Climbing Travel Life: World Youth Climbing Championships Recap

Hey Team,

Well, another World's has come and gone and I am once again left with great memories and friendships. Over the four days of competition, there were great ups and downs and unexpected downpours (literally).

As Stacey previously wrote, the first qualifiers were great. Both Mike and I flashed our respective routes, as well as seven other Canadians. The next day, the second qualifiers took place and although we both did not send, Mike and I made it high enough to go through to the semifinal round. Semifinals the next day were slightly ridiculous. The routes were extremely hard, with the older boy's routes rating around 5.14, which to those nonclimbers, is very very hard to do in one go.

I was pretty unhappy with my performance for semi's, as I fell at this crazy hard bottleneck where 10 other competitors fell as well. I didn't make it to finals, and with countbacks I finished in 14th place. Not terrible, but I most definitely wasn't satisfied. It was a crushing disappointment for me, as this was my last youth competition and I wanted it to end on a high note. Yet there will always be more climbing, and I am forever thankful for that.

Michael climbed extremely well and finished in 16th place, an awesome place in a tougher than tough category.

Three Canadians made it through to the final round, Matt Johnson, JJ Mah, and Eric Sethna. We were all stoked to watch them tear it up on the wall, but unfortunately Mother Nature was a little cranky. There were three routes set for finals, with 2 categories climbing on each route. The first three categories climbed, providing the crowd with a great show. Eric Sethna climbed extremely well, making it up three quarters of the way, finishing in 8th place. Just as the next wave of categories were about to begin, great threatening black clouds gathered in the sky and torrents of rain descended upon the wall. Racing undernearth nearby tarps, we watched and groaned as the rain drenched the wall. Within about twenty minutes, the rain let up, and competition officials deliberated as to whether or not to cancel the rest of the competition. It was decided to replace the wet holds with identical dry ones and continue on.

We returned to our seats, and watched as Matt, the first climber out, walked up to the wall and tied into the rope. Then, just as he was about to start, it once again began to pour. This time, the Canadian team raced to our buses and ate pizza while the rain poured down and competition officials once again gathered for a decision. After about an hour, we headed back to our hotel to wait, while Matt, JJ, Andrew and Stacey were stuck in Isolation. Around 8:00, they came back to the hotel with the news that the rest of the difficulty competition was cancelled, meaning that the results from semi finals became the official results. Disappointing for sure, but JJ finished in 4th, and Matt in 8th, both highly respectable finishes.

The next day was the speed competition. The Canadian view of this form of climbing is best summed up by Andrew Wilson "Speed is stupid". All the girls got out the hair elastics and did up eachother's hair in funky, hilarious styles. Pat Valade did a 360 dyno to the buzzer, and Marshal German and JJ Mah wore jeans underneath their team shorts. Needless to say, we didn't place too well, and only Eric Sethna made it to semi finals.

After a delayed awards ceremony, the team headed back to our now beloved hotel (the Rancho de Carolina) with our three team buses and wicked tour guide, Edison. After a great dinner, presents and heartfelt thanks were given to the staff, as well as our crazy bus drivers and Edison. Then, as team captains, Matt and I gave a speech to the coaches, thanking them for all their hard work and love. Our gift to Andrew was a bag filled with rocks that we had each written on and signed. This was a reminder of when, before the competition, he had us each write our fears and thoughts that we didn't want with us while we climbed on rocks. We took these rocks to a lake, and threw them in. It was pretty cool. There were a great deal of tears from many parents (go Mom), kids and coaches. After that, we were suprised with a great band and bonfire. A great ending to a great trip!

After dinner, a few of us went to a competition afterparty at Club Tsunami in Ibarra. It was a gong show to say the least. Though I must say it was pretty hilarious to see Adam Ondra strut his stuff on the dance floor. And Michael made friends..ahem..with a cute little Czech girl...go Mikey go. Stacey and I were fairly concerned for our little brother, but we also found it pretty hilarious as well.

World's was a great experience once again, and although I am terribly sad that I am now an old fart, I am excited for great climbing experiences in the future, as I am positive that there will be more!

Currently, we are back in Quito after some more tearful goodbyes this morning. Tomorrow, we are flying to the Galapagos for an 8 day boat tour. I'm psyched for the gigantic turtles!!

Love you all,

Vikki