American Bouldering Series USA Climbing Nationals
02/18/08 19:31 Filed in: Family,
climbing
We just got through with the American Bouldering
Series nationals in Boulder, CO at The Spot. This
year Chauncey and Taya both qualified. Chauncey's in
the 16-17 year old category and Taya is in the 12-13
year category. The climbers were culled through a
regional championship process and came from all over
the country and even some from Japan and Canada.
This is from The Spot's web site and gives a panoramic of a crowded night at the spot.
Taya climbed hard and out of about 25 girls, didn't make the 10 girl cut for finals. It was her first bouldering nationals, so next year, hopefully she'll come back stronger and more ready for the stout competition.
Chauncey decided to debut in the adult open category where the pros compete. This year they were competing for 6 spots on the US Team for the World Cup to be held in Vail at the Teva Games this summer. Given that backdrop, practically every woman and man that graced the cover of Climbing Magazine in the last several years and many more showed up to vie for the honor. For the adult women open category, about 60 women competed in the qualifiers.
Chauncey climbed excellent and placed 18th in the Friday qualifiers which allowed her to make the cut for finals - they took 20 into finals. Making the finals cut for the adult category bought her a bye into the finals for the 16-17 youth finals held Sunday. But first she competed in the adult open finals on Saturday night.
To say adult finals was raucous, loud and crowded would be the understatement for the year. It was elbow-to-elbow, standing room only. People were perched anywhere they could get a foothold so they could see over the crowd. I don't know how many people were in there but it had to be way past the occupancy rating of the building - I can't believe the fire marshall didn't close it down. They turned away lots of people who were waiting in line to buy tickets, so it was pretty much the place to be in Boulder Saturday night.
Chauncey again climbed very hard and in the end placed 18th overall. To be 15 years old and make it into the adult open finals with the pros was a great accomplishment.
Her next task was to climb the 16-17 year youth finals on Sunday. In that field there were 5 returning US Bouldering Team members and a Continental Champion to contend with. Again, she climbed her heart out on 3 bouldering problems, but had enough left on the last problem to get by most of the field. All her effort and training won her 2nd place in the country and a spot on the US Team for her category (and last but not least, a coveted, gorgeous North Face jacket with all the USA Team insignia.)
So, Chauncey had an extremely good weekend of competing and was exhausted by the end of 3 days of very high-caliber competitive climbing. Below are a few shots of the competition though they are very poor given the spectating situation at The Spot borders on abusive to spectators.
I've got a few requests into some camera men I know who were on the floor, so I hope to get some near-professional quality pictures to add to this. In the meantime, these will have to do unfortunately. Many of these are of the event in general.
Below, Chauncey on an adult open qualifying problem:
Chauncey on another adult open qualifying problem:
Chauncey straining on the adult open qualifying and most difficult problem. Check out this girl's muscles:
But the woman who probably takes the cake for major pipes is Lisa Rands. Here's Lisa in action on the last qualifying problem:
Chauncey on the podium with her 2nd place medal standing next to Emily Ziffer (Continental Champion and ABS champion in the middle), and Tiffany Hensley in 3rd place (left).
The US Youth Bouldering Team in their shiny north face team jackets. Chauncey's about in the middle mugging for the camera:
This is from The Spot's web site and gives a panoramic of a crowded night at the spot.
Taya climbed hard and out of about 25 girls, didn't make the 10 girl cut for finals. It was her first bouldering nationals, so next year, hopefully she'll come back stronger and more ready for the stout competition.
Chauncey decided to debut in the adult open category where the pros compete. This year they were competing for 6 spots on the US Team for the World Cup to be held in Vail at the Teva Games this summer. Given that backdrop, practically every woman and man that graced the cover of Climbing Magazine in the last several years and many more showed up to vie for the honor. For the adult women open category, about 60 women competed in the qualifiers.
Chauncey climbed excellent and placed 18th in the Friday qualifiers which allowed her to make the cut for finals - they took 20 into finals. Making the finals cut for the adult category bought her a bye into the finals for the 16-17 youth finals held Sunday. But first she competed in the adult open finals on Saturday night.
To say adult finals was raucous, loud and crowded would be the understatement for the year. It was elbow-to-elbow, standing room only. People were perched anywhere they could get a foothold so they could see over the crowd. I don't know how many people were in there but it had to be way past the occupancy rating of the building - I can't believe the fire marshall didn't close it down. They turned away lots of people who were waiting in line to buy tickets, so it was pretty much the place to be in Boulder Saturday night.
Chauncey again climbed very hard and in the end placed 18th overall. To be 15 years old and make it into the adult open finals with the pros was a great accomplishment.
Her next task was to climb the 16-17 year youth finals on Sunday. In that field there were 5 returning US Bouldering Team members and a Continental Champion to contend with. Again, she climbed her heart out on 3 bouldering problems, but had enough left on the last problem to get by most of the field. All her effort and training won her 2nd place in the country and a spot on the US Team for her category (and last but not least, a coveted, gorgeous North Face jacket with all the USA Team insignia.)
So, Chauncey had an extremely good weekend of competing and was exhausted by the end of 3 days of very high-caliber competitive climbing. Below are a few shots of the competition though they are very poor given the spectating situation at The Spot borders on abusive to spectators.
I've got a few requests into some camera men I know who were on the floor, so I hope to get some near-professional quality pictures to add to this. In the meantime, these will have to do unfortunately. Many of these are of the event in general.
Below, Chauncey on an adult open qualifying problem:
Chauncey on another adult open qualifying problem:
Chauncey straining on the adult open qualifying and most difficult problem. Check out this girl's muscles:
But the woman who probably takes the cake for major pipes is Lisa Rands. Here's Lisa in action on the last qualifying problem:
Chauncey on the podium with her 2nd place medal standing next to Emily Ziffer (Continental Champion and ABS champion in the middle), and Tiffany Hensley in 3rd place (left).
The US Youth Bouldering Team in their shiny north face team jackets. Chauncey's about in the middle mugging for the camera:
