Archive
Dave Wetmore Movin’ On Up
Hopefully everyone remembers setter Dave Wetmore from last fall. Dave was a great addition to our Spot team–he set weekly, set some cool comp problems, and also helped us with the Front Hueco refurbish and repaint.
Remember this? Last Summer’s New Hueco! (this summer we have a NEW FLOOR!)
In the winter he left Boulder for some comp setting and road tripping, and we haven’t seen him since. Turns out that’s because he got a sweet new job!
We’d like to congratulate Dave on becoming the Routesetting Director of all 3 locations of MetroRock, a Northeast climbing gym chain. For us this means he won’t be back to set this fall, but it’s great for him and we know he’ll do a wonderful job.
Good job Dave!
Psychedelia 2011 Wrap-Up and Results + A Bunch of Photos
Psychedelia 2011!!!
Psychedelia 2011 was the best Psychedelia yet! Innovative new features for climbing on, some truly amazing tape art, fire dancers, and even a trapeze act made this the most off-the-wall event we’ve ever thrown at the Spot! Read on for stories, results, and media from this one-of-a-kind event.
A view of the main gym from the front.
Set Up
The setters started out on Tuesday night by stripping the Beach and the Dojo. Wedensday those were set, and Wednesday night we stripped the rest of the gym. Thursday we set all day and installed several special features (see below). Friday we left the gym to the crews of volunteers and Spot staff who came in to set up the lights, decorate, and make sure the gym looked just right. Here are a couple pieces of tape art, much more is in pictures down lower.
The Dragon by Hunter Damiani | Photo by Jay Droeger
Iron Lion Tape Art | Photo by Keith North
The Comp
The comp itself happened in two sessions–youth and adult–with youth being further broken into staggered sessions to allow the youngest kids to climb for an hour without a bunch of big kids trying to climb around them. Because Psychedelia is so dark and different from normal climbing, we felt this would allow the younger categories some time to get comfortable with the blacklight climbing before things got crazy. In the end over 180 kids showed up for the staggered youth sessions. 35 of those kids were with Team ABC, making them the Team Competition winners again, though the BRC and Spot teams were right behind with 31 and 30 kids, respectively. After youth climbing we fed the group Wahoo’s and drinks, gave away a bunch of stuff with the kids raffle, then kicked everyone so we could prepare for the adult session.
Emcee Brett Merlin giving out some schwag, including cases of Mix 1, at the Youth Raffle.
Mix 1 Rocket Ship | Photo by Keith North
The adult session started at 6 and ran until 9. Over 260 mostly-costumed adults climbed their way through the many special features we put up for this comp including:
The Toilet Seat Finish!
The Bowling Ball turned into a hold.
There was even a swing! This is the tape art on all the holds of the swing problem.
Multi-colored volume on the Native side of the Font Boulder. Painted by Hunter Damiani. If you haven't been to the Spot lately and are wondering what that green thing is on the right side of the Font, scroll down to find out.
The Grab Bag - Suspended Punching Bag at the end of an advanced problem.
Side view of the Grab Bag, the Dojo, and part of the Yosemite wall. You can see the open Coffin in the far right of the photo.
The Vertical Girl crew rockin' out in front of The Coffin
The Slide! We screwed a playground slide to the wall, and a crafty volunteer turned it into a giant fly!
The slide before it was installed.
The Slide in action
Special Events
Fire Dancers!
After climbing there was Wahoo’s food, Avery beer, Mix 1, and several special events, including a costume contest which was won by the fabulously dressed Crimp Chimps Gorilla, fire dancers, a huge raffle, and a blacklight trapeze act by Vertical Girl Jenn Quattrocchi. To see a video of the trapeze act, click here – GIRL BETA » Static Trapeze Artist: Jenn Q
Jenn Q. from Vertical Girl on her trapeze
And Finally…
Sierra Blair Coyle zipping by with the Psychedelia Results
The Open Final happened after the Adult regular session. The top 6 men and 7 women (there was a tie for women’s 6th place) each got four minutes to try their luck on the Men’s or Women’s Open Final Problem. For results and breakdown, click the link below.
Women's Open 3rd place winner Kara Caputo on the finals zip line by Jay Droeger
For the Open Finals Breakdown click here – Psychedelia 2011 Open Finals Result « The Spot Route Setting Blog
Thanks for coming out everyone! See you at Highlines & Highballs December 3rd!
