There are so many people you meet along the way that you may only get the chance to know for a moment in time. Sometimes a few of those people are the ones that leave the greatest imprints on your life. This journey begins with one of them; a man who’s name I don’t even know.

            “Where are you off to?” An old man asks me as we’re sitting on the hard plastic airport chairs waiting for our 7:40am flight to board in Denver.

            “Italy,” I lied, stuffing Fritz’s head back into her carry-on crate. I wasn’t supposed to leave for the Arco Rockmaster for another week.

            “Wow! What are you doing in Italy?” He seemed genuinely interested.

I’m not the girl who bears my soul to my barber, or in this case, the stranger seated next to me on the plane. I hate mornings, small talk, and especially explaining the sport of climbing to people who have no idea what I’m talking about. “So is it, like, how fast you go?” For life in general most people would say yes; but in rock climbing, absolutely not. This isn’t NASCAR. My attitude most certainly isn’t helping the promotion and growth of my passion, but honestly—these strangers probably don’t care. They just want to pass the time.

“Just hanging out, sightseeing and stuff,” I told the man unenthusiastically, hoping the conversation would die off.

“That’s wonderful! I think everyone should spend some time traveling when they’re young. You know, when I was your age…” He went on to tell me his life story.

This is when my eyes usually gloss over and I make noncommittal sounds like “hmm,” and “ahh.” When he started telling me he was a cow farmer from Wisconsin who moved to Colorado to chase a dream, I tuned in. He told me how he spent some of his college years thumbing around Europe, eating some of the best pizza he’s ever had. I realized I had a lot more in common with this man than I had initially thought, and it made me feel significantly more compassionate towards both him, and our conversation.

Just as I was about to open up and tell him I was “a climber” and the real reason I was going to Italy was for a big competition, they called his section to board.

“Have a really great time,” he said as he stood up. “Traveling is such a great experience.” I smiled and said thanks. He winked as he turned to board.

My seat was in the very front of the aircraft. I plopped down, shoved a comforting hand inside Fritz’s house, and we both fell asleep. I awoke as the plane was touching down in Minneapolis, met my mother at the baggage claim and gathered my things. As we were at the curb loading the car, I saw the older gentleman from the waiting area again and waved. He approached our van and extended his hand. When I reached out to grasp his, I felt something folded transfer from his palm to mine.

“Have a piece of pizza over there for me,” he said. He turned and walked away and I unfolded a twenty dollar bill. This man completely proved me wrong about strangers not caring. He may not have drastically changed my life, but I will remember him forever.

10. The Duel

The top four winners of the difficulty competition race against each other on two exact same 7C+ (5.13a) lead routes. This was very exciting to watch because it wasn’t just speed climbing up jugs, it was a hard technically and powerfully set sport route! Cedric Lachat beat Adam Ondra by 8 milliseconds on the men’s side, and Ja-In Kim was the women’s winner of this unique, fun-to-watch twist on competition climbing.

An entire restaurant/bar/dance floor was designated to host the Rockmaster after party. A huge cake was decorated especially for the event, and there was a classy champagne toast. The dance floor was packed full of athletes bouncing around to American pop songs blasting out of huge speakers by a live DJ. Everyone from Maja Vidmar to Jerry Moffat was in attendance.

            There is always something going on the weekend of the Rockmaster. With five different areas competition, you can find yourself watching some sort of event at all times. There is men’s and women’s bouldering, speed, lead on-sight, lead after-work, and the duel. Every discipline is just as entertaining as the next, and you never find yourself bored looking for something to do.

            Surrounded by good friends who just happen to be some of the best climbers in the world how can you not have a good time?!

            The organizing committee is very welcoming to the athletes. They really strive for the attending competitors to be happy and comfortable, and are generously willing to help with travel and lodging. Our hotel during the event was the quaint Marchi located right in the middle of the central town square, walking distance from all the shops, restaurants, and competition venue.

            There was a live DJ spinning awesome music at the event all weekend!

            Large concession stands serving hot pizza, panini sandwiches, fries, coke, and beer were conveniently located at the venue.

In central Arco, there were many restaurants, small and large selling pizza, pasta, sandwiches, ice cream and bakery items.

            The entire town of Arco basically shuts down to watch the competitions. I have never performed in front of a bigger crowd. Everyone was stretched out on a huge grass lawn, lounging and tanning.

There was no pushing or shoving to get closer to the front for “the best spot.” The walls are so big that everyone on the lawn can sit or even lay down to watch. Even though viewing is done in a relaxing manner, the crowd is still incredibly psyched, and nobody holds back from cheering loudly.

Many people brought crashpads and blow-up mattresses to sit on during the day, and blankets and sleeping bags for night watching.

Because everybody in Arco watches the event, people get very excited to see the competitors around town and in the central square. I found myself being stopped to sign autographs and offered free gelato!

 

            Only the eight best women are invited to compete in the Sint Roc Boulder Contest at the Rockmaster. In attendance was myself, Akiyo Noguchi from Japan, Alizee Dufraisse from France, Anna Stohr from Austria, Chloe Graftiaux from Belgium, Olga Shalagina from Ukraine, Sara Morandi from Italy, and Boulder World Champion Yulia Abramchuck from Russia. At 9am the day of our event, we arrived at the arena and were given two hours to openly attempt the competition problems together. Head setter Jacky Godoffe watched us working the problems. He stopped us halfway through our session to tweak them, and invited us back an hour later to finish. After our two hours of practice were over the setters tweaked the problems a second time.

Then we were allowed to choose in what order we wanted to compete. I chose to be sixth. We returned to the wall at 2pm for the actual competition. All eight women were placed in our chosen running order on the mats and introduced one-by-one. Then we all sat on a bench facing the wall, able to watch one another.

 

In our chosen order, each person was allowed three attempts at each problem, one attempt at a time. For example, everybody gave one attempt at problem #1 before anybody gave a second attempt. Only when all eight of us had either sent the problem, or used up all three of our attempts, could anyone move on to problem #2.

After everyone had tried/sent problem #1 the person who did the worst on it was eliminated; so only seven competitors moved on to problem #2. The competitor eliminated was then skipped in the running order. After the seven remaining girls had either sent or given their three tries on problem #2, the two competitors who did the worst were eliminated. Five moved on to problem #3.

The five of us remaining were each given our three attempts at problem #3. Only one girl was able to finish the problem, winner of the Arco Rockmaster Sint Roc Boulder Contest Alizee Dufraisse from France.

 

Alas I ended up being one of the two competitors eliminated. The final three girls, Anna Stohr, Chloe Graftiaux, and Alizee Dufraisse, moved onto problem #4 and against their best efforts it remained unclimbed.

ITALY… HELLO?!? Need I say more? Here are some of mine and Kelly’s favorite photos from the trip. Just to drive the point home.