Congrats to Spot Coach Tiffany Hensley – 4th at SCS Nationals!

Coach Tiffany making her way up the final.

We’ve not yet congratulated Coach Tiffany Hensley on getting 4th at SCS Nationals and making the US Team! Tiffany put on a great performance, going so far as to double-upsidedown-toehook herself near the top of the route just before falling off. She has long done well in comps–in bouldering, speed, and sport–but she hasn’t been rope climbing much lately and it was pretty spectacular to have her show up and represent so well. Nice job Tiff!

Here are some screen shots from her climb. To watch it on replay, visit: TV | Louder Than 11

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The toehook looked good, but she couldn’t get out of it and fell. Still a fantastic effort and a real crowd pleaser. Nice job Tiff!

ABS 14 Open Nationals – Quali Results

Spot Coach Tiffany Hensley about to finish Women’s Quali 1

We are SO PROUD of setter and coach Ian Dory, who ended up in 8th after qualis, and coach Tiffany Hensley, who is in 11th. Both will be competing in Semifinals this morning, starting at 11am (watch on live feed here!)

Setter and Coach Ian Dory on his first go on Quali 4. He did it next try.

While you are waiting you can watch replays of the qualifiers (most women, last 1/2 of men) here - ABS14  Nationals 2013 Qualifier Replays

We would also like to give a shout out to SBS 8 competitors Megan Mascarenas (1st), Nina Wiliams (5th), Tyler Youngwerth (20th), Kati Peters (21st), and Jesse Youngwerth (22nd); and for the men Daniel Woods (tied for 2nd), Michael O’Rourke (4th), Rob D’Anastasio (5th), Matt Wilder (9th), Jon Cardwell (11th), Ben Hoberg (13th) Matty Hong (14th), and Garrett Gregor (15th) who have all made it into Semifinals.

Matty Hong on Men’s 1

ALSO props to our previous head setter Carlo Traversi, who qualified in 10th, and to Matt Lubar, who started out at The Spot and was on our youth team for quite a while. Lubar now climbs for Team ABC and he qualified in 21st, just out of finals. He is a regular fixture in SBS comps and did well in SBS Open Finals this year as well.

Nice job everyone!

~

ABS 14 Nationals Men’s Semi’s Running Order

‎ABS 14 Nationals Women’s Semi’s Running Order

‎ABS 14 Nationals Men’s Quali Results

‎ABS 14 Nationals Women’s Quali Results

More Info: ABS Nationals Homepage

~

Semi’s Live Feed (starting at 11am) - TV | Louder Than 11

SBS 8 Gladiator Finals! – Women’s Open Final Results!

Megan doing a Megan-move to gain the T-Rex  |  Katrin Bell

The Problem

Jay Jay and I set the Gladiator Finals Women’s Open Final. Our theme was powerful moves on big holds. I’m pretty sure it was Jay Jay’s first final ever and it was the first one I set this season. We set it, we warmed up for forerunning, and with some effort I flashed it. I set it (so automatically easier for me) and I had just gotten back from a long trip to Hueco, but still, if I’m flashing the final it’s probably too easy.

Our start sequence was one of the issues, so incorporating some of the group’s ideas we took the large start hold/foot ledge off, put on some slopey-topped underclings instead, added a small crimp undercling to help the climbers get out right from the start underclings, and removed a right-handed pinch that had been useful to help the climbers bump left hand up to the first green So Ill feature (as a pinch/undercling). Now the start was harder. Next I replaced one of the big ledge-like jibs on the T-rex with a smaller slopey ball jib. Dialed up the first mini-rex so it was steeper. Tried to replace the low pink pinch for crossing to the first mini-rex, but nothing else was good enough to make the move work, so we left it. We wanted to make sure all the competitors would get up a little ways, but also that they’d have to try and that even the strongest would begin to tire themselves out climbing through it. Bottom, set.

