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.