Yank 'n' Yard '09

From a personal, critic-level perspective, i guess i'd have to go with two out of four stars for ye olde comp. i can level very little of my criticism on the gym, because, as usual they did a fantastic job of production and routesetting. But i had one putrid day of climbing. It did, however, assume a positive slope as the day progressed.

The format was a bit different this year. For the last few years it's been an ABS sanctioned event; but this year they also had a $3,000 purse for the top 3 in men's and women's, and another $3,000 or so worth of "raffle" prizes. Also they added a sick roof on the upstairs boulder cave in time for the comp. Heck, they even roped in Timmy Fairfield to routeset. All this resulted in about 200 people showing up-- around twice as many as last year. This (and a d.j. who couldn't find the volume knob) led to my snarling consternation.* There were way too many humans in that gym. They did have the sense to stagger (with only an hour of overlap) the open division and the age-groupers; but even so--- The morning session was two hours long. The goal was to do as many climbs as you could, and tally your top eight scores. In two hours i had done two (2) climbs, and had managed exactly eight burns. Sometimes you'd spend 15+ minutes waiting in line to get a second try on a climb. There were so many people that in order to give climbers room to fall and swing, the rest would have to squeeze back like sardines to the background. i mean, you couldn't even get a good look at the moves on your proj whilst waiting. Flippin' nuts. And to really grind in the irritation, Jazzy Jeff kept Welcome to the Jungle cranked to mosh-pit magnitude, such that you'd have to cup your hands into an ear horn and lean forward to hear the judge call your name.

i left after the first round to take a lab mid-term, and i almost didn't go back for the second round. But i was glad i did. The morning's nerves had worn away, and not having slept for the antecedent decade had once again stopped affecting my timing, and i started climbing like i thought i should. And that's saying something about my level of frustration, 'cuz i started with really low expectations. But i let go of the notion of working hard problems, and made it my goal to just have fun and snag eight. Turned out to be a fine strategy. my torn oblique continued to plague me through the day, but the second half felt more relaxed somehow. Probably some people had left, i found a way to avoid the decibels, and i found a mellow group to work some stuff with. Ended up getting exactly eight climbs, and 3rd place in the 30-39 age group--which is funny because i'm pretty positive i didn't climb anything harder than v2. Oh, and i also won a pair of climbing shoes (which i happened to need quite badly).

i do wish i'd climbed better and felt better, but i can't complain about the shwag haul.


*O.K.--and the fact that i fell repeatedly off of stuff that should have been light warmups.