The top took some dialing in as well, as I watched Jon Cardwell and Ian both hold the difficult body-opening swing at the top and we struggled to decide whether or not the women would be able to do the move–especially with their right hand on a pinch. I moved some holds around, ran the boys again, and finally committed to using a crimp instead for the right hand. By committed I mean I kept the crimp on the wall, kept the pinch handy in the setting closet, and panicked about whether or not I should change it until the moment finals started. Honestly, as is usual in this sort of situation, I sort of kept panicking, but after watching the results I’m glad we left the crimp on. I think with the pinch the move would have been a bit too stopper. As it was, it allowed a few through and stopped a couple more. Appropriate.

I’d also like to thank Sarah Fullerton for helping us forerun finals all season. Her help has been invaluable.

Sarah on Bierstadt at Evans

Thanks Sarah!!!

~

The Finalists

Nina Williams looking all kinds of strong on the very challenging O6 | Page Kuepper

The redpoint round left us with a separated field of women, most of whom had climbed A10-O4. All the competitors (youth and adult) who wished to have a chance to compete in finals were asked to climb in the adult session to negate the possibility that extra rest between sessions would give them an edge in finals. Their qualifier scores are still split into Youth and Adult however, so if you want to see the full qualifier round scores, you’ll have to visit YOUTH and ADULT. (Note – Megan’s quali scores are improperly in the Adult category, should be fixed next week.)

Top two qualifiers Megan Mascarenas (21,560) and Nina Williams (21,500) climbed O6, O4, O3, O2, and O1. They were separated by 6 falls (Megan had 4, Nina had 10).

The next 6 qualifiers climbed O4-A10 and were also separated by falls. We usually only take 6 to finals, but because of the men’s field we needed 7, and we had a tie for 7th so we took 8 in both fields. More fun for you to watch, and more stress for the setters to separate! Here are the other qualifiers and their qualifying scores:

3. Tiffany Hensley 21,000 – 0 falls – Spot Coach

4. Margo Hayes 20,990 – 1 fall – ABC

5. Isabelle Goodacre 20,980 – 2 falls – ABC

6. Mirthe Van Liere 20,960 – 4 falls – Darkhorse

7. Tika Anderson – 20,940 – 6 falls (tie) – Spot Team Captain

7. Laurel Todd – 20,940 – 6 falls (tie) – ABC Team Captain

~

Finals

Laurel Todd | Ryan Nadlonek

ABC Team Captain Laurel Todd came out first. She has been consistently squeaking into finals this season and always puts in a great effort on the final problem. She gracefully accepts the role of guinea pig as she has to figure out the problem with everyone watching her and no hint (from hearing other competitor’s attempts) of how far people are even getting on it. Laurel fought her way through the bottom, giving a faith-throw and hitting the jib on the t-rex, then matching and reaching out to the right undercling before falling. Next go she hit the t-rex wrong and fell, next go she fell moving to the t-rex. Score: 9th hold/1st go

~

Tika pinching the bejesus out of the bottom moves. Dave Graham sticking the swing in the background. | Jackie Hueftle

Spot Climbing Team Captain Tika Anderson came next. She has won ABS Regionals and Divisionals so far this season and made some SBS finals as well. She and Laurel are usually neck-and-neck, and they were this comp when they tied in qualifiers. First go Tika had a bit of a rough start with the T-Rex, not hitting it quite right and falling when she tried to match. She rested, and to the roars of the crowd she rallied and hiked through the bottom of the problem, looking unstoppable as she crushed through the moves she’d previously fallen on, matched the undercling, and grabbed the high right crimp. At that point she looked good but was a little stuck and as soon as her body came out her foot slipped and she was off. Score: 11/2

~

Mirthe in the low-middle of the problem | Ryan Nadlonek

Mirthe Van Liere. Mirthe is a total darkhorse to Spot Series comps, as we’ve never had her in finals before (at least as far as I can recall). She climbed well in qualifiers and considering this was her first Spot final I thought she did very well, though first go she mistakenly grabbed an off-route hold. Ian called her off and it ruined her momentum as she had to start over, but she gathered herself and gave some good goes, managing to match the T-Rex before falling, then get through the T-Rex the go after that and fall matching the undercling. Her last go she was tired and fell early. Good efforts Mirthe!  Score: 9/3

~

Isabelle | Katrin Bell

Isabelle Goodacre. There isn’t much to say besides Isabelle hiked the problem in good style. It didn’t even really look hard for her. The crowd was yelling and I was sweating–I know Isabelle is a strong climber, but she made the problem look SO EASY that I was sure everyone else would flash it, especially because they heard the crowd and knew Isabelle had flashed. This can give competitors pressure but it can also give confidence–if someone lower in the rankings than you flashed something, you might think you can flash it too, right? I managed to contain myself and remember that anything can happen in competition, especially when it comes to finals. The crowd roared for Isabelle and Margo was up next. Score: Flash

~

Margo trying so hard to hang on. | Ryan Nadlonek

Margo Hayes started showing up in Spot finals a couple of years ago. She is a strong competitor who can be fueled by frustration, as we saw at Psychedelia when she made a mistake and fell early on the final, then got back on and crushed it. This time she came out strong and confident and did the early moves with ease. Unfortunately for Margo, when she did the big move to the T-Rex she missed both of the jibs and hit a bad slopey spot between them. She tried to stay on, but to no avail. Her body swung out and she was off. The start of the problem, as I said, is sapping, and so the first time it doesn’t feel so bad but with each subsequent try it makes you more and more tired. Despite this, Margo fought her way back through the volume, through the undercling, to the crimp Tika fell from, then jumped for the next pinch. She caught it, her body swung open, and she tried and tried to kick her feet back on but she couldn’t quite stick them to anything and she was off. Next go she went back to the crimp and fell trying to stick the pinch. Score: 12/2

~

Tiffany Hensley styling the bottom | Katrin Bell

Tiffany Hensley is a regular finals competitor and sometimes winner at SBS comps. She came into this final looking very strong and handily flashed her way to the pinch move Margo had fallen on. Like Margo, Tiff hit the pinch, stuck it, but as her body swung out she was unable to get a foot back on and eventually she fell.

Not a great picture but I’m sharing it so you can see how hard Tiff was trying to get her feet back on. Margo was much the same. The crimp and pinch just opened your body from the wall in a way that made it hard to recover if your feet came off.

Her next go was the same as Margo’s 3rd–she hit the crimp and jumped to the pinch but didn’t stick. Score: 12/1

~

Nina Williams | Ryan Nadlonek

Nina Williams has been on a roll this year. She’s really stepped up her competitive game, showing up on the podium at major pro events and winning all 3 previous SBS events this year–The Gun Show, Psychedelia, and Highlines/Highballs. She came out strong and though she looked to be trying hard on on the crimp/pinch cross, she managed to get her foot back on and finish the problem with a flash. Nice job Nina! Score: Flash

Nina Williams sticking the hardest move | Katrin Bell

Nina Williams after the flash | Katrin Bell

~

Megan Mascarenas holding the hard swing | Katrin Bell

Megan Mascarenas swept SBS 7 and for SBS 8 she has been just behind Nina. Our technical starts this season have been causing many competitors, Megan included, to make mistakes and fall early. This problem was a little more straightforward power, and with Megan’s lead from qualifiers if she flashed the final she’d win. If not, Nina would win. That’s a lot of pressure, but Megan handled it well, styling the bottom, holding the difficult swing on the crimp and the pinch (but it looked like she barely held it as her left hand slipped on the pinch) and finishing the problem for the flash and her first SBS 8 win.

Great job to all the competitors, especially Megan and Nina for their hard-fought battles for first place these past two seasons!

~

Results

~

8. Mirthe Van Liere

Mirthe moving out to the undercling | Katrin Bell

~

7. Laurel Todd

Laurel working out the bottom | Ryan Nadlonek

~

6. Tika Anderson

Tika Anderson | Katrin Bell

~

5. Margo Hayes

Margo trying for a bicycle to cross to the pinch. | Katrin Bell

~

4.Tiffany Hensley

Tiffany struggling to hold the pinch. | Katrin Bell

~

3. Isabelle Goodacre

Isabelle Goodacre handily flashing the final | Ryan Nadlonek

Flashed the final but was last of the 3 flashers in qualifiers so 3rd overall.

