Comments on: The Main Event – 2007 World Championships

By: Joe Czerwinski

Joe Czerwinski — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 17:50:32 +0000

The forced 180 dyno out a horizontal roof has been one of my favorites. Very “hold dependant.”However it is absolutely fantastic to watch the faceplants from people NOT executing a 180 in mid air.

Regarding the superman……comps should be about the best climber over a variety of skill sets. Granted, I am one NOT to hand jam anything for fear of limb loss, but I think that is great for a comp. Totally different and unique.

By: Percy Bishton

Percy Bishton — Wed, 26 Sep 2007 20:05:33 +0000

The Superman move. You stand on a volume underneath a big roof facing out towards the crowd. Then you lean out across the roof until you can reach the four holds positioned at the lip. In this case I found 4 big slopers that, when positioned correctly where almost impossible to use apart from the bomber fist-jam avaliable in between each pair! Still facing out you get a pair of fist jams in, thus adopting the same position as Superman in flight, then take your feet off the volume and try and hold the swing! A real crowd pleaser, but not too popular with the majority of European boulderers….;)

By: mike

mike — Wed, 26 Sep 2007 14:10:13 +0000

Percy tell me more! What the hell is a superman?

By: Percy Bishton

Percy Bishton — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 08:16:55 +0000

Hi Guys. The IFSC routesetter for this comp was me, not Laurent Boudier who couldn’t make the event because of starting a new job. I’m not sure the pressure of 15 days continuous route setting could be described as ‘fun’, but it was certainly a good competition. The boulders in Aviles were designed to be low so the spectators in the grandstand could see the lead wall clearly – given that there were 4000 people watching the finals! And yes, the rule is that hand holds should number no more than 12 per problem, and should normally number between 4 and 8. Haven’t spotted any photos of the last mens final problem of the web yet, but it was a belter – the “superman” move is born!

By: mike

mike — Sun, 16 Sep 2007 17:50:04 +0000

Thanks Herman, I was wondering about the hold thing.

By: Herman

Herman — Fri, 14 Sep 2007 21:45:10 +0000

Well actually not 12 “holds” as in “pieces of plastic” (or urethane if you like).

A hold is mean to be that “object” that you grab with your hands. This can be anything from a module, a corner in the wall or a “climbing hold”
see also:
http://www.ifsc-climbing.org/2006/numbering_holds_2006.pdf

the rule for the height is:
“5.1.7 For safety reasons, the boulders shall be made in such a way that the lowest part of the body of the competitor shall never be higher than 3 metres above the landing mat.”

So that is the LOWEST part of the body. That means the climbing wall can be something like 5 meters high.

By: mike

mike — Thu, 13 Sep 2007 14:31:04 +0000

IFSC rules state that no part of the climbers body may be more than 3 meters above the padding. Thats why the walls are “small”.

The other thing that hampers setters in an international event is that each problem can have no more than 12 holds.

By: aaron-gibson

aaron-gibson — Thu, 13 Sep 2007 13:10:40 +0000

The walls are impressive. I am a little surprised to learn that the bouldering walls are only 11.5 ft tall – I’m sure with the various angles and amount of wall there will be plenty of real-estate but for an event like this I would think a bouldering wall might be 14 -16 feet in height. Anyway, what an awesome event to set for – that would be fun.