South Sound Pull Down 2011

Another year has gone by and its comp season again. The big (and only) climbing competition of the year in Olympia is the South Sound Pull Down, its usually a big deal in the local community and this year was no exception. With Jimmy at college up in Seattle the setting duties fell to Derik, Jeremy, Drew, Lisa, Laura, Chas, Chris and a few others, sorry if I didn't mention you by name. They did a fantastic job and everyone had a great day.

I don't really consider myself much of a boulderer nowadays, I haven't made a single Leavenworth bouldering trip this year. But I feel I can still hold it down on the boulders when I want to. Going into the comp I had flashed a few V6's in the gym, but hadn't really tried anything harder. I entered the Male Advanced category and thought I'd have a good chance at the title.

A harder problem I completed, a 800 point burly roof problem to a nasty crimpy finish that weighs in at around V6.

On comp day a number of out-of-towners showed up, which was great to see. In my category there were a couple of strong guys from Tacoma competing against me. I kept my eye on them, and we were pretty much neck and neck until I managed to unlock a tricky high scoring slab problem, which put me over the top. Just like last year though a competitor from the Intermediate category somehow beat my score (by only 10 points!), but I wasn't too concerned as they still called me out first when it came to the prizes and I picked up by far the most valuable prize, a gift certificate to a course offered by the American Alpine Institute worth $790! I plan on using it on a Single Pitch Instructor course which I'm really looking forward to. Thanks again to Sierra and everyone at the gym for organizing such a great comp and getting such awesome prizes!

Stoked about my prize, and the medals were a nice touch!