climbing comp

As many of you know, Ryan loves to climb. He's been at if for almost 20 years and just keeps loving it. I think he kept dating me because in the beginning of our relationship I was open to "climbing dates" and the rest is history. Ryan climbs at the gym 3 times a week and it is a great break from Intel and anything else that is stressful.

Last night was the annual climbing competition at the gym and I got to go watch. It was a lot of fun. Here is how it works. There are 100 climbers and about 70 problems set on the wall. Each problem has two point values. If you climb the route on your first try you get the flash point value (the higher number), if you have to work it, but eventually get it your get the redpoint value (the lower number). Climbs are worth anywhere from 5-900 points (there were only 3 or 4 climbs worth more than 600. Anyhow, the climbers have 3 hours to climb as many routes as possible and record their scores, the scores have to be witnessed by two other climbers and at the end of the night your take your top 7 scores, add them up and submit them. Climbers compete by age, and then there was an elite bracket (won by a very nice kid they call FISH - who knows why).

Ryan climbed very well and won the 30-39 age bracket and won cool stuff - whooohoo. I had a lot of fun watching him and the other climbers and I even got a free 10 minute massage from one of the sponsors - ahh.

One of the coolest thing about climbers is although they all want to do their best, they NEVER trash talk or cut down a competitor. They are super supportive of each other, giving advice (called beta in the climbing world), and everyone is so excited when someone can climb something hard. Like I said, they are a cool bunch (although I wish the girls would wear some clothes - maybe I'll vent about that later).

Anyhow, it was a great evening. I was proud of my boy.