~

2. Nina Williams

Always a good attitude from Nina!  |  Ryan Nadlonek

Flashed the final but 6 falls behind Megan in qualis means Nina ended up in 2nd.

~

1. Megan Mascarenas

Holding the difficult swing at the top! | Ryan Nadlonek

Megan flashed and because she was 1st in qualifiers as well she won!

Megan!  |  Ryan Nadlonek

~

Thanks to all who came out to compete in or watch SBS 8 comps.

See you next season!

SBS Highlines & Highballs Open Results + Commercials – Alex Honnold & Katie Brown, and Chris Sharma selling watches?!

Highballs & Highlines Open Finals Results

Yes, it was exciting. As usual. Three members of Boulder’s Team ABC made finals, giving the start of the finals some orange flair. On top of that, we staggered start times due to a men’s finals no show, so our 2nd girl ABC’er and 1st guy ABC’er ended up climbing at the same time. There was SO MUCH ORANGE!  I’ll write up a longer rundown later, but til then here are the results:

Men's winner Alex "Socks" Johnson staring down the Bear Claw. Photo by Jay Droeger.

Men

1. Alex “Socks” Johnson (fumbled the accursed BEAR CLAW!)

2. Matty Hong (1 move below Alex)

3. Garrett Gregor (we messed up scoring a little at comp time, Garrett actually earned 7- so he should have been 3rd)

4. Alex Manikowski (6+)

5. Michael O’Rourke (6+, qualified lower than Alex M so in 5th actually instead of 3rd)

6. Matt Lubar (6+, last qualifier so in 6th here)

Women's winner Megan Mascarenas hiking her final.

Women

1. Megan Mascarenas (flash!)

2. Nina Williams (14-)

3. Tiffany Hensley (13-, top qualifier of the next 4 climbers)

4. Isabelle Goodacre (13-)

5. Gabi Masse (13-)

6. Jesse Youngwerth (7)

I can’t find any more pictures of it yet, so here’s a picture of Maddie in the youth section of the comp.

Commercials

You may have seen this recent Citibank Ad featuring Alex Honnold and Katie Brown.

No, that is not Katie’s voice. You can read an interesting blog about how that all went down on Beth Rodden’s Blog.

But you probably didn’t know that Chris Sharma ditched his hot Spanish lifestyle and went climbing in Italy. Well, check this out:

He ties the rope, but did you see him use it?

We’re glad to see that climbers are finally getting paychecks from other industries!

Highballs & Highlines Results & Reset

We will be resetting Monday – Friday in the mornings. If you want to climb only comp style go to The Spot today. Tomorrow afternoon (after 4 is a safe bet) there will be at least 1 new wall for you. Etc. for the rest of the week until the gym is fairly full.

The rest of the SBS 7 Highballs & Highlines Wrap Up is coming later this week. Photos, full results, and more. Stay tuned, and see you at The Spot!

Gladiator Finals!!!

The comp last night was pretty ridiculous.  A strong men’s field showed up, including Matt Wilder, Colin Bauer, Alex Manikowski, Tyler Haack, Alex Johnson, Ian Dory, Mike Auldridge, Andre DiFelice, and Daniel Woods.  The women’s category was even more of a battle, with Tiffany Hensley, The Youngwerth Twins, Courtney Sanders, Kelly McBride, Stephanie Marvez, Mercedes Pollmeier, Courtney Behnke, Spot Women’s Team members including Sarah Heath and Emily Lewellen, and a ton of strong female youth competitors to boot.  In fact, 6 kids from the youth comp were in the running to qualify for women’s finals (though only two, 12 year old Team ABC member Margo Hayes, and The Spot’s own Tika Anderson, competed).  Megan Mascarenas, a 13 year old from Colorado Springs, actually won the open category points-wise, though she had to go home before finals.

