Blog #1

The World Cup

I promised myself after my 16^th Place finish last year that I would be PROPERLY prepared for the 2009 World Cup in Vail.  I can honestly say that my training up until the comp set me up perfectly to perform well on plastic.  Setting routes at a climbing gym allows you to set things that either mimic World Cup style boulders or isolate your personal weaknesses.  And that's exactly what I did.  Unfortunately things weren't to play out exactly as I had planned.  While spending a rainy weekend in Rile two weeks prior to the World Cup, I pinched the shit out of a hold and strained a ring-finger pulley.  Taking a few weeks off to repair the injury wasn't going to be possible, so I just had to try and pull through.

Qualifiers were set to go down on my 21^st birthday, so partying wasn't going to be an option if I made it to Semi-Finals.  My warm-up didn't go very well and I spent most of my time in isolation praying that I wasn't going to have to grab any left hand crimpers.  After a mile-long walk from iso to the wall my heart started beating a bit faster than normal upon hearing the cheering crowd, but the good temps and the steady breeze were enough to calm me down.  I climbed well on the first 4 boulders, but on the 5^th one my body decided to shut down and I wasn't able to complete.  Bummer cause pinches are my style and I was slipping off a pinch.

I qualified for Semi-Finals in 16^th Place which was a bit of a disappointment, but at least I had the chance to make up for it in the next round.  Warm-up for semis went pretty well.  More energy.  Still more hopes that I wouldn't have to crimp with my left hand.  Soon enough I was being escorted to the climbing wall, then presented with the 1^st problem.  Climb-It slopers and pinches.  Perfect.  I jumped on the wall and started making my way up.  Two moves in, fiddled with my feet, lunged for a pinch, grabbed it wrong, back on the pad.  Shit!  The World Cup is all about flashing and I had just failed on what was supposed to be the easiest boulder of the day.  Luckily I pulled it together on my 2^nd attempt, but the problem had already done its damage.  And it was all downhill from there.  Somehow I ended the day in 13^th.  But I would have gladly taken a worse position if it meant a better day of climbing for me.

Finals at a bouldering comp are always a treat to watch.  Sure I was bummed I couldn't participate this year, but I can never pass on a chance to be inspired.  And inspired I was.  The problems were very well set, allowing each competitor to show his/her strengths and weaknesses to the crowd.  Too bad KO didn't get to display his gecko strength.  Jonas Baumann took it home for the guys and none other than my girlfriend, Alex Puccio, took it home for the girls.  I am very proud of her as she trained very hard for this and after a disappointing semi-final round she rallied and was on top of her game for finals.    Much respect for all the climbers in finals, purely because it followed a very demanding semi-final round.  I was certainly sore and tired.  In fact, I'm still sore and tired.

Now I'm back to my normal schedule.  Two days a week setting at The Spot.  Resting a lot.  This summer should yield some interesting accomplishments.  I know we're all waiting for the first legitimate female 8B send.  And there are some amazing projects out here that are sure to go down.  Alex and I will be based in CO all summer, so if you happen to pass through, feel free to hit us up and we'll be happy to show you around.  Later.