A Great Way To End The Season

After two amazing weeks in Chile, I found myself sitting in class today daydreaming about warm weather. It's funny what a 35.C temperature drop can do to your mind...
 My whole experience in Chile was amazing. From the busy streets of Santiago, to the Pan American Climbing Championships at Mall Sport, to the Atacama Desert in northern Chile; I enjoyed every single minute.

When I stepped out of the stuffy airport just two weeks ago, I was greeted by an incredibly warm blast of air; which was quite a releif after being stuck on a plane for ten hours. Even though I was still groggy from the full day of travel, I wanted to explore the city to its fullest potential. Just after a few hours my first impression of Chile was a good one. Chile was everything that I had be wishing for; Kind people, amazing food and a picture perfect landscape surrounding Santiago.

As for the competition side of the trip, I had the most fun I have had at a competition in a long time. Even though the days were jam packed full of climbing it is always such a great feeling to be in a competition environment. It gets me psyched!!! The competition started of with lead climbing and I climbed both qualifiers on day one. I felt like my first climb went pretty well given that I only fell three holds from the top and my day only go better when I topped my second climb, which was completely vertical (not my strong suit). I ended up placing 11th in lead ,which I was not too happy about. But soon after I managed to put the past behind me and take all my frustration out on Bouldering which I would be competing in the next day.

After a long restful sleep, I was all set for Bouldering the next morning. After a few long hours in isolation, it was finally my turn to head to the wall. As I sat waiting in the stuffy isolation tent I though to myself "okay Becca, you have made it this far; now it is time to show everyone what you got" and this is exactly what I did. After four difficult boulders I ended up in 7th place, making it into semi- finals by a long shot. But it was not over yet, because I still knew I would have to take my climbing to the next level if I wanted to make it in to finals. (They take 6 people to finals). The next day was the semi-final round for Bouldering. We had four boulders to climb, and five minutes to complete, or at least try to complete each climb. To make a long story short, I did end up getting to the top of all the boulders on my first try, except for the first route when I fell off the final move. After a morning of hard climbing, I ended up still maintaining my position of 7th place only missing finals by one spot.

I was disappointed that I did not make finals in either disipline, but I felt like I climbed my best and I have not felt like that in a long time. Pan Am's this year was definitely an amazing way to end the 2012 season, and I am looking forward to this coming year of competition.

Another blog post to come soon,

Becca xoxo

Some of the team hanging out before heading into isolation

Qualifier one - lead

Working a tricky slab route- Qualifier #2

About to top the first boulder of the day

All smiles after the onsite of Semi-final route #4

Gearing up for a big move to the top-Semi Finals Route #1

My Summer Travels- Worlds Experience 2012

 

The Youth World Climbing Championships were held in Singapore this past August. I arrived in Singapore on August 24th. Just a few hours before, my climbing extravaganza in Railay Beach, Thailand had come to an end. I had been climbing in Railay Beach for just over a week. My goal was to try to become more acclimatised to the incredibly warm and humid conditions that I would be dealing with in Singapore. It turns out that about half of the National team and their families were in Railay Beach too. So my Mom, Dad, Sister, my two fellow teammates Amy Sutley, Allison Vest and I had lots of friends to climb with. On our first day climbing on Tonsai Beach, a certain route called "Tidal Wave" caught my eye. I immediately had the feeling that this would be my project for the time I was here. I spent at least half an hour just studying it before I actually decided to give it a try.

Tidal Wave started on the far right of the wall and traversed left and up about eight more meters until the anchors. It was not very long, only seven bolts but man, was it pumpy. All the moves were super powerful. I would say there was two cruxes - one about 3/4 of the way up and the second one was only one move from the anchor. The fist crux required you to traverse on one large sloper rail. Once you got to the far left side of the sloper you had to bump your left hand to a pinch and then again to a sloping pocket. From there, your feet were still out right so you had to cut loose and set a high heel hook to be able to reach the next crimp. When you got to the crimp, there was one more big move to a sloper before reaching three finger jugs, where you could rest before the last four hard moves. The second crux started after the rest on the finger jugs. From there, you moved your left hand to a sloper pinch and kept moving it along until you caught a small, bubbly tuffa. From that point, you brought your right foot up onto a ledge and executed one last dynamic move to a second pinch before you could clip the anchors. I finally sent the route on my second go of the day. It was our last day in Railay Beach so I was pretty psyched; also this route was my first 5.12D redpoint. This climb ended my trip on a high-note for I was leaving the next morning for Singapore.

I had so much fun at Worlds this year! I think the reason was that I had already experienced the same level of competition at Worlds in Imst, Austria last year so in some ways I knew what to expect. I did not have a million questions running through my mind about what the experience would be like, so I felt that I could solely focus on my climbing. Coming into the competition, I felt like I was ready to attack whatever was thrown at me. I had been training super hard all summer and I had been waiting for this moment all year, to represent my own country in the highest level of youth competition possible.

My first qualifying climb was okay (not great!). I think that I fought hard until the end so I was happy about that, but I do think I could have gotten at least a few holds higher. When I previewed my second qualifying route I thought, "Hell yeah, this is more my style." The route was steep and pumpy which requires lots of endurance and power. This is my strong suit!

As I stepped onto the wall, it was only me. I was so focused that I could not hear the music playing in the background, or the roar of the crowd behind me. All I could hear was my coach's voice in my head reassuring me, and my family and teammates cheering me on as I made my way up the wall. Once I got about six draws up the wall I made it to the first crux move. I set my foot up as high as I could, and started transferring all my weight onto my left foot. But soon after I realized that there was no way I could do the move this way. So I downclimed about four moves where I would rest for a few seconds and try it one more time with my foot on a lower hold. This way would be more powerful but I believed I could do it. I got to the move once again. Glaring at the hold, I lunged for the crimp and touched it, just popping off at the last second. I was disappointed because I knew I could have gotten further. I still had so much energy left. But looking back at the competition I am happy. I think that I could have climbed better, but for me it was another great learning experience that will help my climbing career in the future.

Throughout the whole week in Singapore I learned so much about myself and my climbing abilities. I have so much respect for all the amazing climbers around the world and I realize to be at the top you need more than just climbing skills but the willpower and determination to be able to beat the odds. This year’s worlds experience has not only taken my climbing skills to the next level but has made me stronger mentally. But now it is time to set my sights on the next big competition, the Pan Am Games in Chile coming up this November!

Another blog post to come soon!
Untill next time,

Becca :)