2014 USA Climbing SCS Youth Nationals

July 10-13 was SCS Nationals in Atlanta at Stone Summit Climbing Gym. We left July 8th so we could get there and have plenty of time to rest. The first two days were qualifying days with flash format. This allowed me to view the route prior to my climb and watch others in my category. My first route didn't look too bad till around the 10th draw. That's where the wall started to lean back towards vertical and the holds started to become crimps. I don't know what my second route will be until the second day. I was the 27th climber out of 40 so I had a long time before I should even start warming up. I watched some climbers climb the route and most of them went through with ease till the middle of the pack. I was watching what some of the girls did and comparing it to the girls that were able to finish. This helped me figure out what I needed to do in order to increase I'm standing. By the time I started warming up at least 10 girls completed the route so I knew what I had to do in order to have a good chance to make it semi-finals. I finished my warm just as I was called to report to my check in chair. I get to my chair and I put my shoes back on and watch the girl ahead of me climb the route. When I started my route I felt really good because I knew most of the holds were jugs or pockets. I went through the first four draws with ease. Got a little tricked up but figured out what I was supposed to do. I worked through it and moved on. I worked a sequence that seem a little sketchy to me because of where my rope was during the sequence. Shortly after that sequence i was unable to make one of the move and fell trying to reach the next hold. I was not as high as I would have liked to be but I was still happy because I gave it my all. My day wasn't over yet, both me and my brother had to compete in speed climbing. My brother went off around 4:30 and I didn't go till 7. Speed climbing is rather difficult for me so I don't except much. I still tried to give it my all and ended up slipping in both routes. We went back to the hotel and start thinking about what I could do tomorrow in order to increase my standings. The next morning I get there and go find out what route is mine so I know how I'm going to warm up. My route for the second day is in the roof. I have not trained too much on roof routes because none of the gyms around have true roof routes. I went back to the warm-up area and started warming up and easy holds first then moving to harder overhanging routes. I was the 7th climber of 40 today so I didn't have much time between the first climber and my check in time. I again warmed up until I was called to check in and watched the person ahead of me attempt the route. I looked over my route one more time and then gave it a go. The first four draws again really easy moves nothing too dramatic. But the roof section turned into a little bit of a challenge for me. I was feeling good when I first got into the resection and then encountered a move that was rather awkward for me. I tried my best to make it work and get out of the sequence but was unable to move past it. I was happy with how I did considering I am unable to train on roof routes. I ended up taking 34th out of 40 which was better than the previous year. I am happy because I am also a first-year Junior so I am one of the youngest climbers in my category. I am really happy with how I did this year and can't wait for the next season to start. I would like to say thanks to all my sponsors FiveTen, Bluewater Ropes, KASK Helmets, and Rock Candy Climbing Holds. All of my pictures and videos from nationals will be posted on Facebook, YouTube and on Flickr.

