Tour De Bloc: Canmore Elevation Place

     Began with a rusty warm up and then as soon as the music/comp started (I can't remember if they began the morning scramble like that) then I was in line for 15/25 (maybe both) which I waited for and then did. Disappointed by the length of the series of moves I proceeded on to trying 28 which looked reasonably easy and quite doable, a series of white holds and blocky slopers where you pushed up with your left hand at the end to finish.

     After nailing that with ease I wanted to do a problem where I would move very dynamically, because I still was feeling slightly stiff and not willing to throw myself for a hold in thin air yet. I remembered about 29 which was back beside 15 and headed there. A red problem with a big move to the first hold from the start holds, thinking it might have to be a dyno I approached it, but as I stuck a dynamic dead point I was slightly disappointed by the distance of the move. Continueing there was only one move where I had to try slightly over a sloper and otherwise it was easy.

     Next I embarked on a series of attempts for #40 a big orange problem beginning with a dyno and continuing into a reach over to two big pinches pointing towards each other, each roughly the size of my forearm from my fingers to my elbow, and then standing on the top of a large foot hold, you had to hold a blocky, slopey undercling with your right hand and one of the pinches with your left again as and undercling, and as you stood with your right foot on the top of the big foot hold, then you were close enough to the finish to bounce, then release the holds with your hands and embrace the final hold with cupped fingers. After a number of attempts where I first couldn't get the dyno, and then was doing the finish wrong, I finally stuck the problem, with " one down, five to go".

     I continued my search for high 30's in order to get a good base of problems from where I could work some of the harder ones. One area had 38, 37, 36, 35 all within a 7m range of each other and so to there my journey continued. Beginning with 38, a super juggy giveaway I embarrassingly had troubles with the two hanging balls, as I missed my first try in getting the second, but getting my second try I muscled up to the jugs from where it was then an easy finish. Next I headed to the flat/inclined wall where 37 and 35 resided.

     Beginning with 35 I made it quite far in a painstaking amount of time until I finally messed up my foot match sadly and fell. With another attempt I was able to get to the last two holds, but was in a very bad position and unfortunately was off balance, with my left foot to my left and my two hands to my right I was arched and had to more or less do a very good foot match that if I messed up would morph into a dynamic swing. Of course, I messed up and deemed it a loss of my time as there were higher points that I could be getting with less effort. Same with 37, I assumed that it was just harder than 35 so I wouldn't even try it.

     Behind me there was 36 which was an easy flash due to an unfortunate sequence break that traced a completely different line than intended to the finish from the start. Now having three out of four done, I left the area and continued the hunt for more giveaways of high points.

     Stumbling upon Dylan trying 39, and seeing the possibility of it, I chalked up and gave it a go. Beginning as a crunched series of undercling mini-jugs, you traversed the head wall until you came to one that was  facing away from you to the side and was very positive. From here I had to match my feet to get a crimp with my left hand, match feet again to be able to step up onto another hold so that I could move to another crimp that was also aligned perpendicularly to the ground. And finally repeating the process of stepping up onto the positive side pull, then getting hold of another sort of perpendicularly aligned crimp, leading into heel hooking the first crimp on the left so that you could bump your left hand up to the top of the last hold before the finish, I completed the problem by matching my left foot with my right and stepping up to a foothold so that I could power to the finish. All in all the entire process took multiple attempts to get to that point and finally the technique to the last move was very bad. Nevertheless I stuck it and got the points.

     All that I needed now was two hard problems and I was finished. I began by eyeballing 49 a big blue in the overhanging wall beginning with a dyno, then a mantle, and finally a sort of dead point to a very, very small hold, and after contemplating the probability of me sticking the dead point I took my sheet out from under the pile and went over to try 48. 48 was a giveaway, it was super easy, a rock over onto a VERY big foothold on which you could tap dance or have a picnic, then (in my method) you stood up to catch a curved crimpy side pull facing to the left right at the top with your right hand, from where I would re-adjust my right foot so that I could rock over it better. Then I would sink down and catch the hold to my right which had little dips in it on the top with my right hand and then I would catch curved side pull on the left side with my left. With these I would then stand back up and match my feet, then sink back down in order to match my hands on the sloper with the dips. The next move was just with a little float, getting to  the next sloper which was super positive if you cupped both of the sides with your hands. Once there, you cut your feet to bring the left onto the sloper with the dips on it, and then you would (theoretically) push up and get a very big, positive and sort of inverted undercling pinch with your left. and if you were weak like me, then match it a bit higher up with your right before finally getting a super-good knee bar where you would lean back and tap the finish hold with both hands. So, that was the sequence, back to the comp, I was doing the start wrong so I fell off immediately and seeing 46 looking a lot easy, nesting the biggest jug of the comp as the second hold, with a nearly non-existent line up, counting the limited progress that I had made up to that point on 48, all together swayed me over to try it.

     It was a funny one, in some aspects of it. With a whopping four holds including the biggest, flattest plastic foot hold that you could think of, the most juggy two pronged jug that one could find on the internet, another jug, and finally a foothold so small, yet with quite a positive side to it, it would probably be used for those 5,14d/15a finals routes at world cups in an overhanging wall. (Dont take my word for that, I've never seen a 5.15 in my life.....yet). Nevertheless sequence goes as:

Step 1: get on BIG foothold. Method a) just do like half a muscle up and slip your foot in somewhere. Method b) right hand on bottom, left hand on left side of the hold, smear with left then place heel as far from the wall as possible on the hold so that you can roll over it with your leg followed by your hips which carry the rest of your body.

Step 2: Jump into the air in the general direction of the two pronged jug which is less than 2m away at roughly a 45 degree angle, with your arm travelling in the general direction of the hold. Now according to laws of probability (that I don't know of) when trying to hit a jug with such a big amount of juggyness, there is a very, very low chance that you can miss it even if you were blind folded with the adequate jumping propulsion.

Step 3: Latch onto the jug with your right hand and swing in the direction that you were travelling in trying to slow down the momentum by pushing against the force with your left hand, while finally reaching weightlessness... and beginning to go in the other direction where you stop/ slow yourself down with your foot. (All components of this step take less than 2 seconds)

Step 4: Repeat step 1 but now over the right side of the 2 pronged jug, also push down with your left foot and keep pressure with your toe on the wall underneath you. Glue yourself to the wall.

Step 5: Place right thumb under finish hold and push, then match.

     After a number of attempts I got this one which turned out to be my high. I tried 48 one more time and didn't get it and was then chased away to 34 to get my sixth problem by the 5min announcement / warning.

     And with a flash the comp ended for me.

     Dylan Abel was able to get 47 which had evaded my attention and had beat  me by 10ish points. Corbin had had a bad day and pretty much DNFed though he is still a very skilled and experienced climber that I will have to train hard to pass, and is overall much better than me. With these factors in count I placed 6th behind Simon, Roche, Matt, Alex, and Dylan. If I would pass Dylan and then place Corbin ahead of me then the result is still 6th place. At this point in time I am steadily here. But I am aiming to pass all of these, Simon, Canadian mens Open, and 5.14s, until 5.15s are at my level.

     Trying these problems after the comp showed me a lot about how easy and possible they are and it is important to go into each one headfirst, with a good plan and the knowledge that you are going to top out. I mustn't be afraid of the intimacy of such high numbers as the forties because that is where the top half of all of my competitors land all of their problems. All that I need now is a tiny bit of progression in areas such as technique, strength and endurance, and I'm as good as set for the next comp to be crushing the moves set up against me all the way to the finishing hold.