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



Andrew Wilson, great head coach!!


Mike cruising his first qualifier.. (tilt head sideways for proper viewing)


Cheering on the climbers!


Cheeky smiles with the boys (Matt left, JJ right)


Our after dinner suprise...great band!

Pictures

Hey All,
Here are some pictures for your viewing pleasure. I´m sorry there´s not more, but it takes forever and I have no patience! There will be more don´t worry! Hope you like these!
Love,
Vikki

Flowers..


Hanging Around...


Fruit and Vegetable Market...


Playing around with Team Ecuador...


Mike gettin ready to train...

Youth World Cup: Day 1

An awesome first day for Canada with 9/22 of our kids topping out! A country record!
Vikki and Mike were two of the nine... making their routes look easy. Way to go sibs!

Today was super hot, so everyone is back at the hotel for the afternoon chilling in the shade while the new routes get put up for the second quali´s tomorrow.

Go Canada Go!!!

I would also like to point out that I no longer have a cankle... thank you very much!

Team Canada

Hey Everyone!

On the 16th we were joined by the rest of our Northern counterparts in Quito. We stayed at an amazing hotel called the Veija Cuba, which was a great change from our cheap $5.00 a night hostels that we´ve been staying at. The rest of our family, Mum, Dad and Chris joined us as well. Mum and Dad took off the next day for their jungle tour, which I was immensely jealous of. The next few days, we chilled out and explored Quito. The Basilica was one of the most amazing churches I have ever been to, mainly because you could climb all the way to the top of the towers and stand out on this tiny, crumbly ledge totally exposed and view all of Quito. Mum and Dad weren´t too psyched on that. It was pretty intense. We also took a tram up one of the mountains, and embarked on a 3 hour hike that involved Chris and I soloing up a 5.2 cliff to get to what we thought was the top of the mountain. Unfortunately we were surrounded by fog, and when we descended, the clouds cleared and showed us that we weren´t even close. Rather disappointing, but what can you do?
The Canadian team trained for a few days at the wall in Quito, which is quite a bit higher than the one in Ibarra. It was great to climb with the team again, it´s always so much fun. There are a ton of newbies this year, and everyone was pulling hard at the wall. It´s going to be a wicked competition, I think everyone is going to do really well. Of course we have the best coaches anyone could ask for. It´s pretty sweet to have Stacey as a coach. Andrew Wilson and Knut Rokne are coaching as well.
We arrived back in Ibarra yesterday. We´re staying at a hotel outside of town. It´s gorgeous, with a field to play games and a pool to push eachother into (three people have gone in fully clothed so far).
Last night an impromptu game of soccer took place. It was a blast until I got booted in the toe..that was the end of that. Dinner was great, and we celebrated Zak´s 14th birthday (he´s on the team, it´s his first year competing!)
Today we went to a lake at the top of a mountain that has an active volcano at the bottom of it. It is one of the most beautiful lakes I have ever seen. Pictures will be posted, don´t fret!
The competition starts on the 23rd. Keep checking back to see how it went!
I miss you all at home, and I hope that everyone is having a chill rest of the summer.
Remember to smile!

Much love,

Vikki

p.s. an interesting note...Stacey seems to have developed allergies to some kind of bug bite as she has developed some lovely cankles that seem to have a fever. (She´s not too happy with that description, but I think its very fitting!)

Cheers!!

I Hate Buses...

Since our last post, we decided to stay in Ibarra until the 15th to continue climbing on the competition wall. We are far more comfortable here, as we have made friends with the Ecuadorian climbing team. They have proven to be a great source of laughter and entertainment in a city where the best thing to do is go and climb plastic. It is not a huge team, but what they lack in size they make up for in heart. It is very inspiring to climb with such talented and determined individuals. Most of the girls are barely 14, but are climbing with strength and technique far beyond their years. The boys are beasts, and in between practical jokes and impromptu games of whatever meets their fancy at the time, they're tearing it up on the wall. They did not distance themselves from us at all, but immediately befriended us and encouraged us to climb with them.
Alas, there have been a few downsides to this trip so far.
Number 1: I accidently erased all of my photos from the first week of our trip, which included the videos of us cliff jumping in Mindo. I was going through my camera, playing with different settings and naively reformatted my pictures, which unbenownst to me, erases all of your previous pictures! Besides getting a rare incurable disease, dying and all those other horrible things, I thought that this was the worst thing in the world that could happen to me. (Wait for Number 2 and 3!!)
Number 2: Our trip to the coast. A one day trip on Sunday with Bagre, a coach from Cuenca that is going to be the head route setter at World's. We were going to relax, spend some time in the sun. Never mind that it was a 4 hour trip, that we had to wake up at 3:30 in the morning, and when we got there the sun was nowhere to be found. Nevermind that that particular day was the day that my insides decided they wanted out, not the way they came in, they were explorers and decided that down was the best way out, and as fast as possible. Nevermind that we were all pink tomatoes at the end of the day. Nevermind that the beach was mediocre, there were no bearable toilets to be found (not too good for my condition, a hidden beach cove was converted into a toilet at one point). No, all of those things are fine, just fine. The bus ride home deserves a number all on its own.
Number 3: So, because we thought 2 more hours at the beach would be worth it, we skipped the bus that would take us straight back to Ibarra, and instead took a 4:00 bus that first took us to San Lorenzo where we would take another bus to Ibarra. No big deal right? My God, were we ever in for a horrible, horrible suprise. The first bus was already full, so we were stuck standing for almost half an hour before we could scoop a seat. A pregnant lady later got on the bus, and because it was so crowded, her ready to pop stomach was smooshed against my face. We were about to recieve our incredibly poor karma for not giving up our seat to her. After waiting for half an hour at the bus stop at San Lorenzo and running across the street multiple times to a dirty disgusting toilet where turkeys lurked around, and two young boys ran around playing with large machinery, the bus finally arrived. Relief? Not quite. If we thought the other bus was full, this one was bursting. Bagre, realizing that this was the last bus, told us we have to try and get out. We literally elbowed our way through a sea of bodies, and inserted ourselves in the last single air pockets available. "In 30 minutes we will have a seat" Bagre said hopefully. Unfortunately, he was wrong. At first it was funny, we made jokes and kept up our hopes that a seat would open up. 2 hours later, the smiles had disappeared and I sank to the floor and curled up into a ball hoping that this would convince my contorting stomach to keep all of its contents. Horrible cramps were racking my body, and all I could do was sit there and focus all my energy on keeping from exploding. We had 10 minutes of relief when the police stopped the bus and we all had to get out. Unfortunately, Michael had a bag on his back and the police armed with large rifles sternly told him to put the bag on the table to be searched. Not understanding, he stared at the blankly, and they were not happy, motioning with their guns for him to put the bag down. Stacey and I told him what they were saying, and the tension disappeared. Poor Mike, he thought they were going to shoot him. The fresh air made me feel better, but soon we were back on the bus where the air was heavy with human persipiration. I don't really remember the last hour and a half, I was in a daze. When we finally arrived in Ibarra at 10:00 at night, we were all exhausted, hungry and cranky as hell. Unfortuantely, my stomach was getting impatient, so I begged everyone that we just go back to the hotel and eat whatever was in the room. I got reproachful stares from my siblings, motivated by their empty stomaches, but I needed a bathroom. Oh god, what a day.
The only positive thing about that trip that I can think of, is a cool picture I got of Mike walking on the beach. But...I still can't decide if it was worth it.

