Psicobloc Master Series

Have you every felt completely terrified yet utterly exhilarated at the same exact time? That is kind of how I would describe the Psicobloc Master Series. This competition is held in Park City, Utah at the Olympic Park. This year, I decided to try my hand at deep water soloing, and participated in the open qualifiers. It was to my surprise that I placed in the top 4 and advanced to the professional competition held 2 days later!

I can't really describe the feeling of being on the Psicobloc wall. Its incredibly raw to be in touch with yourself 50+ feet in the air with nothing to catch you but water. Its petrifying, but its also beautiful, pure, and completely surreal. I have never felt so alive, nor have I felt such an appreciation for the movement and technique of climbing. 

In the pro competition, I raced Paige Claassen in the 8 v.s. 9 race. After watching her top out about 10 feet ahead of me, I really had a chance to sit back and enjoy the crowd. I think the best thing about this competition is the 2000 spectators urging you forward. It was because of them that I could get to the top and subsequently have to courage to jump back off. I think this competition is much more about conquering your fears and doubts far more that conquering a route. It was for this reason that I walked away feeling completely content with my performance. 

Soybu recently released their Mandala collection and I have to say my favorite item was the Debbie Tank. I absolutely love the cutout in the back and the light material that makes training in Arizona heat bearable! 

On to the next adventure!

Enjoying The Ride

Enjoying The Ride 


Its funny to think that often times, competitions get more difficult the more you do them. Sure, with more exposure comes more confidence, more experience, and more general knowledge of the sport. Yet, each passing comp brings a new wave of expectation and unnecessary pressure that feels like a weight vest on the wall. When I look back on old climbing videos, its very clear that I have changed (apart from the obvious 5 inches in height and 20 pounds in muscle).  I always had a carefree demeanor and a giant grin back then, indifferent to highpoint and unconcerned with my placement- I just wanted to have fun.

Thats not to say that competitions can't be fun. In fact, I think the best athletes of all are the ones who enjoy putting on a show. With that being said, I think its too easy to fall into the trap of comparing yourself to a version of you that doesn't exist anymore. As climbers and athletes, we grow, we get stronger in some areas, and despite our best efforts, we get weaker in others.  Ive learned that the only way to be happy with my climbing is to focus on the present and the things that I can control. If that means I feel about 50% on an important day of competition, I will strive to reach 100% of that 50%. Its a difficult pill to swallow, that we can't be our best selves every single day, but thats why I think its so important to enjoy competition climbing for what it is, and to separate results from the process that it takes to get them.

This summer, I tried to really focus on enjoying myself and ignoring the results. By doing so, both my attitude and my placement improved. At the Regional Championship, I managed to take gold in both speed and sport after almost missing the last clip and subsequently   down climbing through the crux. At the Divisional Championship, I also took home the gold in speed and sport and helped my team take home the divisional title. At the National Championship, I was so happy to compete in finals for both speed and sport, and walked away from the competition feeling both happy with my performance and with my attitude.

Thank you to Soybu for the awesome clothes from their Orchid Pond - my personal favorite item for competitions was the Elodie Leggings!

On to the next adventure...

April

April has been filled with crazy competitions routes, 100 degree weather (hey, its Arizona, right?), and potentially a new passion! Here is my recap below.


Climbing: All things climbing-related have been at a bit of a standstill as I transitioned from bouldering to sport season. The change is always hard, because it seems like for several months you are neither in endurance nor power shape. HOWEVER, this miserable transition was offset by one of the coolest climbing competitions the valley has to offer: Thrash and Dangle Fest! This comp provides not only some of the most unconventional problems, but also some alternative side activities including blindfolded climbing, ninja warrior obstacle courses, and balance beam races. I was excited to win the open category for the 3rd year in a row and take home the cash purse!

Track: Throughout the last couple of months, I have taken an interest in one of the less noted track and field events, pole vaulting. I began vaulting to get my mind off of climbing immediately following the Bouldering National Championship and was hooked instantly. As a senior, I don't foresee involvement in high school track following the State Championship. With that being said, it has been a wonderful experience learning the intricacies of a new sport and using what little time I have had to find passion in an unlikely place.

