The Ice Climbing World Cup at the Bozeman Ice Festival was pretty
exciting. I made semi finals again no problem by climbing both
preliminary routes to the top. There were two routes, Routes A an B and
everyone got to try climbing both. Both routes were very straight
forward on good holds
with reasonably sized moves. Getting to the top was more a matter of
hanging on and climbing efficiently. Route A was on a shorter wall and
had slightly more technical and powerful moves. Route B was taller and
climbed out onto the boom and the "Montana Cowbell", a box hanging from
the boom. Prelims were open format, meaning there was a forerunner who
climbed the route for demonstration, and competitors were free to watch
others as they climbed. This format is a lot of fun because you don't
need to sit in isolation for hours and hours, and you can watch your
friends climb.
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| We have the technology! Neil with the Dremel for sharpening our picks. |
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| Topping out the A route in the preliminary. |
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| Route B |
Semi
finals were on the second day. The format was with isolation so we
couldn't see ho others climbed the route and we were only allowed seven
minutes to preview the route. After the preview, I was a bit nervous.
From the ground it looked very difficult. The holds looked very
technical, and the moves looked huge!! The semi finals route went a
little better than I thought it would, but not as well as I would have
liked or could have done.
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| Starting up the Semi Final route |
Because
the wall was so short, the holds were made to be very difficult to use.
My ice tool slid off the first hold as I took it, but I caught myself
and it held better the second time. After the first couple short moves
it was mostly big moves on highly technical holds, requiring a lot of
precision coupled with strength.
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| Getting ready for the first difficult move. |
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| Aiming for one of three shallow divots in a small metal plate embedded in the plastic hold. |
I
fell off almost halfway up the route. There was a long move off a very
bad hold and while I read the move the correct way at first I didn't get
the push I needed to get the far away hold. I changed tactics and tried
the move in a more dynamic manor and my pick skated off the hold I was
leaving just before the leading pick caught the hold I was going for.
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| Another big move off a terrible hold. |
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| Leaving a "good" hold for another skatey metal plate hold. |
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| Getting near my high point. The next move was to the grey hold on the left side. |
I
finished 2nd in the North American Championship and 11th overall for
the IWC competition. This has been my best finish yet and I feel like
I'm still making progress. I'm excited for the folloowing five
competitions. The next is in two weeks at Cheongsong Korea.
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| Top N.Americans L to R: Ryan Vachon 3rd, Gordon McArthur 1st, Nathan Kutcher 2nd |
I'm
super proud of my Team Ontario who represented all of Eastern Canada.
They have worked really hard and made big improvements since I started
working with them. All are all hoping to do at least one more IWC
competition somewhere else around the world this winter.
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| Neil Gowan, Nathan, Rebecca Lewis, Stephanie Mahallati |
