My 75 minute warm up starts with 5 minutes of cardio. You can do anything, jump up and down, go for a run, jump rope, anything to get your heart going. For the first 10-15 minutes, if your feet are cold just wear your street shoes, if not put on your climbing shoes, do easy moves on big holds. I’m usually just trying to get the blood pumping through my arms so when I go and try harder moves, they feel easier. After you feel a bit warmed up, get your climbing shoes on and do 40+ moves on the climbing wall.

Another reason why I like the zone is because it rewards smarter climbers rathan than always the strongest. I’ve seen very strong competitors make mistakes during qualifyers and semis and as a result, they did not make finals. To me, thats the life of a competition.

In my recent post about ABS Nationals, I discussed the zone scoring system and how I found it somewhat unusual especially on the problem I was judging. Sean’s post really goes into a lot of detail on the zone scoring system and it makes a little more sense to me now.

The full set of pictures is on Flickr.

I mainly wanted to volunteer for two reasons. First, I wanted meet more local climbers. Second, I was interested in seeing some of the inner workings of a national climbing competition. With respect to those two goals, I definitely had a successful day. The drawback to volunteering is a shift took up a good chunk of time. My shift started at 9:45 am and ended at 3:30 pm. So a shift was almost six hours, not including the hour long orientation meeting the night before.

So what did I get for my seven hours of work? I met lots of climbers. I received a free t-shirt and lunch. I had a front row view of the competition while working. If you worked three shifts you got a free ticket to the finals, but working another 12+ hours for a $20 ticket made no sense to me whatsoever. The USA Climbing organizers likely need to work on sweetening the pot if they want more people to volunteer (especially since they’re not all volunteering themselves, right?)

The following are a few of my observations from judging the first men’s open qualifier problem.

I appreciated the fact that each problem used the holds from a specific company and there were some appropriate banners on/near that problem for the company. I’m hoping The Spot will be keeping some of the sick looking So iLL holds I saw on one of the women’s open problems!

The bonus hold scoring is unusual. On each problem there was a start hold, a bonus hold, and a finish hold. Points were only awarded based on controlling the bonus hold and the finish holds. Essentially a climber received the highest number of points for reaching the finish (and the bonus) holds in the fewest attempts possible. So if a competitor fell right before the bonus hold, they would receive no points at all during their attempts. On the problem I judged, the vast majority of those who obtained the bonus holds also went on to finish the problem. The real crux of the problem appeared to be much lower and many who attempted it received zero points for their efforts. While I was told by the organizers that the comp uses this format because that’s what they use in Europe, I found it to be a less than desirable way to accurately compare the efforts of the various competitors.

No previous climbing experience was required for the volunteer judges. I found this disturbing to say the least. We had at least one judge who was not a climber. Unfortunately, the idea of “controlling a hold”, despite the specific guidelines in their rule-book, is very much a subjective concept. It’s definitely a more understandable concept if you’re an avid climber. I understand they need volunteers, but I would have hoped for some vetting of the candidates beforehand. Or at the very least, moving volunteers around to appropriate positions based on their experience.

It was interesting to see the variation in mindset before climbing between each competitor. For example, while waiting for his first problem, Daniel Woods was chatting with other climbers seated near him and generally looked quite calm. Paul Robinson on the other hand appeared to be focused and quite in the zone while waiting his attempt. As soon as it was their turn to compete though, each was equally focused and up to the task of crushing the problem in front of them.

The full set of pictures I took are up on Flickr (beware, they’re unedited and taken with a point and shoot camera).

While I volunteered one shift at the ABS Nationals this weekend at The Spot, I wasn’t able to attend the finals. Ryan of BoulderDiaries and the ClimbingNarc though both have posted updates.

Men’s Results

1. Daniel Woods
2. Paul Robinson
3. Sean McColl

Women’s Results

1. Alex Johnson
2. Chauncenia Cox
3. Alex Puccio

The entire finals results are posted on the ABS Nationals site here: Men’s (PDF) and Women’s (PDF).

I also have an upcoming post of my behind the scenes impressions of the comp.

January 4 – 6, 2008
Kandersteg Ice Climbing Festival
The 8th annual Kandersteg Ice Climbing Festival will be held in the Bernese Oberland. Over 450 ice climbers are expected to attend this festival in Switzerland.

January 9 – 13, 2008
Ouray Ice Festival
The 13th annual Ouray Ice Festival will be held in the Ouray Ice Park in Colorado.

January 11 – 13, 2008
Adirondack International Mountainfest
The Mountaineer and Adirondack Rock and River have teamed up to host the 12th annual Adirondack International Mountainfest in Keene Valley, New York.

February 1 – 3, 2008
Michigan Ice Fest
This is the 25th year of the Michigan Ice Fest located on the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.

February 7 – 10, 2008
Mount Washington Valley Ice Festival
One of the premier climbing events in the country, the 2008 ice festival will be the 15th annual running of the event. This year they even have an Ice Fest 2008 blog. I’ve been to this one twice and it was great.

February 15 – 18, 2008
South Fork Waterfall Ice Festival
The 10th annual South Fork Waterfall Ice Festival bills itself as the “Friendliest Little Ice Festival in the Northern Rockies” and will be held in Cody, Wyoming.

February 16 – 17, 2008
Smuggler’s Notch Ice Bash
I’m not sure how long this festival has been running, but the Smuggler’s Notch Ice Bash will be centered out of the Sunrise Cafe in Jeffersonville, Vermont.

If there are any upcoming ice festivals I missed, please leave a comment below.

The University of Idaho Climbing Center recently hosted the third annual Palouse Climbing Festival with 60-70 climbers in attendance including Will Gadd. The University of Idaho claims to have the most comprehensive climbing facility in North America, featuring a 55-foot pillar and a 6,000-foot climbing area.

For the past five years, University of Northern Iowa outdoor pursuits teacher Don Briggs has been icing down four silos for the purpose of climbing. The largest ice wall stretches 68 feet from the ground, while two others top out at 55 feet.

Will Gadd will be attending as an event host and will also be conducting demos.