Soybu: Recently, Soybu has come out with their Mod Nouveau collection and I have to say I absolutely love it. My personal favorite is the Kyra Tank, whose mesh fabric has kept me cool, even through afternoon track practices.

I look forward to the upcoming state track meet and regional climbing competition. Stay tuned for more updates throughout summer and fall!

Spring

Spring


Following the National Bouldering Championship, all things climbing-related have been at a stand still. With college decisions being just around the corner and competition season still in the distance, I have taken the break as an opportunity to return to my roots and remember why I love climbing. This meant late night gym sessions with friends, absolutely destroyed skin, and finding time to go climbing outside!

Scoping out the project 

Indeed, the gym climber did take a day to explore Joe's Valley. Who would have thought? Upon arrival, I quickly hopped on Nerve Extension V10 to try for a quick send. On my second go, I slid of the last hold, a razor sharp crimp, and left part of my fingertip behind. Luckily I walked away with a pretty gnarly battle scar though.

Im looking forward to all things that the rest of the spring has to offer, from Soybu's Mykonos collection to watching the Open National Championship. My break has been enjoyable and very much needed, but I can't wait to get back into the swing of training and preparation. As always, thank you to my parents for giving me the resources that allow me to pursue a sport I am so passionate about and Soybu for giving me clothes to wear along the way!

Competition Climbing (Through the Lens of a Comp Climber)

 I fell in love with comp climbing after seeing a video of Alex Puccio dominate at the 2011 National Championship. My eyes were glued to my computer screen as I watched her stick the crux of the final boulder problem. She held her composure as the crowd roared and the announcers screamed "ALEX PUCCIO IS FROM ANOTHER PLANET". Almost giddy, I jumped up and did a little dance for the reigning National Champion. It was at that moment that I knew competition climbing was all I wanted to do. From then on, I knew exactly what I wanted to be.

And so, I was raised a comp climber.

My climbing days were spent running grueling power-endurance exercises, and my exposure to nature was often limited to a glance at the moon on my way home from late practice. I know for the veterans, my type of climbing sounds unpleasing, maybe even miserable. For me though, I never had interest in anything else. I was part of a new generation of athletes- the ones who would prefer a day of rigorous training to a day spent in nature in hopes of eventually standing on top of a podium.

There's a funny thing about trying to become the best climber though. Maybe its ignorance or unfamiliarity, but I have always found it much more difficult to quantify ability in climbing than in any other individual sports. In running, you can time who is the fastest; in javelin, you can check who throws the farthest; in gymnastics, you can see who hits each of their previously-memorized marks. Yet in climbing, we try to decide who is the best simply through a series of unknown, and relatively untested "problems". With talent at an all-time high, it is not unlikely that the most powerful climber loses because he cannot complete the slab wall, or the highly favored competitor gets shut down by a dyno on her very first climb. To these scenarios, it would seem that being the most well-rounded athlete is the clearest solution. Yet, this can also be problematic. When a "well-rounded" climber does well on each problem but fails to get a top, it is likely that he will find himself trailing behind the specialists.

It is for this reason that finding the "best" rock climber is so difficult, for the most burly climber, the most balanced climber, and the most crafty climber is very rarely the same person. Obviously there are patterns, and we generally see the stronger competitors finish around the same spot. Yet, if we were to run a competition with the top-tier athletes 3 times with 3 different sets of routes, the likelihood that the results would stay consistent is little to none.

That is why I think competitions do not aim to find the order of climbing ability amongst athletes, but rather the order of ability given the day and given the particular routes. There are no guarantees in any sporting event, but I think in climbing particularly, certainty is even harder to find.
Over the last couple years, I have found myself standing in the majority of the places in the top 10- its been an ongoing joke that someday I might collect every medals to complete the set. That is not to say that my ability or my training has varied from competition to competition. On the contrary, I think the only thing that ever really varies is the route I am given. As a competitor, it is difficult to rationalize training for a single event when so many variables seem "up in the air". I guess the fault in being strictly a comp climber lies in the uncertainty of victory, and the unwavering fear that despite countless hours of preparation, results are very dependent on the problems and how we solve them.