Daniel Woods winning. Sorry the picture is so blurry. I'll post better ones as soon as I have them.

The Problems

Because this is the Gladiator Finals, we knew the finals problems would have to be of truly epic proportions.  Both problems started on a far side of the wall (men’s to the left, women’s to the right) and climbed across the Beach towards the middle prow where they both ended.  The women’s problem had 31 scored moves on it, and the men’s had something like 24.  They were so long that if they’d gone straight up, each problem would have warranted several clips.  The idea was to make the problem in sections, each section the competitors would have to test a different set of skills.  The men’s problem started off with some technical mantle moves, then went through a few powerful downclimb/swing moves before entering a powerful crimp section.  From there were some large, fun campus moves on big Atomik pockets before the final compression/dynamic finish.  The women’s problem started off with some campusy moves on a sloper and a jug before a mantle/technical section to a sideways mini-dyno.  From there was a powerful undercling cross and sloper downclimb to another power-sapping pinch section.  After a heel-hook drop down onto the blocky jug, there were several tensiony moves leading to a large cross off crimps and a slopey match at the top.  Epic.

Women’s Finals:

Tika Anderson | Photo by Jay Droeger

Tika Anderson came out first.  This was her first time competing in a SBS Open Final, though she qualified last comp but didn’t make it back in time to compete.  Tika gave a good showing on the problem, easily making the mantle and jump moves, then falling a few moves later on a slopey downclimb section.  The jump move had aggravated an existing shoulder injury, so Tika retired from the competition in hopes of being healed in time for Nationals next month.

Kelly McBride

Kelly McBride came out second.  Kelly’s only previous open finals experience was at the Spot several years ago, but she bravely stepped up and climbed several moves past Tika’s high point to the large orange Climb-it jug that marked the 2/3rds point of the problem.  With both hands and a heel on the jug Kelly took a short rest, but the previous 20 moves had sapped her strength and she fell off moving off the jug toward the red crimp pinch.

Courtney Sanders

Courtney Sanders climbed next.  Courtney has only been climbing for a few years, and this was her first time qualifying for a SBS Open Final. She and Jesse Youngwerth came into finals tied for 3rd, and Courtney climbed first.  She gave a strong showing, and after working through the mini-dyno and downclimb, she crossed the pinches and fell trying to drop down on the orange jug.  Her second go ended early on the slopey downclimb.  Because she had one hand on the jug and Kelly had matched it, the standings as of Courtney’s go were Kelly, Courtney, Tika.

Jesse Youngwerth at Highline Highball | Photo by Keith North

Jesse Youngwerth powered past the previous highpoints with apparent ease, falling 4 moves higher (and only 6 moves from the top) on a powerful crimp gaston to crimp undercling move.  Jesse didn’t seem tired when she got to the move, but it required pulling a right hand crimp gaston all the way across your body to catch a crimp undercling far out to the left, and Jesse couldn’t quite summon the reach to hit the hold without throwing.  After climbing back to the right a couple of times, Jesse finally went for the move and hit the hold, but not well enough to stick it.  Her try had taken her entire 3 minutes, and, with her new highpoint, her turn was up.

Margo Hayes

12 year old Margo Hayes of Team ABC came out for her first time competing in an adult open final, and the crowd went wild when she started to climb.  Margo qualified tied for first with Tiffany Hensley, and on the final she was truly impressive, cranking hard through the dyno, the downclimb, the pinches, the jug, and the prow until she’d reached Jesse’s highpoint on the crimp gaston.  Like Jesse, she was unable to static the move out left to the undercling, and after a few seconds tried a big throw and barely tagged the hold before falling to the mat.  Before her time ran out Margo quickly jumped back on the wall, and, looking a little more tired than before but trying hard, climbed back to her highpoint.  She fell again on the move out left, leaving her tied for 1st with Jesse (though after countbacks she was in first place).  The crowd gave her a resounding applause for her efforts.