IFSC Vail World Cup – A Few Interesting Finals Facts + Awesome Austrian Photos
Citizen’s & Youth Comp 2011
Vail Coverage Wrap-Up
Finals Problems 1 & 2 Break Down
Finals Problems 3 & 4 Break Down + Highlight Video
Pro Video + Citizen’s and Youth Comp Results
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Fun Facts and Awesome Photos
I meant to put this out the other week, but things got busy and it didn’t get done. However, for those who are interested, here are a few interesting notes about the finalists interspersed with a few great photos from all rounds of the comp borrowed from Austria Climbing Team photographer Heiko Wilhelm.
Alex Johnson
Of the 12 finalists, Kilian, Alex Puccio, and Jonas have previously won a Vail World Cup and Akiyo, Anna, Jain, Guillaume, Kilian, Dmitry, have won other World Cup events this season. That’s 8 World Cup Champions out of 12 finalists.
Jain Kim has amazing strength in her flexibility.
This was the first Bouldering World Cup finals appearance for Chris Webb-Parsons, Rei Sugimoto, and Angie Payne.
Alex Puccio
This was Melissa La Neve’s third time making finals in a Bouldering World Cup, and she has come in 3rd each time.
Keita Mogaki of Japan
Alex Puccio has made finals at every Bouldering World Cup she’s ever entered, though her only win so far was in Vail in 2009. This season she has taken two 2nd place finishes, one 3rd place, and two 6th places.
Tsukuru Hori of Japan
This was Anna Stöhr’s fourth time making finals in Vail, and her first win. She has previously taken 2nd, 3rd, and 4th places.
Kilian Fischhuber, Guillaume Glairon Mondet, Daniel Woods, Sean McColl
Perhaps even more interesting, not a single male finalist in Vail made finals at the World Cup last week in Canmore. Kilian was closest, with 9th place.
Mina Markovic of Slovenia finished in 8th
The women’s field was similar to Canmore, with Melissa La Neve replacing Juliane Wurm (GER) but the rest of the field staying the same. Alex Johnson took 7th in both Canmore and Vail, barely missing finals both times.
Akiyo Noguchi
Alison Osius of Rock and Ice wrote a nice little article about competitions, competitors, and expectations that you can read here: Tough Crowd
Katharina Saurwein of Team Austria
The next World Cup will be in Eindhoven, the Netherlands, this weekend — June 17th and 18th. Watch it live on http://ifIFSC TVsc.tv
World Cup Pre-Game at The Spot
The week before the comp was pretty busy at the Spot, with teams from Japan, Korea, Germany, the Netherlands, Australia, France, Germany, and more getting acclimated and ready for qualifiers on our boulders. These last two photos are of various World Cup competitors in our gym.
World Cup pre-game.
The Beach was quite popular as well.
Gladiator Finals Pictures #1 – Redpoint Round by Keith North + Results!!!
Gladiator Finals Photos!!!
We were excited to use many of the hold review holds along with our normal arsenal in setting the 4o redpoint and 2 open finals problems for the Gladiator Finals. If there is a hold company mentioned in the photo caption of the pictures below, then clicking on the photo will take you to the company’s site where you will be able to check out the rest of their line and see what they’re all about. Cool? Cool!
Redpoint Round
Jesse Youngwerth sending O5 at Gladiator Finals 2011 | Keith North
Staring down the mouth of a brand new Atomik pocket on A6 | Keith North
Dallas Milburn using the brand new Element slopers on O7 | Keith North
Women's Overall Redpoint winner and Team ABC member Megan Mascarenas topping out the tricky Climb-it pinches on A7 | Keith North
Brett Merlin's iron grip on that black dual-tex DRCC pinch isn't enough to keep him from slipping off O6 | Keith North
Team BRC's Dallas Milburn also tried his luck with the pinch. The big orange feature he's moving off is Asana's giant pinch. | Keith North
Speaking of Asana, here's a sweet shot of Tyler Youngwerth sticking a dyno to their new, 100% unique Toadstool roof feature. | Keith North
A9 out the Dojo. A tough problem involving much body tension and tricky toe-hookery. | Keith North
Daniel Woods climbing O2 | Keith North
Grabbing the big 3 Ball Font Feature on the front of the Font | Keith North
Spot setter Garrett Gregor using the new E-Grips Bubble Wrap Sloper on O9 | Keith North
Team ABC's Stefan Lavender showing off his Verve Xeno pants on O6 | Keith North
Daniel Woods holding a ridiculous foot cut on O10 | Keith North
And then falling off the last move... Between this and last year's World Cup photos, it's clear we need to start a "pics of Daniel falling" section on the blog. I think he takes good falls because he always tries so hard to hang on (and it usually works). | Keith North
Shawn Raboutou O2 | Keith North
Redpoint Round Results:
Click HERE for The Spot Gladiator Finals page, HERE for adult results, and HERE for youth results. For Open Finals results check out THIS POST from earlier in the week.
