 8 gig memory card with a little over 1100 photos and two 3 min videos. Results for that comp were Lexi 8th place out of 13 girls. Jack L. 4th out of 11 boys. Jordan K. took 5th out of 10 boys. The afternoon comp was the Rock Candy Land comp. It was there open house competition which had all the same routes. Being there in the morning didn't give me any advantage because most of the other climbers in the afternoon were there coaching or were parents of climbers in the morning. I was competing in the open division.  During my warm up I could tell today was going to be a good day because I was not sore and my forearm was not tight at all. I was competing in their hardest division (open) I warmed on what I believe was about a 5.9+ top route. I then warmed up lead on a 5.10-.  It was a really nice warm up because the moves were a little longer but not so long that it was hard to make them. I then went on the flash the next 8 routes that I attempted. The three routes I was unable to complete were their harder routes in the gym. I was feeling pretty good about where my points were so I stopped climbing about 15 minutes before time was called but continued to belay so I would stay warm. I waited for results to be calculated by looking at some of the harder routes that I was going to attempted but voted against to save my self for finals. When they announced results, I was sitting in 2nd Place with 5400 points. The women sitting in first had 5475 points. I was really shocked how close the scores were. I was able to have my own belayer which was nice because I felt it pushed me a little further. I was going second for the girls. But they did their finals a little different then I have seen. They took the 4th Place male (a third place tie) and let him attempt his final route. They then took the 3rd place women and let her try, etc. I did my route and we were told the being part was about a 5.9 and maxed at a 5.12c. The beginning was really easy then when u clipped your first draw was when it got harder. I took a break in a really nice jug that really helped me get my arms back so I was able to climb the rest of the route. i had a little trouble with a move because it was a longer lunge with no feet behind me to get  over there. i got the hold and clip my next draw and looked at the next few holds and notice that it was going to start getting a little difficult. I made it to through the next 4 draws and then made a move to a pinch and my left forearm just gave out. I came down and into the crowd and every one was congratulating me. The women in first went and she made it to the first draw and that was it. I had just won first place in open and I was in such shock I couldn't really believe it. There were two really cool prizes that the first place winners got to choice from. Andrew Nimmer  choice the GriGri 2 so that left the new Petzl Spirit Quickdraws. During the two comps I took more than 1500 photos with 5 videos. All of them are posted to Facebook, Flickr and YouTube. Check them out because their are a ton of really neat pic. Also be sure to check out the video of the final route that I climbed.

Next weekend is 2013 SCS Midwest Regionals. I can't wait because I'm having such a great year and I feel this year is going to e the year. I'm super excited! This year I will be competing in both Sport climbing and Speed Climbing. Mainly focusing on Sport Climbing. I'm not totally ready for speed but its all good. This year is a trial run to see how things go. I cant want for Regionals. Be sure to watch for a new post after Regionals and a ton of new pictures.

No Holds Barred (warrenville) And Plastic Crushin (St. Louis)

It Saturday the 23rd, we headed to Vertical Endeavors in Warrenville, IL. We got there about 12:30  and started climbing around 1 pm. Everyone was belayed tested and climbing on their own by 2. I started by warming up on a 5.8 lead. The last time I was at V.E. they had a separate set of quickdraws at the top of the line. They did not have another set of quickdraws at the top of the route. This caused everyone who was lead climbing in out group to clip the last draw before the finish. The reason there were no top anchors was so that you have to pull the top rope down and then climb using that rope. I was a safety precautions so that no one would be trying to climb the same line as you. After I completed my warm up, I jumped on a 5.10c. This route was one of their longer routes because it went through the arch. This was there easiest route that they had in the arch way. The 5.11 that was there was most a roof until about 30 feet when it started to go back up the arch way. My second route I did was a 5.11a  that went up the crack that they had. Half of the route was a lean back in the crack while the other half was a lean back on holds. I made it about three fourths the way up the route and then got a little lost on where the route went. The route was kind of run out with longer power moves. I took a break and stretched my arms out and figure out the last few moves of the route. I finished the route, at least what I could do. I jumped on a another 5.10c. This was rather easy for its length and the types of moves that it had. One move you had a hold around the corner of this natural and your next hold about 3 feet of the left of where you were. It was pretty fun. We went to lunch and after lunch I got on a 5.6 for a new warm up. I then got on a 5.10d; the moves in the route really weren't all that hard. The last few moves before the finish was what made it the 5.10 it was. I go on a few more 5.10-5.11 routes lead then started climbing 5.12-5.13s top rope. Saturday March 2, there was a competition at VE in Warrenville. This was my first climbing comp that I'm competiting in the open division. It was a little nerve racking because the whole team was competiting in this comp. So I didn't have a coach there to help through the whole thing. It was the first time that had happened and I just worked with it and talked with other competitors about the how the comp was going. I did one of the easier routes as a warm up which I flashed. I felt really good about how I was climbing. One of the routes was a lead route which was a lot of fun. The route started on the isotope and went up into the roof section for the wall. The route was about a 5.11b or c; I made it to the last draw before the finish and was super pumped out and then fell making a move to a round sloper. I finished in 6th place.

