Bouldering Competition

On Saturday, Sander, Shaun, Vivienne, Darcy, and I went to Prime Climb’s bouldering competition to watch the climbers in all their glory. It was a perfect way to get pumped about rock climbing. We arrived just in time for the finals. The finals consisted of three bouldering problems which each of three competitors would attempt to vanquish.

The ladies were up first.

Karen competing.
Karen competing in the Women's final

Each competitor was given five minutes to take on each problem. Each time you fell, it would be noted on the scorecard. Whoever gets the furthest in the climb wins, if two people reach the same point than he or she who did it with fewer falls wins.

Jackie on problem 3
Jackie working through problem three.

The challengers are not allowed to watch each other climb. That way they won’t learn anything important about the route before their turn.

Christine (first place)
Christine, just a few moves from the top

I recognized two of the three women competing. The same was not the case with the men climbers. While one of the men in the finals is a student at local college Wesleyan, I believe the other two are sponsored climbers from out of state.

Mens first competitor
Men's final: Problem number two.

The top men climbers were ripped to an unholy degree. Their backs were extremely defined.

Ridiculous back
Daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaang

I’m currently putting together a video (hopefully to be posted tomorrow) that shows the true ridiculousness of the third male climber (first place winner) cleaning the final route in the competition.

Stay tuned.

10 thoughts on “Bouldering Competition

  • 3/9/2010 at 11:22 am
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    Nice write up Mike D. Sad to have missed this spectacle. Just in case you were curious, the 3rd female competitor is Jackie Thurston, she usually climbs at the New Haven gym and from what I hear, she’s an impressive climber. Congrats again to Christine for taking home 1st place!

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  • 3/9/2010 at 12:07 pm
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    I appreciate the joke behind the Climb Gneiss stickers.

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  • 3/9/2010 at 3:12 pm
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    It looks like Christine, instead of climbing the wall is attempting to pull it down. And is that guy with no shirt ok? It looks like he is having an alergic reaction to something….maybe the chalk.

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    • 3/9/2010 at 3:33 pm
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      In competitions like this one, Christine goes last – in part because she occasionally crushes climbing holds into dust with her iron grip.

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  • 3/9/2010 at 3:42 pm
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    Too bad you were indoors watching climbing. Chrystal and I were outside at the Gunks putting in a couple pitches! I’ll post pictures on my site soon.

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  • 3/9/2010 at 4:31 pm
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    Mike D, you’re turning into a beat reporter of some off-beat sporting events in CT. Roller Derby, Rock Climbing…

    Hint hint, there’s orienteering event in western Connecticut in May that’s an “A” level event for the US. Additionally, it’s also a “World Ranking Event” for our elites to score points internationally. Each country only gets 3 WRE’s per year.

    http://www.faculty.fairfield.edu/rdewitt/wcoc/2010%20A%20meet%20Main%20Page.htm

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  • 3/10/2010 at 2:03 am
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    I have come to the conclusion that back muscles are yucky.

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    • 3/10/2010 at 2:02 pm
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      The management here at MikeDiDonato.com appreciates your opinion but disagrees with it entirely.

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    • 3/10/2010 at 3:52 pm
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      I concur on the back muscles. Additionally, if I was dating that guy I’d be afraid he’d crush my squishy non-climber body every time I wanted a hug.

      Reply

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