2014 SCS Divisionals at Peak Experiences in VA

June 14-15 was SCS Divisionals which were located in Richmond, VA at Peak Experiences. Saturday June 14 was qualifiers and Sunday was finals. I checked in for morning session and I was the last climber to go out in my category. I went into isolation and sat down and started playing a card game just to pass the time of check in. After check in finished they started rules and started lining us up for route preview. The female juniors were the first to line up and had the furhterest to go. Our first route looked pretty easy till the last draw where there was a slight power move that could possibly throw you off balance. The second route looked like a lot of fun because it was filled to pinches and lean backs. We headed back to isolation and everyone started climbing and getting ready. I started stretching and warming the muscles up before I started bouldering. I put my shoes in and found the easiest part of the wall and did warm up circles on it. I did circles for a few minutes then went back to stretching. Afterwards I jumped in the line that was going around the bouldering cave. It was about 15 minutes to my check in time so I started stretching once more. It was my time to check in and I gathered all of my things and made sure I had enough water to last me through the routes. My first route looked to be about a 5.10b which would be a nice warm up. I turned around and looked over my route one last time and gave it a go. The starting feet were some of the worst feet I have had on a route at a big event like such. I made it to the thrid hold after the start and my feet slipped. I was really upset with how I did on the route. So I was going to make sure I held on the holds on my second route. I took my rest time and thought about the second routes to as much as I could remember. I also kept stretching my arms and keeping my hands warm. My second route I knew I was confident on because the feet were the small pinches that go with the set. I looked my second route over one more time and started climbing. It was much easier to star which took some pressure off my shoulders. I did really good on this considering there were a few moves that forced me to used back-to-back-to-back power. I worked through the power moves and made it to my 4th draw. The hold right next to the 4th draw was a sloping pinch that was really difficult to hold. I held on as long as I could but was unable to clip or move off that hold. I was upset with how I climbed because I felt I could have done better but I kept telling myself I just need to prove myself during finals. I was also competing in speed climbing just as a fun thing to help with my power. I wasn't sure how I would do in speed climbing because I'm not very fast. I posted times around 9.5 seconds which put me on 6th. Sunday June 15 was finals. I was the first climber to go out for my category. I checked into isolation right away so I would be ready to go by the time we lined up for route preview. I started warming up and stretching and telling myself today is it no second chances. I was warming up and next thing I knew it was time to line up for route preview. I had my coach put my stickers on my back of my sponsors. We went out and looked at the route and the start looked really easy. The move between the first and second draw looked to be a bit sketchy. After the second draw it didn't seem to difficult till around the 5 draw where you worked your way back out of the overhang. The finishing moves were giving me a hard time so I figured when I got there I would do what felt natural for that sequence. Our time was up for route preview so I headed to my chair to tie in and put my shoes on. I was ready to climb but we had to wait till everyone was ready for their climbs. I turned around looked over the route on last time and started climbing. The start of the route was easy till I got to this move that was a cross under with one hand. I ended up using my knee to help me because I could not get my foot on the hold to help me up. I clipped my second draw and I felt a ton better because I had a draw clipped higher than 8 feet. I found a rest spot next to my second draw so while I was there I continued to look my route over. I continued on up the route and clip my third draw and tried to move up and my hand slipped off the hold. I continued to watch the rest of the girls and some of the fell before clipping their second draw and ended up falling and flipping upside down. I knew after watching all of the girls in my category climb I was in at least  7th place. I later found out that one of the girls was scored the same as me but the broke due to yesterday's results. We waited for speed climbing check in to open up but that took another 3 hours so we sat around and did nothing. There were only 7 girls climbing in speed so we again all made finals. It finally came time to line up for finals and we were all tired for the day by the time it came around. I did my two runs the first one was around 9 seconds and the second run around 9.5 seconds. I was happy with those times considering I hardly ever train for speed climbing. Check out my photos on Flickr and youtube channel. Also thanks to all my sponsors

2014 Regional Championships in St. Louis

May 10 was 2014 Regional Championships at West County Upper Limits in St. Louis. Regionals has the same set up as the YOLO competition in Iowa except I now climbed in the afternoon. I checked in around 10:45 and went in to isolation. There I did some stretching cause no one was in isolation just yet. Everyone checked into isolation and we went out for route previews. Our first route didn't look to difficult other than one spot that we figured was the crux of the route. My second route looked like it was tricky. By tricky I mean the setter put in moves that made you think about what you were doing. The thrid route everyone was thinking that this route is going to be the fourth draw that was the crux and right after the crux was another hard sequence. We went back to isolation  and I started warming up cause I only had an hour or so before it was my turn to check in for my chair. My first route was all pockets till about the fourth draw then it turned in to the huge pinches. I got a little tripped up there but I worked it out and continued up the route. I made it out of the crux and worked about three moves past it and got pumped the instant I touched the next hold which was a sloper. I kept working past it until my left arm cramped up as I was making my way to the next hold causing me to fall. I was alittle bummed with the fact I was so close to the finish of the route. I worked the cramp out of my arm during my rest time and kept pushing through it making the best of it. My second route was a little tricky. The start was super easy but it could difficult very fast. Right after you clipped your second draw you moved in to a traversing under cling. You moved to a crimpy hold after getting out of the under cling. That was as far as I made it because I got alittle tripped up at the under cling moved but I gave it it my all. My arm was feeling a ton better by the time I got to my third route. My third route was definitely the most difficult of the three. It stared with a few pinches with little feet so it created a lean back. After the lean back the route turned into sloping crimps which were really bad. You followed those up about two draws. Right after you clipped a draw you were given the worst crimp they could find to move up to two small foot chips. I moved up to the first foot chip and then tried to move up to the second foot chip. I touched it and slipped right off of it, the same way everyone else did. I was pretty happy with how I did on my first and  third routes. My second route was excepting to go much further on that route but still happy that I made it where I did. I packed up and we waited for the female youth-C to finish. They had about 25 girls in that division. They finished and we started speed climbing. The juniors were the last to climb so we had a bit if a break. There were only 5 speed climber in my division. I did my climb against Maddie Rafkin and did a climb time of 16 and 13 seconds. I ended up taking 2nd behind Maddie by 3 seconds. In sport climbing I took 7th place behind 6th by .5 points. Overall I am happy with how I did at Regionals and got an invite to Divisionals for both sport and speed climbing.