Saturday, March 9th we head to St. Louis' Upper Limits for the first SCS Event of the year. There was about 150 competitors, four teams and Team Climb This. We were the farthest traveled. We were a team of three for this comp. They had routes for the new climbers and routes for kids who have been climbing a long time. We started climbing and a really easy route just to get the rope climbing warm up in. Then I jumped in a 5.9 that was really easy for me and got on a 5.10- lead route. I got on some routes that were about 5.12 and made it about 3/4 the way up the route and fell. One route was rather easy and I made it to where every one was getting stuck and was making a move up and then my hand hold spun causing me to lose balance and fall. They went up and fixed the hold and I got a second chance at it. I went up the second time and went through it rather easy and got to the same spot and my arms were pumped and I moved up and my foot popped off. I wasn't worried because I had a lot of high point routes and already. Now there was 45 minutes left of climbing and I was reaching the end if my day. I jumped on some routes that got ride of the lower point routes. I was able to get three of my lower point routes crossed off with higher point routes. I was on a route that was worth 3500 points and they called 5 minutes. I was able to finish the route with two minutes left and my brother was on a route I needed just to get rid of one more set of points. The other route that I could have gotten on had like 10 people still in line. My brother finished the route and I let Michael go, new team member, I let him get on the route so he could get some points. Time was called and I was very happy with how I did t this weekend because I didn't call on to many route and of I did I was able to finish them on my second try. I finished with a little over 12,000 points. I was happy I was thinking about 3 or 4th place. Awards came around they announced that first place for Female-Youth-A had a little over 14,000 points. I was think about 4th. And they announced 2nd and I got second place. I was about 6,000 points ahead of the 3rd place. I'm really happy with how I did and that was my first time I placed second in a SCS Event. All the pictures and videos are loaded to Facebook, Flickr and YouTube. Check them out their are a ton of awesome pics from the comp and from our warm up before the comp.

Quick on the Draw-2013

January 26 the team headed up to Adventure Rock for the in house competition. I was competing in advance  while most of the team was competing in intermediate. I started off by getting a warm up of different types of holds. I was going to be a different day because I had just recently cut my finger while climbing a few days before, so I was missing the pad of my finger. After my warm up they went over rules then the climbing started. I warmed up on one of the lower point routes. I then started to work my way up in points. The first route I did was about a 5.10. The holds that were on the route had small pinches sticking off the holds. I finished the route but it was a little difficult. One of my lead routes was about a 5.12 and I was able to make it to the second draw and fell. This route was just a bunch of huge pinches and some of them are so big they are hard to grab.  My other lead route had purple crimps on it. I t was relatively easy but when I had to make a drop knee move and lean back in to a hold I was unable to grab the route due to the cut on my finger. The bouldering problems that I had to do were a lot of fun. One of them you had to go under the bridge part of the wall and up the back side. It was a really cool route because in order to do the move you had to heel hock the hold that you are still holding on to. The back side of the route did not get any easier, the holds became big slopers and a couple small crimps. I completed 3 of my 7 routes and 3 of my 5 boulder problems. The wait for the bouldering problems was really long so i wasted a lot of time that I could have used to get a second chance on routes that I did not finish. I finished my last attempt on a boulder problem and had 30 secs to get on the wall. Since I left the easiest route for last that is where I went because every one else in that division had already completed this route. I was on the wall when there was 3 seconds left on the clock. I got to finish my attempt on that route. I took my time making sure that I was not rushing any moves that may cost me my attempt on that route. As I got closer to the top to more excited I got because I knew I was going to be able to finish this route with ease. When I was done I headed out to the truck to put extra gear away and waited for results to be posted. I was really happy with how I did because I had cut my finger pad off just days before. When I saw that I took 15th I was pretty happy with that because I had just started climbing back to normal again. In between the morning session and the afternoon session I went and got food. During the afternoon session I was taking photos of kids that are on the team that were climbing. When they were not climbing I was watching the people in Open climb their route. It was super cool to watch how they climb and how hard their routes are. When the afternoon was over we waited for results to be posted and for them to announce what time finals would actually be taking place. We stayed to watch all the finals along with taking videos of each climber that was in finals. We did not stick on for awards because we were too tired and wanted to get home before everyone started to leave.

