Vail World Cup 2009 Gravity wins 5-0

My Sad Day


Well, I had high hopes for this years Vail World Cup. Coming off a super strong nationals only a few weeks ago I figured I would do well. No such luck, I got second last! It was by far the worst comp of my life and the most embarrassing.

I felt good warming up, ate well, rested well in luxury with my wife in a fancy condo in Vail, but still blew it. I always try and focus on what I can learn from each failure, but this time I am a bit miffed. Mentally good, physically good, climbing bad.

The only thing I can attribute it to might be my warm up (but I still don't think thats it). At nationals I tried a new warm up routine, which worked well, so I tried it again, but it didn't work this time.

It was one of those, "oh no" moments for me. Everything was great until my first attempt on problem one. I read the beta wrong and hung out to long trying to get the flash. Normally not a big deal, rest until 1 min left and try it again. I rarely attempt a problem more than a couple times in comps anyway. But this time was different, the flash pump I got was so bad I new at the moment I dropped off the first try I might as well not bother pulling on again all day. It was unreal my hands were useless. I knew what I wanted them to do, but they were not listening. I could not hold on to anything the rest of the comp.

This has happened to me before, the proper duration and intensity of warm up have always been my Achilles, therefore in the past I always warmed up more then necessary, to be sure I would not flash pump, reasoning to much was better then to little. However, at nationals I tried a new technique, told to me by a friend, which worked wonders, it left me with more juice then my typical warm up, with no flash pump. I figured it would work again? It didn't. Maybe it was altitude, many guys were crushed by this. Don't know.

In the end you win some you lose some, I just find it frustrating when I can't figure what went wrong, usually I can pin point it, or at least have a general idea, this time I don't get it?

The Wall



I gotta say that the wall was much better than last year, not so much the wall itself as it was the same but the venue was now covered both from rain and sun, which for the competitors was a huge improvement, the walls themselves were good quality and flooring bomber.

Compared to last yer the comp itself was 100% improved from every standpoint. I have to hand it to USA climbing, they did an excellent job all around, I was very impressed how they turned it around this year. In my books last year was the worst organized comp I have attended, this year I would say it was nearly as well done as other world cups, which is a huge compliment. Great work.

The route setting was excellent, I think I can say the routes seemed nearly perfect from many standpoints. I have to be pretty picky to find any flaws, but since I am interested in route setting I will pass a couple comments. I think overall the mens quali routes were a little bit easier than normal (despite my efforts). In my view there was only one problem, which was poorly made. It was women's 4 in the semi's. The first move was a massive dyno, which shut down nearly all the women. Don't get me wrong I think dynos have their place, but this one meant that most of the strongest women who were short had no chance at all, but the taller ones sent at last to the bonus. For me it was just to height dependent to be fair. I guess my general comment would be there were a lot of height dependent moves for both mens and womens. The type of moves that could not be compensated in any way. But overall the setting was awesome.

The judging was fair and consistent, I heard they missed a few calls, but that is totally normal, they did everything they could to make it fair. There was only one bad problem; in semis there was some boundary tape which was in the crease between 2 walls which was not clear and to strong contenders missed it getting called off. I think the call mattered. Really it is the competitors responsibility but I noticed they did a better job explaining the routes and taping to each climber in finals. At least they learned. I think the judges did an excellent job.