Rainy October Weekend

Fall has definitely arrived here in the Pacific Northwest, the rain poured and the prospect for climbing outside didn't look good. Perfect timing then for the first annual South Sound Pull Down, the eagerly awaited climbing competition here in Olympia.

The warehouse crew Steven, Daniel, Nick, Jimmy etc. did a great job of stripping all the bouldering walls and setting 55 problems the day before. They were hoping for 30-40 entrants, but with the bad weather a total of 65 turned up, which was a great turnout. Despite Nick and Jimmy setting problems there was still a strong field in the male advanced category. The favourite going into the competition had to be Micah, who is on fire both in routes and bouldering at the moment, and has a good taste for plastic from working at the evergreen wall. Then there was George and Whitey having climbed indoors all summer and looking very strong. Then there was me, who apart from the past 2 weeks hadn't climbed indoors all summer. Plus any unknowns who might come to the comp. Unfortunately Laura had to work that day, so couldn't compete, but would have certainly finished highly in the womans category.

A busy day at the Warehouse

At 2pm the climbing started, everyone got off to a good start with some big cheers for George and Whitey for sending some hard stuff early on. Micah was a little worried after struggling on some problems he should have done with ease. After flashing a couple moderate problems. I decided to try some harder problems, and flashed a 590. I was really pleased with the flash and thought that might just put me ahead of the rest of the crowd. But soon after George and Micah also flashed it easily and whitey got it second go. Uh oh, I thought these guys are strong! Next up was a crimpy 600 which Micah cooly flashed, he was back on his game. I managed to flash it straight after him using his beta. I was in a good position at this point.

Each competitors top 5 highest scoring climbs would count towards their overall score, with a 5 point deduction for each fall. At this point I had 5 climbs rated 530 and up, with just one fall. As far as I could tell I was just ahead of the pack having done all the same problems but with less falls. There was only half an hour left. There was one hard crimpy problem worth 610 points that I tried at the start which I thought might just go. I knew it was my style, technical balancy and crimpy. I got on it. I got past the first crimpy moves, got my feet up, stemmed and matched on the last slopey crimps. I could see the finishing jug, I lunged and latched it, YES! Everyone cheered, there were more people watching than I thought. I knew that would probably be the winning send. In the last few minutes a lot of people tried the problem but no one else succeded, even in the comp after hours no one could get it. With that climb done I handed in my scorecard. Once the scored were tallied the results came out as the following:

1st Dom 2905

2nd Micah 2840

3rd David 2810

4th George 2800

5th Whitey 2755

Dom latches the finishing jug that wins the comp

Its was a great comp and credit should go to the staff at the warehouse for putting it on, I'm looking forward to the next one already.

To top off a great weekend I went out to Little Si with Nick the next day and sent Technorigine a 12c (7b+). I had been climbing well at Little Si recently, I got a 12b (7b) second go last week and flashed another 12b the time before, so I thought I should try something a bit harder. Technorigine is one of the classics of the crag, it's a 30m route that goes right up the middle of World Wall One, overhanging just enough so that it stayed dry even though it was pouring rain. It starts up Aborigine a great 11b (6c+), just after the chains it busts straight into a tricky V4 crux, and from there its another 3 clips of airy steep climbing on big holds over an awesome exposed bulge. I had played on the route a few times before, but never really tried it seriously. On Sunday, I surprised myself by cruising the crux first go then I hung and figured out the sequence above. I dispatched it send go of the day. I got through the crux smoothly again, then got in the zone and cruised the top part, it was so much fun. I clipped the chains leaned back and got soaked from the rain getting lowered down, it was great. Nick did well considering it was his first time on the route, he managed to link past the crux, now he just has to finish off the top section. Its probably my new favorite route at Little Si. Having done this route so quickly its given me renewed confidence for what else I can do there. The Little Si season is not quite over yet!