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.

ABS Midwest Regional Championships

About a week before Regional Championships I spent about 6 hours at Adventure Rock training and working on things that I needed to continue working on. I spent about 2 hours bouldering working on problems that started around V4 up to a V7. I warmed up on a couple V3s then started working more on V5s or higher. I was able to complete a few V6s which I am very happy with. I felt pretty good about bouldering so I decided to take a break from bouldering for the day and go lead climbing. Top rope climbing  I did pretty good but my hands were tired and didn't have a lot of strength left. By the time I wanted to project a route that I have already been projecting my hands were really tired and that made the route harder. Lead climbing I was doing laps on a 5.9- which helped a lot for Regionals because I built up my endurance and was ready for some of the long power routes that might be there. There is one route in the over hang that was giving me some difficultly because there are a few spots that are long power moves. I took about 10 falls on the route and then moved on because I was not progressing any further. I then started working on routes that really made me work on feet placement. Saturday, December 8, was the big event that I had been waiting for. I got up around 6 am to start to wake up and eat and have time to get the the gym before isolation started. This is my first time doing the Bouldering Season and wasn't sure what to expect. During isolation I had about 2.5 hours in there so I started stretching and warming up with an hour left before I had to leave. For my routes I felt pretty good because I onsighted my first route then got about half way doing the next two routes. My second route was pretty cool because you have to go up and over. then convert in to a bat man move than touch the finishing holds with two hands while being in the batman. My third route was kinda hard for me because it was a lot of power moves that were really long and on an over hang. I did pretty good with this route making it to the seventh hold. I was really happy with how I did for it being my first big bouldering comp. I was hoping to make finals, but at the same time it wouldn't upset me if I didn't. I did the best I could and that's all that matter to me. When results came out I saw that I took 10th place and I was excited because I was making finals. I had about two hours to sit around and relax and get ready for finals. I got all my stuff together and headed back to the gym to check in for finals. In isolation I was second in the running order so I had to warm up and be ready to climb in an hour. I was all ready and then my name was called. I packed up my stuff and headed out to my first chair. I had a 4 minute rest period where I had more time to get ready. My first route looked pretty good during my preview. When I did the route I realized I was tired from the routes I did during qualifiers. My second route looked really easy because the holds were jugs and big. My route was also in the over hang part of the cave which made the holds not so great. I made it about half up the route which made me really happy because each time I tried it I would made it to the same spot. My third route was all slopers and I'm not to great with slopers and made it to about the fourth move. I was happy with how I did for the day because bouldering is not my strong suit. Over all I took 10th place and I was fine with that because it was first bouldering competition. I start training for sport season once I get back in to town. I have been doing a little bit of training before regionals but I can really kick sport climbing training in to high gear. I set a goal for my self in November to be at the grades for Open Nationals lead. Right now I am climbing 5.10s lead and 5.11s top rope. I'm pretty happy with that considering I have done a lot of bouldering training. My SCS season start in March but a competition that helps me know where I am before my season is Quick on the Draw. As of right now I will be competing in Advanced but if I keep training and increasing grades like I am I might move to Open.  All the photos and videos of ABS Regionals are loaded to Facebook, Flickr and YouTube

Tournament Climbing

This past week has been a lot of fun. Wednesday we found out that we are starting a climbing tournament at the Y. We have a total of 10 routes that are currently apart of the tournament. We can get points for either top roping the route, top rope while lead clipping and sport climbing. I have completed two routes with full points in all three categories. I have finished 8 of 10 top rope/ lead and just top rope. The two routes I have not finished yet are routes that I about 2 weeks ago to challenge me and help me get better at certain things. I am the only one to complete the black route that is graded to be a low 5.13 both top rope and top rope/lead. I am liking that we started the tournament because it is really helping me keep pushing on routes that I have a hard time completing and doing. There are new routes that get set about every 3 or 4 days so that there is always something new to work on. I do more lead climbing and practice falls so I can continue working in to leading climbing. Saturday, November 10, we were at Adventure Rock and they have a few new routes in the lead climbing wall that are 5.10s, 5.9s. The 5.9 I am working on doing about 3 or 4 laps on it. There is also a 5.11+ that I have been working on for the past couple weeks. I have done the route all the way up to the last 4 moves with just one fall. After that spot I have trouble because you have to transfer your weight to the left when your right. Then match and go up with a hand crossing move that is fairly easy to the finish. I can do that set on about my third of forth attempt. I'm pretty happy with how that route is going because each week I try it I do it in less amount of attempts. Sunday I work on one route to see if I could finish it by the end  of the night or at least get the finishing move because it is long and awkward. By the end of the day I was in the lead by only 100 but I had only finished a total of 3 routes at the time and the other kid had finished all by the one I was working on just top rope and top rope/lead. So all he can do is sport climb the routes. Monday I am in and flashed the Black route (the one I was working on Sunday) so got my points for that route for both top rope and top rope/lead. Now I am leading the tournament by 10,000 points with a lot more to come by the end of the week. I am now doing a new training program for lead climbing. I training on short and long route, crimpy and sloper routes. I am also doing a lot of technique training to help with my forearm strength and endurance. I started by taking a few days off because my body start to reject the training. I just finished my first quarter in school and I completed my three classes all with A's. The score I received on my chemistry final was 112% so that put my final grade to 108% for quarter 1. All photos and videos from the past week has been uploaded to Facebook, Flickr and YouTube. Thanks to all the support from my sponsors FiveTen, KASK Helmets, Powerbar and So ILL Holds.