Lessons from Bozeman

So I have finished my first World Cup in Bozeman Montana. Definitely an eye opener for me.

First, competition climbing is way more exhausting than I thought it would be. Early mornings to compete and late nights at the venue to watch everyone. You also eat like crap because you never sit down. My diet over the competition was a mishmash of cliff bars, whatever they had on hand for the competitors and samples from vendor booths.

Second, I have a lot to learn. First prelims route I didn’t trust myself and the holds and I climbed quite slow. Second prelims route I resolved to climb faster but didn’t plan out the moves as well and fell when I didn’t plant my feet well enough. I am most disappointed in myself for the semis route though. I came in at 12th place and left at 15th, I could have done better than that. I didn’t plan the moves out well enough and when I found I wasn’t strong enough to pull the move the way I envisioned I didn’t recover and didn’t switch strategies.

I think that the biggest take home for me is that I am not strong enough to climb these routes poorly and still pull through. But I am a good enough climber that I shouldn’t be climbing these routes poorly. If you can’t climb stronger, you need to climb smarter.

Third, travel is harsh! The comp was only two time zones away, but it took us almost 36 hours of travel time to get back to Ontario. Also, running through airports with a cowboy hat and a giant novelty check helps gets you noticed.

I am super excited in how well our team from Ontario climbed though. Nathan made it to semis easy and finished 11^th overall, his best showing yet. Neil finished in 30^th place and did better than some well known North American climbers. This is fantastic for his first competition. We convinced Stephanie to compete in the difficulty (lead) comp. She didn’t do great in it, but she didn’t expect to. I find her inspirational in how she put herself out there and gave it her best.

Neil and Steph in the prelims.

Hopefully I’ll recover from this comp in the next couple of days, then it’s time to start training for the next one. Italy is just over 6 weeks away!!!