The 2008 tour of the Mammut Bouldering Championships kicked off last weekend at the New Jersey Rock Gym with the opening event, the Gravity Brawl.

Usually a comp is deemed a success by routesetters if every problem gets sent and there are no ties. But routesetting is not just about screwing holds to the wall. It’s about putting on a show for the spectators and setting challenging problems that have the climber going home not thinking they have wasted time and money.

The shows that Pete Ward, Jason Danforth and the NE2C crew put on are not your usual comps. Sure the Gravity Brawl was held in a standard issue climbing gym in BF New Jersey, but thats where the similarities with other gym comps stop.

First off they have a $5000 purse to give to the pros who show up to provide all the hot sports action we’ve come to expect from the Bouldering Championships. No free chalk balls, no ugly t-shirt, just a fat check with three zero’s on it.

It’s also the lights, the cameras the screaming MC, the clear cut scoring system that set Bouldering Championships apart.

It was a great show that Chief Setter Jason Danforth was after with this years Gravity Brawl. Danforth said of the event, “We really pushed for drama, and that’s what made [the] comp so amazing. The crowd was louder than hell, the problems were spectacular to watch, and the theatrical aspect was unprecedented.”

As setters it’s easy to forget the big picture and only concentrate on the sequence at hand. But it seems that the Bouldering Championships crew are more choreographers than setters.

It’s Not All Hollywood Lights

Even though the Gravity Brawl was a success on the theatrical angle it was still a climbing competition and the problems are set to serve a purpose. After finals was said and done there were ties in the Mens category for 4th & 5th places and Womens 7th place that were broken by attempts. So technically the tie was broken but the team certainly cut it close.

A much bigger issue was the lack of sends in a comp that only counts sends. The unique and simple scoring system used for all Mammut Bouldering Championships makes it easy for competitors and spectators to follow the action. In fact 4th place finisher Charlotte Jouette said after the comp, “The scoring is so simple and as an athlete you always know where and when to go somewhere and that is awesome.”

So it was a shame to see only three out the four Mens problems sent by one climber (Matt Bosley). With all the other men falling very short on all but the first problem. On the Womens side it was slightly better with only two of the top three climbers toping out three problems.

Were the problems too hard? Danforth says “Sure, no need to beat around the bush.” But he adds, “A tie for 4th, 5th, 8th, etc. doesn’t exactly keep me up at night. Not trying to be flippant, just got bigger things to talk about.”

Setters

Danforth as chief was helped by New England wrench hero’s Kyle McCabe, Hank Jones and Kerry Williams. For more on the setting, check out their entertaining blog report.

Problems

Since Routesetter.com could not be at the Gravity Brawl in person we asked Chief Setter, Jason Danforth, with perhaps not the most unbiased of opinions, to give us a setters eye view of the problems for this years Gravity Brawl.
So for all the setting geeks out there (and really, who isn’t?) Chief Danforth will now break down every final problem.

For the men:
#1 Really fun intro to finals with hard drops knees and smearing, into a powerful finish.

#2 Super technical, with either a balancey rock-over or a powerful mantle. Bosley did the mantle, and Kevin [Jorgenson] did the rock over. There was great stylistic contrast between Bosley’s crushing strength and Kevin’s balance as he chalked up and almost got a no hands rest. V9/10

#3 The gimmick, with a big dyno to start off, followed by feet-first down climbing and campusing into a 360, to a double clutch finishing dyno. I actually thought this one was too easy, and Grady [Bagwell] (the first guy out) figured it out immediately and did really well. Then the next 8 guys got stumped. And then Bosley hiked it with the right beta. Was it too hard? I don’t know, it got done, and it looked amazing. Some times you just got to leave it to the climbers. V9/10

#4 Straight forward and crowd pleasing. Again, too hard? Definitely considering how worked everyone was by 2 and 3. But that problem wasn’t some unrealistic horror show. Mike Feinburg, who’s training has been climbing routes and drinking fine wine, got way up on it. I’d say V11- with no stopper moves.

For the women:
#1 All body tension and surprised a lot of the women. V6

#2 Also a techy problem, with a really cool mantle and an off balance hop move at the top. I thought it was perfect. V7-

#3 Pure power. Women cutting their feet all over the place. Lizzy and Paige flashed. Awesome. V7

#4 Rad. Super dynamic jump into a hueco, funky heel hand matching madness that had Lizzy upside down. In the end, too hard, but Sydney got through the next two moves and Alex had a shot but was too worked from not sending #3 (or from shopping for her disco outfit for the afterparty). V8

Now you heard what it was like from the Chief himself. Now check out these videos and make up your own mind. The Bouldering Championships website also has a dope video of
Womens finals.

Jorgenson, final #2 [gv data="KUIHaRzvXzQ"][/gv]

Bosely final #3 [gv data="3Pj5tfFlGRQ"][/gv]

Claasen final #3 [gv data="HZ-js5ZGYCs"][/gv]

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