By: Jackie Hueftle

Boulder, Colorado
February, 23-24 2007

Comps at The Spot bouldering gym tend to attract a wide range of local talent. And because local in this case, means the Front Range of Colorado, the talent includes some of the best boulderers and route setters in the country. Many of the strongest climbers showed up for the final of The Spot Bouldering Series for a chance to take home some of the $5000 prize purse.

Setters for the show:

Men’s Head Setter: Seth Lytton (Spot Head Setter)
Women’s Head Setter: USAC/ABS Setter Kynan Waggoner
Setters: Chris Rogers, Joe Deshazo, Jackie Hueftle, Ian Powell, Greg Bruce, Neely Quinn, Jonny Hork, Wade David, Ben Alexandra, Ty Foose, Mike Auldridge

As Head setter for Youth ABS Nationals Kynan Waggoner had seen firsthand what can happen when setters underestimate the strength of competitors. None of the setters wanted a repeat of the super final debacle of the Adult ABS Nationals. If that event taught the setters one thing, it was this: it is better to have no one send the final problem than to have everyone send it.

MEN FINAL ROUND

Even though many veteran competitors entered (see running order here), when Daniel Woods and Paul Robinson show up it tends to turn into a two-horse race. But since this isn’t a two-person comp, the setters had to create problems that would spread the 20 competitors that make it to finals. They did this by creating problems of varying styles that tested the different abilities of the climbers.

The finals first problem featured party-tricks like a running jump start and a down-campus move. This forced the competitors to stay on their arms and get pumped for the next three problems.

The second problem rewarded those with good body tension, technical skills, and ability to read difficult beta; A very non-American problem that gave the powerhouse climbers a true challenge.

To get to the top of Men’s number three would take more difficult route-reading and pure arm-power.

But it all came down to finals #4 with a Daniel Woods vs. Paul Robinson showdown. Paul ended up using an alternative sequence to beat D. Woods’ highpoint and take the comp. The setters saw potential for this beta during foreunning, but decided it would be so hard that it was inconsequential. And it made for an exciting and tie-free finish to the comp.

WOMEN’S FINAL ROUND

The women’s field consisted of four National climbing champions and several members of the Colorado Women’s Bouldering team.
Qualifiers saw the top three women flashing three of the four problems that resulted in a three-way tie going into finals. This is never good for the setting crew whose only desire is to have no ties.

So the setters turned up the pressure with their finals problems, hoping to spread the strong field. But perhaps they over compensated for this, and made the problems so difficult that many competitors were shut down at the bottom of finals #3.

But similar to what happened during the men’s round, it all came down to final’s problem #4.

Emily Harrington matched the lip on problem four and vaulted over the top of the boulder in a failed attempt to get the extra points just as time ran out. Alex Puccio also failed to top out in time giving Angie Payne only one option: top out or be tied. She obviously had her stamps ready and sent the problem after only a few tries, giving her the win and saving the setters from a super final they were not anticipating.

WRAP-UP

There were a few issues with poor quality holds. During the setting of Women’s quali #2 the new Stone-Age holds that were being used broke before they were even tight on the Spot’s slightly uneven walls. They didn’t so much crack as melt apart.

One hold, a relic “dog dish” from the early days of Pusher, actually broke during the re-setting of Men’s Final #1. This forced Ty Foose to find a last minute replacement that was a slightly better hold. This was a serendipitous choice that got a few more climbers up the first problem.

The forerunning could’ve gone slightly better with more organization of the multitude of volunteer forerunners. At one point a group of attention deficit forerunners tried to create an order for the “Good Times” category (V0 – V3), but midway through they were distracted by the more attractive harder problems and their list was almost useless.

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