That Monday we headed back up to Adventure Rock to give another shot at the routes that I was unable to finish. I attempted the Women Advanced final route and made it to the same sport as three of the competitors did. I was really happy with how I did Monday because I completed some routes that I did not finish or have the option to attempt. All videos and photos from the competition including the final videos are all loaded to Facebook, Flickr, and YouTube. Check them out because there are a lot of really neat photos of the routes that I had to do.

Climbing trips to Hoosier Heights and ARock

This weekend was pretty fun. We needed to head to Indy because we're getting a new dog  and went to go pick him out of the litter. Before we went to pick him out we stopped at Hoosier Heights in Indy for about 5 hours. We did our lead tests which was fun because we could go to the top and not clip the top anchors and just fall from there. It was pretty cool because I have never really done that before. After that we headed to a 5.9 which was near by. It was a little tricky at the top. You would want to do this move by bumping holds but if you did you would lose your footing. You were leaning to the right with your feet to the way left of the route. It was a little tricky but if you got a really high left foot you would be able to bump to the next rather easily.  Once  I got warmed up I started looking for some higher 5.10s. I found four that look like they would be really nice routes. The first one I did was a 5.10b and the hold that were on the route were mainly crimps. I onsighted the route and that got me really excited because I haven't done a 5.10 in some time so that really helped me out a lot for the following routes. I started working on routes from 5.10c-5.11b. I did about three 5.10d which were a little harder and one of them I had to take because I was confused on the where the route went and how to even make the next move. I tried an 5.11a but got about half way and could not figure out have to do the the next two moves. So I came down and tried an 5.11c on top rope. I did a lot more lead climbing and top ropes of 5.10d or higher. After I was done rope climbing I took a 5 min break and then went and tried climbing the Snake. The Snake was a bouldering tower that hung over an eight foot deep foam pit and was about 20 feet tall. It was pretty cool and it didn't matter how high you wanted to go. I tried it about five times and got to the same spot every time. The first time you go on it and you are ready to come down it a creepy feeling because you laying backwards in the over hang and don't want to land on your back. I ended up letting my feet hang then swinging so that I would land on my side. After we were done climbing we headed to a restaurant to get food then headed out to home of our new puppy that we were picking out of the litter. We are getting an Alaskan Malamute/Grey Wolf mix. The puppies are only 4 weeks old so we have to wait a couple weeks but I cant wait because the puppy we picked out looks pretty close to the my Malamute that we have now when he was a puppy. Monday, New Years Eve, we headed back home to rest up for a few hours before I had to go to work at 6:30. I was working in the X-Arcade at the local Y. It was my first time working and there and it went pretty well. I was a little busy but I was not surprised because last year I helped out in the Rockwall and we ran about 250 people through there in three hours. I was fun because when I slowed down a little bit I was able to play some games with the kids that were in there alone. At 9:50 pm they started there simulated countdown in the gym. Kids got candy, party hats and little buzz whistles. At 10 o'clock they let out balloons and started playing new year songs. After work I headed home with some friends and had a movie night until 1:45 am because then no one would get any tickets for parking on the wrong side of the street. New Years Day I worked on my math homework and relaxing because we were heading up to Adventure Rock around 1. When we got there I did 2 top rope warm up routes and 3 lead warms up. After that I headed over to a 5.10+ and finished it in one fall. Which made me really happy because the first 5 draws are straight power moves and were longer moves. After I did that one I tried another 5.10 but I was more in the over hang part of the gym, I finished it in 4 falls. I took a little break and got ready to try a 5.11+. It took a couple tries to do the first move but once I got it I made it to the fourth draw with out falling and then was to pumped to do anything else on the route. After I did that route I went and grab the Tread Wall cord and did that for about 30 minutes. I did a slow warm up on it and the kicked the speed up and put the incline at 15% and used just the pinches and crimps that were there for about 10 minutes and climbed about 300 feet. The next ten minutes I used just two finger pockets at the same incline but slowed to speed down and climbed 250 feet. My third set I did one of the programs which was graded at a 5.13 using just the jugs. I made it two thirds the way on the program  which was at 20% incline. I was pretty happy with how I did for the day. At the end of the month there is going to be a competition at Adventure Rock called Quick on the Draw and I am getting ready for this competition. About two weeks after Quick on the Draw starts my SCS Season which I cant wait to start because I am climbing a lot better this year than last year around this time. All the videos and photos are loaded to Facebook, YouTube and Flickr check them out there are a lot of really need photos of this weekend.