Check in tomorrow for Finals photos and hopefully some video. Thanks Keith for all the great photos!!!
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!
Gladiator Finals are set! Plus – The World Premiere Sneak Peek of the new E-Grips Giant Bubble Wrap Feature
The team for this comp was a little different than usual, as both Jon and Jay Jay weren’t able to come in and set. Luckily for us Nic Sherman was available for every stripping and setting session, and along with the usual team of Jonny, Carlo, Garrett, Danny, and I, we put all those sweet grips from the hold review to good use on the 42 recreational, intermediate, advanced, open, and finals problems.
Nic setting the Beach all by his lonesome.
These are some of the Element holds, brand new for this comp since they arrived late for the hold review.
Jonny loves Element's silky smooth dual-tex
Chris Danielson, who is, among other things, the rep for e-grips, teknik, and so ill holds, came in and played around with some big green pinches to make a tricky problem that later was tweaked down into A7. On top of all the awesome Hold Review Holds and features in the comp, Chris brought us a special hold to set with–E-grips brand new, never before seen, never before used, not even named yet bubble wrap sloper. You can’t buy it yet–it isn’t even on their website! We’ll only have this hold for a week, so if you want to climb on it you’d better come down to the comp and check out the sickness. Here’s Carlo trying to hold onto it in an early iteration of O9:
Bubble Wrap Sloper Sneak Peek
Speaking of O9, how many setters does it take to get a little volume on the wall?
Four? That seems like a lot...
Because our team was smaller than usual, it took only one Volkswagen to get us to lunch.
Fiver forerunning the space problem (think meteors and rocket ships)
This is the Gladiator Finals, the conclusion of SBS Season VI, and therefore the most awesome of all the SBS VI events. There will be jousting. Avery beer in cans. Epic long finals problems. Wahoo’s tacos. Tons of sweet new tester grips. A huge raffle. E-Grips Bubble Wrap Sloper sneak peek. Did we mention the jousting? We BROKE WRENCHES setting for this thing, that’s how awesome it is. So don’t miss out!!!
Breaking through 5/16" of solid metal? No problem for heavyweight setter Nic Sherman.
See you at The Spot!
Food Drive wrap-up, the Beach pads get a face-lift, Highline setting starts, and Carlo & Jon are back!
Food Drive Wrap-Up
So first of all, the Food Drive was brief, but went pretty well for our first effort. Here’s the take:
Our Thanksgiving Food Drive collected a bunch of cans for Community Food Share. Thanks to everyone who donated!
The Beach Pads Get A Facelift
Josh, Brett, and a bunch of volunteers spent their Wednesday re-stuffing and shuffling the Beach’s Asana comp flooring to make a more uniform surface. Remember that landing on this surface is different than standard blue padding or crash pads, and if you’d like to know more about it please ask at the desk.
Pads stacked to be re-placed.
Brett Merlin and Brent Apgar considering the pad puzzle.
Highline Setting Starts & Carlo and Jon are back!
Today was the first day of setting for SBS Season VI Comp 3 – the Highball/Highline Comp. Last night after they finished improving the padding we stripped the Beach and the Dojo. When we strip the walls, part of the time is always spent removing stuck holds. We are only able to access the back of the Beach, part of the River, a very small section of the Hueco, and most of the Dojo, and when a hold is stuck in one of those places it’s often preferable to unbolt the hold using a long arm and wrench on one side of the wall and a pair of vice grips on the other. Last night, to welcome Carlo home, we let him be the vice grip guy on a hold stuck high on the roof section of the Dojo. As is obvious if you consider the height of the Dojo cave and the depth of the workout space above the Dojo, there isn’t much room to fit a setter in to get at the t-nuts. You have to crawl on your belly to reach some of the topmost t-nuts. Dusty is an understatement. This is what Carlo looked like after two long plane flights, a 15 hour layover in Boston, major jet lag, a few beers, an hour and a half of stripping, and 10 minutes with the vice grips. Was that shirt clean? Oops. Doesn’t Carlo look glad to be back?
