Tour De Bloc (Rock Jungle Fitness)

     The second Tour De Bloc competition here in Alberta, had been underway up in Edmonton where keen climbers flocked to the Rock Jungle Fitness Center at 7:30 a.m. to tackle the 50 problems set there as targets which would finally qualify the top 8 male and female climbers from the Youth A, Junior, and Open categories, into the finals where the top competitors would attempt a number of finals problems that would decide the final placing of the athletes.

     In the afternoon, the Youth B and younger aged climbers would compete on the same set that the older athlete had for the previous three hours.

     I unfortunately had to embark on a three and a half hour long journey back home to Calgary, therefore I have limited knowledge of finals which I have already already mostly spoke of, and I wasn't able to finish watching the younger athletes to see how they had done in the end.

    Starting right from the beginning of the day, I woke up with my brother and father in our hotel, had a rather lengthy breakfast, from which we then hurried to climbing wall where we arrived a bit past 7:30 and I headed straight towards a narrow hallway in the back where I began warming up.

     I always believe that it is more beneficial to already be fully warm in order to save time and not have to waste any by climbing the painfully easy boulder problems. Now, as I look back I think that right after you warm up, and the comp begins, it is most beneficial to attempt the problems that are relatively easy for your level and you could already have so that in a worst case scenario, they could count towards the bottom of your top 6, so that you have a backup and a slight buffer. For me as an example, this should probably have been 23 and up, relative to the shape that I was in at this comp. If I was feeling a bit better I might have been climbing low 30's right off the bat. Some other examples based off of average results would be say if your average was 36.55 from a 2193 score, that person might want to begin with 31/2+ definitely in order to get a feel for the types of problems and have a very valid base which could be included as one or some of their top six problems.

     Enough with the lecture and back to my story, I did have a relatively good scope for the level of difficulty my problems should be at, so as soon as the comp started and we began climbing, I intended to get onto one of the high 20's, but seeing a few people that were much stronger than me begin on 12 sort of dampened my spirits, inclining me to take the same path. The area which I had chosen was fantastic due to the number of averagely easy problems that were around my skill level, which included 31, 29, 28, and 27.

     Somewhere in the timeframe after 12, I had stepped a couple meters over to the right and attempted a 27, a grey but very positive route where after the first two moves you were led up a series of relative jugs to where you would then top out. The start hold was a juggy triangular undercling that curve out of the wall like a flattened claw and pointed to the bottom left side of you. After placing my hands on the start and one foot onto one of the oppositional footholds I stepped up and pressed through my feet in order to maintain the negative position, then moving my body weight over to the right, I released my right hand and clasped it around the end of the curved edge of the feature on the far end to the right. The edge could have been described as a spherical bulge protruding from one side, yet with a shallow crater that may have taken up, up to two thirds of the top of the bulge creating a positive edge. After I was locked into this, then I matched my feet and brought one on to another foothold to move into a position where I was creating a pull relative to the positivity of the hold. Next I came into the feature with my left hand right into the part where there was a convenient pinch made from the curves of the mold. As I was now steady in this position (most likely locked off and bent at the elbows, which is bad due to the inefficiency) I continued by hiking up my left foot to the highish foot hold left of the feature. Then I rocked over it, pulling with my right arm, and reaching up with the left to the diagonal, long hold that was tilted at a roughly 2 o'clock angle, where I pinched the bottom of it , then brought my other arm up beside it a bit higher up, resulting in me being able to bring my right foot up onto the feature underneath me that I had just left. Next I continued up into the lower of the super-positive pinches curved outwards from the sides, ( sort of like these two brackets ) ( but with the top being attached to the wall ) which I then pulled myself up with, locked off and reached for the next one. Me, being lazy and all, I think that I had used the side wall then with my feet with which I then topped out. My first problem which would have counted towards the top 6 had been an on-sight.

(Note to self: That was a way too lengthy description for such an insignificant problem... Don't do it again!!)

  I immediately tried out 29 but alas had a faulty sequence and entered the fourth or fifth move incorrectly, ending up with me falling off, retrieving my score card, then scuttling off to the top floor to see what problems lay there.

     As I came up then I saw my coach Knut, attempting 41 which looked slightly hard but yet not impossible therefore I gave it a go. The start was not nice, and I managed by slipping once or twice before I successfully planted my foot into the opposite corner and the then worked my way off of the starting crimp into corner and onto a feature. Ultimately, facing outwards, you had to plant your right foot onto the starting hold, right hand on a relatively good crimp, and then jump off of the feature and catch yourself on the next one with you left hand. Finally bring your left foot up onto the foot hold that was relatively high, then flag with your right behind the left foot and then cross over to another crimp near the finish with your right hand. Then finish. Again I'm not 100% sure that this is all right, I was not able to execute the dynamic jump. I think that Knut got it afterward, I wasn't there.

Moving on, I made my way over to the left side where there was less people and I spotted #34, a very technical problem. I tried it a couple of times, deemed it possible and then moved on, as I had to get some more problems that I actually finished.

Somewhere along the line of wandering I made it back to where I had started, and I committed to some of the problems that I had not finished previously. I figured out and sent problem 29 by coming over into the fin, from there I reached up to the blocky pinch with my left, then sort of pushed myself up with my right and then came into the small horn on the roof with one hand. From there I turned, and then


















All photo credits, to my father, Robert Svoboda.

The Beginning of a New Era starting from a New Set

After beginning my first legitimate set of my bouldering wall, I decided that I want to blog and log my findings, discoveries, stories, and routes throughout my climbing career beginning from this day.