Tiffany Hensley

Last but not least, comp veteran Tiffany Hensley came out and tried her luck.  After an unexpected fall early on the problem on her first try, Tiffany got back on the problem and climbed to Jesse and Margo’s highpoint.  She, too, had trouble with the move to the undercling, and after a moment’s hesitation, she did the throw and stuck the hold with two fingers before sagging out and falling to the mats.  It was a close call, but the judges agreed that Tiffany had exhibited some control of the hold and therefore she edged out Margo and Jesse for 1st place.

Women’s Results

1. Tiffany Hensley

2. Margo Hayes

3. Jesse Youngwerth

4. Kelly McBride

5. Courtney Sanders

6. Tika Anderson

Right after the comp ended, several of the female competitors got back on the problem to climb to the finish.  Nobody sent, but coming in from various starting points Margo, Jesse, Kelly, and Courtney all did the top moves of the problem and climbed to the finish jug.

Men’s Finals

Mike Auldridge in Font

Long time climber and competitor, Boulder local, and Team ABC coach Mike Auldridge came out first for the men after barely edging out Colin Bauer and Matt Wilder for the 6th spot in finals.  Mike gave a great showing on the technical start mantle and powerful drop down, but he was defeated by the technical and tensiony crimp section.

Ian Dory at The Battle in The Bubble

Ian Dory climbed next, though he and Andre DiFelice came into finals tied for 4th place.  Ian got a little farther than Mike did on the tensiony crimps, but he was unable to make his way to the Atomik pocket traverse and took his highpoint in the crimps.

Andre DiFelice

Andre DiFelice only competes occasionally, but he always manages a strong showing, and this time was no different.  Unfortunately, he, too, fell on the crimp section, at the same place as Auldridge, but, because he qualified higher, he ended up just ahead in the standings.

Alex Johnson

Recent Denver transplant Alex Johnson (aka “The Other Alex Johnson), came in 3rd in qualifiers and looked great on the final until, of course, the crimp section.  The moves on the small blue Teknik and E-Grips crimps threw him off, putting him just behind Ian in 2nd place.

Alex Manikowski

Powerful climber Alex Manikowski was the only one besides Daniel Woods to climb O9 in the main competition.  Alex climbed the problem by dynoing from the new E-Grips bubble wrap sloper to the top of the wall–skipping the intended sequence in an impressive display of power and pinch strength.  Finals didn’t go quite as well for him, with problems getting into the crimp section that landed him behind Auldridge in the standings.

Daniel Woods

Finally, Daniel Woods came out and had his go.  In an awesome display of power, Daniel hung on through the tension crimps and stuck the mini-dyno to the first of the Atomik pockets.  He swung through the traverse, deadpointed the drop-down pocket, and stuck the compression sloper up the prow.  Only one move remained, a pogo to the E-Grips hueco finish off the right hand sloper, a left hand crimp, and a slopey right foot, and Daniel crushed it.  He swung his leg down, he swung his leg up, he dynoed, and he barely barely stuck the hueco.  The crowd went crazy as he worked his way into control of the hueco and made the problem’s only ascent.

Men’s Results

1. Daniel Woods

2. Ian Dory

3. Alex Johnson

4. Andre DiFelice

5. Mike Auldridge

6. Alex Manikowski

Full results, photos, and video to come, so stay tuned!

DRCC Women’s Semifinals Video

The setters all attended semifinals so we could get a good feel for how the competitors were climbing and make sure we didn’t need to make any tweaks to the difficulty of the finals problems.  I brought the little Flip camera my mom gave me for my birthday and shot some video of various people climbing various problems.  This video is of the DRCC Women’s Semifinals problems (though the first two are non-DRCC cause we didn’t have enough holds).  Most of the women who competed are in it, though I missed Audrey Sniezek and Kristen Felix–sorry girls!  The edit is pretty rough cause I didn’t have a ton of time, and I decided that comp background noises would give you a better feel for how things were going than a techno track would, so the original noise is in all the clips.  I’ll put a guys one together when I have time. Enjoy!