The dust on his shirt kinda looks like a weird alien print, or something you'd see on the cover of a Tool album.
When we took down the tufa, this is what the wall looked like.
Garrett forerunning an early iteration of a problem for the Highball/Highline on Saturday. Jon's shadow watches him.
Setting Update for 8.24 & 8.25, More New Taping, a Job, an Invitation, and a Really Long Bolt
First Things First – The Setting Update
You should know that we’re setting tomorrow (8.26), for our third day this week. So far we’ve completely stripped and are resetting the Font Boulder. We had a meeting for part of today so that’s why we’re setting tomorrow–so the boulder is super full! We took the big volumes down in preparation for the upcoming ABS Sanctioned Gun Show on September 25th. Click HERE to find out more or to register online for the event, or for the 4 comp SBS Season VI package that comes with a free t-shirt and other benefits.
Joel Zerr using the tools at his disposal.
Speaking of volumes, here’s Joel Zerr, a setter from Nevada, showing us another handy use for those big volumes while setting at High Altitude Fitness in Incline Village, Lake Tahoe, Nevada (where I guest set when I was visiting my family last month). High Altitude Fitness was so inspired by Psychedelia that they threw their own blacklight comp last year and hired pro climber and setter Jason Kehl (who sometimes guests at the Spot) to help them set for it. It’s always nice to see a little gym doing their best for their community. But I digress…
More New Taping
Jonny's volume with Jon's griptape and jib job
There are actually 3 interesting things about this picture. See, on Tuesday Jon set a boulder using the little Motavation Volumes that Jonny brought home from setting the World Cup in Vail this year. Jon decided to see how a little grip tape would improve the volume, and he discovered that it makes it a really cool hold in it’s own right. Flipping it to an undercling proved a little too powerful, hence the little jib on the right face to keep you on the hold for a still-difficult move. The third cool thing about this picture is that you can see another addition to the Taping Revolution–the pink and red half & half. Innovation!!!
A Job
The Spot Climbing School is hiring a new coach for the 2010/2011 season. If you’re interested in applying, read THIS and then email coaching@thespotgym.com with a resume and cover letter.
An Invitation
Tomorrow, which is Thursday, August 26, 2010, The Spot is hosting a Welcome Back Bash for students and everyone else who’s back to regular life after summer vacation. Come on down to The Spot from 5-10pm for free climbing as well as burgers & Avery Beer and membership specials to get you set for the school year. Sign up for a SBS VI Season Package or a 2-Semester Student Membership and be entered in a raffle for cool prizes, including climbing shoes from La Sportiva! For more info check: Facebook | Welcome Back Bash or click HERE for more info.
And Finally, The Really Long Bolt!
How big is that bolt? Soooooo big! It's mindboggling!
We have a running joke here about how deeply into the boulder some of the t-nuts are set. Carlo was trying to put a foothold on the bottom of the Font, and kept having to get a bigger bolt…until this happened…
8-17-10 Setting Update
So a couple of things happened today. First off, a few weeks ago Daniel Woods went up to Minnesota and shaped his signature Nicros hold set. The new DW signature holds–2 copies each of a pinch set and a pocket set–are now up on the left Dojo.
Jon laying next to the DW Signature Set
Along with those are tons of other holds, since we set upwards of 20 new problems today on the left Dojo. One especially special part of this last set was the Bubble Triumvirate–a set of 2 gigantic bubble wrap features and 1 comp pour bubble wrap feature that make a U of amazingness on the headwall.
Jonny taping part of the Bubble Triumvirate
Also exciting was Jon’s taping revolution–the new chico. You’ll notice regular chico dots, stripes, and squiggles as well, but the new chico is formulated to better stay on the wall. Check it out on this ridiculous boulder problem:
Jon came up with a chico dot revolution--a way to make the chico stay...
So here’s the wall. More coming tomorrow…
The new Left Dojo
Discovering the Pogo – 3 video series by Jon and Carlo
The boys made these videos in conjunction with their sponsor Revolution/. It’s a 3 video series but they’re not too long and definitely worth watching, especially if you want to know how Carlo dynos so well, and what that funny thing he does with his leg is. Enjoy!
The Spot Route Setting Blog 