The following day the team headed to So iLL Climbing Gym. The gym opened around 10 so we got up and tried to find breakfast but realized that it was Mother's Day and everything was really busy. We got there and found out that our waivers were still good and all we had to do was a lead belay test for my brother and our new coach. They passed their lead test and we started climbing. We finished warming up and started jumping on some routes that were harder in grades to continue to train. We got on a 5.10c that was super easy. I was really excepting something different from the route, mostly something harder. After everyone else jumped on it we got on a 5.11a which was a ton of fun. All of the routes I was getting were about 60feet tall. After we finished that route and moved on to a 5.11d. This route was a ton of fun and I was super pumped when I finished it but so relieved to onsight all the routes. My mom came back with food and more water so we took a break for about 10 minutes. During our break I did some stretching to keep my back loose because it was starting to cramp up with the amount of overhangs there were. After the break I jumped on a 5.12c and made it about half way up and got shut down on one move and couldn't move past it cause the only other route around was a 5.13c. I tried the 5.12c a few times in that spot and then came down because I wanted to try the 5.13 before the end of the day. When I came down I stretched and got ready to try the 5.13. My hand were so tired and were starting to get cramp up and become sore. I try the 5.13 and got about 3 draws up the route and got stuck. I was really happy with how I did considering I climbed really hard the day before. After we finished sport climbing we went upstairs and tried to boulder a little bit before we had to leave for back home. I was beat by the time we started bouldering. I started on a V0 then worked my way up to a V4 which was super hard for me to complete. I found this V5 that I really liked alot! It was a ton of fun and had a bunch of really fun movements. I was super happy with how I climbed this weekend and cant wait till we go to divisionals!

I would like to say a big thanks to all of my sponsors! Thank you Rock Candy, BlueWater Ropes, PowerBar, KASK Helmets, Kaisers Pizza and Pub, and FiveTen Climbing. 

2014 YOLO at Climb Iowa

April 26th was Climb Iowa's YOLO Competition. This competition is structured similar to Regional Championships so competitors get a feel for it is going to work at regionals. I climbed in the morning session which was fine with me. I started climbing around 10:30 so I decided to start warming up when we came back from route previews. We went out to look at our routes and the first route didn't look to bad. It looked rather easy, more like a 5.10a. The second route didn't look to bad, getting to the first four draws looked easy because most of the holds were jugs. After the fourth draw the route turned into crimps and slopers. I made to about the fourth draw and got stuck. I tried to reset my hands and move up but I slipped in the process. I didn't make it quiet as far as I thought I would but I was still happy with how I climbed. My third route was definently the hardest route and the start on it was brutal. It was all slopers placed just right so it made it difficult to clip your draws. I made it to almost the fifth draw and that was the second highest of all the girls that completed on that route. I was very happy with how I climbed that route especially since most of the holds were slopers. Now all that was left to do was wait for my brother to finish his climbs. He finished really strong taking 7th out of about 15. I took 3 place out of 8 girls only short .5 points of the girl on second place. I was extremely happy with how did at this competition. 