So is competition climbing here to stay? Who knows. Sometimes I am skeptical that it is possible to find the best climber through such a fleeting trial. Climbing's facets are hard to judge, and even harder to compare amongst high-level competitors. For an athlete, this means training your hardest and hoping the cards lay in your favor. For a spectator, this means that you may not know on who you should bet. And, for the very few who transcend the uncertainty to consistently dominate their field, this means that eating your Wheaties has definitely been working.

Fall

In the midst of stressful deadlines and college applications, I have FINALLY gotten an opportunity to sit down and reflect on the last several months. After a disappointing performance at the SCS National Championship, I started to have some doubts about my climbing. This lack of confidence  contributed to several more surprising losses and further impacted my headspace. Disheartened and despondent, I was forced to reevaluate the reasons for which I compete. It seems like just another cliche moment in any competitive athlete's career, but I had to abandon my focus on winning and concentrate more on why I began climbing in the first place. In doing so, I was able regain some much-needed confidence and direct my attention to my passion rather than the results it yielded.

Deadpoint Competition 2014

With a clear mind and a positive perspective, I have only seen improvements in my climbing, both in training and in competition. A first place at the Regional Championship last month gave me confidence that a mental readjustment was all that I needed to rise out of my slump. It is still very early in the season, but I can honestly say that no matter what happens at the National Championship this February, I will have no regrets about the way I have prepared.

Desert Classic 2014

As always, I have loved the opportunity to compete it Soybu clothes. My person favorite from the Murano collection was the Nadia Tee. The formfitting material has kept me warm during the frigid Arizona winters and has served as an extra layer during every competition this season!

shirt depicted above 

As this year comes to a close, I look forward to seeing what 2015 holds. I never could have expected that 2014 would be such a rebuilding year- both physically and mentally. The last 12 months have been difficult and discouraging, yet I know that I have learned tenacity far more than I ever would have had my year been failure-free. I truly believe that things fall apart so better things will fall together, and I can only hope that 2015 will bring the success I have waited for.

Unpredictability

I consider myself an avid planner. I prefer to know what is going on at what time, and similarly, what I should expect in both the near and distant future. Unpredictability scares me, as it does most people, and therefore I try to avoid the inconstant at all costs. (side note: if my mom happens to be reading this, please note that disorganization does not necessarily correlate with unpredictability, and this post by no means can be used as a case for me to clean my room.) For this reason, it was much to my dismay that almost immediately after the World Championship this summer I tore a tendon in my wrist, preventing me from climbing for the majority of bouldering season.

My unpredictable injury left me completely confused and devastated, with nowhere to put my now-useless 8 month plan on "How To Become the National Champion". I spent a large portion of my recovery trying desperately to salvage all the plans I had made pre-injury. It was only through these efforts that I truly discovered the danger in planning. Despite our efforts, some unpredictability is completely unavoidable, and by depending on variables that may or may not remain constant, we set ourselves up for inevitable disappointment. By accepting that unpredictability is the only true constant, I was finally able to heal emotionally and simultaneously heal physically from my season-ending injury.

My inability to climb gave me a chance to explore new facets of the sport that were never in my original plan. I had the opportunity to coach the younger up-and-coming kids, who made me remember why I began climbing in the first place. I had a chance to watch my best friends compete and crush both in the adult and youth circuits (S/O to Grace Mckeehan, Claire Buhrfeind, Megan Mascarenas, and Margo Hayes for killing it at both Adult National Championships this year). Finally, I had the honor of getting to know one of my personal climbing role-models: Alex Johnson. Alex proved to me that not all surprises are awful, when she presented my with a spot on the North Face Young Gun Rookie Team at the National Championship at which I could not compete.

Despite all that I have gained from sitting out for the last 6 months, I am ecstatic to finally throw my hat back into the ring and get back to doing what I love. To say that I don't have a goal would be prevarication, as most competitive athletes strive for the same thing. With that being said however,  I look forward to approaching the upcoming season with no expectations and facing unpredictability head-on. With an open mind and without a plan, I can't wait to compete this weekend at the first SCS competition of the season, and see what surprises (good and bad), the future holds.