Yesterday, I spent the entire day in bed recovering, Stacey and Mike doing much of the same. I feel much better today. Mike felt poorly last night, but is much better today. Unfortunately, Stacey is now the receptor of the stomach curse, and she's been hurling all morning. Hopefully we all feel better soon, as we have to make our way to Quito tomorrow.

I can't wait to see the rest of my family and the Canadian team.

Love to all,

Vikki

More Ibarra

Hello all you crazy people! Today is a rest day. Yesterday was supposed to be a rest day...but then we went to the wall and got all psyched so we climbed. We've befriended a few of the climbers from the Ecuador team. They're very friendly people, and very strong too! We've been eating with them, and climbing with them as well. The routes are very hard, but they are setting new ones every couple of days, so we'll be getting great onsight practice in.
The weather here is usually cloudy, though today the sun graced us with its presence. We went for a run around town today, though the car exhaust fumes were a bit much.
We're staying in Ibarra for a few more days, and then we decided to head back to Quito around the 10th to go and train at the wall there so we can get some endurance training in. Hopefully the routes there aren't so freakin hard!
Stacey and I are psyched, as there is supposed to be lot's of climbing around Cuenca where some of the climbers are from. They are very proud of their city, as apparently nothing is as good or as beautiful or as wicked as Cuenca! So Stace and I are going to check that out!
I'm not a huge fan of Ibarra and can't wait for the Canadian team to come and make it more interesting. I think this city is going to be shocked with all the foreigners during World's, as Stacey, Michael and I get alot of stares as we walk down the street.
Right well...CIAO!!!

Vikki

We miss Mindo already.

The hustle and bustle of Ibarra has us a bit overwhelmed. Our hotel is amazing tho. A huge room with french doors that open into a large central garden. The owners speak no english, but their daughter is our little translator.

We found the wall and did some climbing. Amazing wall, but only a few, very hard, routes up. We may have to return to Quito to train.

The local climbers are very friendly, and many speak english. We had the pleasure of watching the equador team train... very strong climbers!!!

Here are some photos of the wall.

Stace

(Sorry, I can't figure out how to rotate the photos... everything is in spanish!!!!!)

Fun in the sun

¡Hola!
Ecuador is an amazing country!!
Emerald hills rise up around us as our bus winds through the seemingly endless twists and turns towards Mindo, a small town north of Quito. We arrive mid-day and make our way to Hotel Gypsy where we laze for hours in the soft sway of our hammocks.
After an interesting conversation (with a lot of help from our trusty phrasebook) with the hotel owner, we decide to go on a little hike to some cascada´s (waterfalls). Once there our tour guide (which we were made to pay 3$ each for) took us strait to a cliff edge, threw a rock over, and motioned for us to jump. After a few moments of "¿agua metro?" we were assured we would not hit the bottom after the 12m fall. Im proud to say I was the first to have the balls to jump off.
After making a deal with one of the locals, Vikki jumped, then the local... and Mike last, only after the locals reminded him that he had shook on it. Ill try and fingure out how to post the video.
Up the river we slid down a very sketchy looking torpedo (waterslide). öooo, chicka rapido...muy rapido" exclaimed our guide as Vikki bulleted out the bottom.
The locals we shared our jump with kindly offered (insisted) that they give us a ride down.. it was much to far to walk.... we listed to usher and bob marley on the ride down.

The local breakfast seems to be fresh juice of whatever fruit is handy in the kitchen, eegs, coffee, and a bun with cheese. YUM. (1-2$)

We plan to spend the next two weeks in Ibarra (where we arrived last night) for >Vic and Mike to train on the comp wall.

Ciao for now

Stace (and Vic)