2014 SCS Local at Boulders in Madison,WI

Saturday April 12 was our first local event of SCS 2014. It was at boulders climbing gym in Madison, WI. The morning was the USA Climbing competitors I competed in the morning comp to receive my points towards regionals. My main focus on the day was the open house competition. The morning I was taking pictures for my brother. I ended up taking almost 40 hundred pictures for the morning competition. The afternoon comp came around and I competed in their hardest category. The easiest route in my category was harder than one of the harder routes that was listed. I ended up bouldering freely, just to complete my warm up. Afterwards I started climbing the harder routes to create points for my self. I found a few routes that really challenged me so I tried them a few times. One of route I was not able to complete due to a movement that through me off balance almost every time I went for the next hold. I figured out about half way through that I was the only female in their hardest division. I continued to attempt routes to increase my score so I could shoot for most points completed. Some of the routes were really hard which gave me a nice challenge. I didnt want to push myself to the very edge because I still had to climb the final and the final looked rather challenging. I pushed through most of the routes and reaching a platue in points and difficulty of route. I started working on bouldering problems because my hands with getting tired and I figured I could get in some power practice in before the finals. Finals came along and the gym ended up taking the top 3 places of the female intermediate for the final. Which was nice because I had someone to climb against. The final route was different they had the training balls on the route as holds which was good but also bad because they moved very easy. Getting to them was easy because the holds on the way there were all jugs. Once you got to the balls the holds after them turned in to like crimps and back to jugs then you finished the route on crimps. It looked like a ton of fun and really wish that my hands would have allowed me to continue on up the route. I was only able to make it 4 draws but getting there was a ton of fun. I ended up taking first because I was the only one in that category and made it just as high as one other girl that climbed the route. They announced placement and allowed the first place person to come up and pick their prize. I ended up getting a set of the training balls that they had on the route so I can continue to train with them. I use them when ever I do my hangboard works outs. A ton of picures and videos were taken from the competition be sure to check them out and stay tuned for a blog coming up here shortly after 2014 SCS Regionals.

A big thanks to all of my sponsors. FiveTen, BlueWater Ropes, Kiasers Pizza&Pub, KASK Helmets and Rock Candy.

2014 Vertical Endeavors

Saturday March 15 was the open house competition at Vertical Endeavors in Warrenville. I was competing in Open this year. I knew all the climbers that were competing in women's open because they were all part of USA Climbing. I was looking at the routes before hand and noticed some of our routes didn't look quite as difficult as the points that were given to them. Everyone started climbing and I went to the lowest point route and gave it a shot. I didn't finish the route and didn't get any points for it because it was a red point format. Red point means you only get points if you complete the route. So I re-thought my plan and started looking at some of the harder routes because they truly looked a little bit easier than what they were saying. I tried a couple of the harder routes and finished one. I started to get alittle bit frustrated with the fact I wasn't completing routes so I started working on boulder problems. The boulder problems were onsight. So you get points for every hold you touched. I got a few points out of the bouldering problems but did not finish any for they were a bit out of my ability. I tried the hardest problem on our list and made it more than halfway up on it. It gave me a boost so I went back and tried some of the other routes. Before I got on my next route I was talking with some of the other girls and they were mentioning how they have only been able to complete one route or just one boulder problems. Hearing them say that made me feel better because it was just me falling in everything. All the girls started working together on trying to complete on of the harder routes and some were really close. It was about 15 minutes before the day was over and most of the women in open had called it a day for qualifications. In the end it came down to who got further on the bouldering problem. I was very happy with how I did because some of the girls that I competed against do better on that type of format and still got shutdown. They announced results and I took 6th place out a 7 girls, only separated by 200 points between all girls. We stayed and watched finals for all categories. The route I would have climbed didn't look at that difficult till about 15 feet from the finish. Every climber made it about the same hold for the most part, so placements didn't really change. It was a really fun day and I was excited to have one of my friends tag along and see how climbing competitions work.

All the photos and videos are posted on my Facebook, Flickr and YouTube accounts. I would like to say a big thanks to FiveTen, BlueWater Ropes, KASK Helmets, Rock Candy Holds and Kiasers Pizza and Pub. 

2014 Quick on the Draw

Saturday, January 25 was the Quick on the Draw at Adventure Rock. I have been training and building up for this day for a little over three months. I have been working on routes that are not my style of climbing or are slightly above my ability. Saturday came around and I took pictures for the categories in the morning. It was my turn to climb and I decided to do the bouldering first so I didnt have to do that when I was tired. I did pretty good considering I knew the grades for them were going to be just a bit out my reach. I finished my bouldering and I was pretty happy with it. I started my climbs and I was really nervous on my first route because I didnt want to take a fall.After my first route I felt better and started to climb like my self. My second route I didnt like the start to it but once I got out of it I got up a little bit further. I was a little nervous about going for the next hold because I was only at my 3rd draw. I went for it anyways and just it and tried to get my second hand to it and my feet popped off. After that I was ok about falling and it didn't bother that much. My third route was a higher point and a long line. I had an idea of how to do the route and where I needed to clip my draws. I gave it a shot and made it to about the 3rd draw and was not able to clip my next draw. Everytime I would try to clip it I would start falling backwards. I tried a few more times to move and and fall in the process. This route was made of rock candy's power dome pinch holds. Those holds are really cool and I love climbing on them. I was more relaxed and was able to build up for the hardest problem. I tried my other routes before it and I was able to get to about the 3rd draw on each. I tried the hardest route and messed up the move going up right before te draw. Since no one seemed to be on the route yet, I decided to try the route right across the way.  This route was made up of carbonyte holds. They are a little sharp but are very tacky. The spot I got Stuck at was moving out of a Gaston move off a small edge hold. The next hold had one sweet spot and if you missed it you weren't holding it. I tried it again and made it three holds further which was nice because I needed to get higher otherwise I wouldn't have a chance at making finals. After I tried the hardest route again and was able to stick the move I previously. I moved past it and up to the third draw and moved up to a small crimp and slipped right off it. Most of the routes were sledges which was ok because I like those holds. I was really happy with how I did because the boulders were a little out of my reach. I managed and worked with how I was feeling and the route. I ended up taking 9th place out of 17 missing finals by 4 spots. I was really happy with how I did.

All of the photos and videos are loaded to Facebook, YouTube, and Flickr. Check them out because there are a ton of really cool pictures from the main comp and from finals. A big shout out for FiveTen Climbing, BlueWater Ropes, Kiasers Pizza and Pub, Rock Candy and KASK Helmets. 

ABS 15 Division 3 Championships- Climb Iowa

January 11 and 12 was divisionals at Climb Iowa. I didn't climb until the afternoon so I had all morning to do pretty much nothing. I so went to the gym and watched the competitors that climbed in the morning. The routes in the morning looked really difficult but only because they were technical. The setting crew was the same crew that was setting at Midwest Regionals. I wasn't climbing till around 4:30 and Iso closed at 1:30 so I still had to be back in Iso for a little more than 3 hours. I checked in around 12:30 because I was getting bored of waiting. Since I had a ton of time, I decided to take a nap and listen to music. The nap part didn't work as well as it could it have because the room was rather little and crowded. After a while my nap wasn't working to well so I started playing cards. We played cards till it about 3 o'clock and I started stretching and warming my body up.  Around 3:30 I started climbing and I warmed up really fast because there was a perfect section of wall with routes or each type of hold. I did a couple of laps on the jugs route just to warm my hands up. After my hands got warm I started working on other types of holds. The only type of holds the didn't have in a route was pinches. There were a few routes that had some pinches in the so I tried to get on them. I climbed about 3-4 routes at a time, then stretch. I continued climbing until they had me check in. It was my time to go to my first chair and sat in the chair listening to music until the judge took my score card.  My first route really wasn't all that hard but I hard time getting the finishing moves. I was able to get just a bit further in the last 15 seconds. I was really happy with how much more i was able to push in the last few seconds. My second route was a lot of fun and really wish I could have figured out the rest in the first minute. The beginning of the route was technical then there was a power move to a jug. The hold really wasn't that far away it was just awkward to get to. I was able to get the the hold but I was unable to get my feet set in order to stick the hold. I was able to hold on the hold and get my feet set but I was not able to move off the hold. My third route was slopers the whole way up. I was able to get the start and the next few moves but i got stuck where the feet started to move up. So I looked at the route for quite some time and realized I need to switch my feet in order to get the next move. I figured the move out then got one hold further after that. I got stuck after getting the move because I was unable to get my feet up where they are needed. I have to say that my last route challenged me the most. The was was all volumes with screw on hold on them. I was hold to get the first volume and try to make a move to the next hold. I was really happy with how I did at Divisionals because bouldering is not my strong suit. The whole time I was climbing, I was just laughing it didn't matter if I fell or not. I was having a ton of fun! I ended up taking 15th but I was fine with that because I know I did my best and had fun doing it.

I would like to say a big thanks to all of my sponsors. FiveTen, Rock Candy Holds, BlueWater Ropes, and KASK Helmets. All of my photos and videos are loaded to Facebook, Flickr and YouTube.