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badass
Mar 3, 2005, 11:36 PM
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Does anyone think that Competition climbing could be dying in america? Cash prizes are shrinking turnouts getting smaller. Some gyms have went coed in tournaments, all but excluding the best girls from winning. Is it just the Southeast or is it everywhere?
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phaedrus
Mar 4, 2005, 3:11 AM
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I don't know about other places, but the comp circuit seems to be alive and well here in Colorado. Comps here have always been co-ed, though separated into male & female divisions. I've been to a few ABS comps recently and coach a team that participates in the Denver Climbing League... no shortage of competitors or spectators at either one.
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dingus
Mar 4, 2005, 3:17 AM
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It died for me at the 1st US sponsored World Cup event in Berekeley back whenever, when Christian Griffith walked down the aisle right past my seat with tightly clenched lycra clad butt cheeks standing out like book ends. Coulda bounced a quarter off his ass! Ass Proud he was!
Haven't been tempted to watch paint dry ever since.
Competing in one, OK. But watching???
Curling is more interesting to watch than a climbing comp.
RIP. Long live the King.
DMT
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badass
Mar 15, 2005, 4:30 AM
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You know, the fact that no one from the southeast has replied to this topic means they don't care or maybe I am right! Also by coed I mean girls and guys climbing in the same category against each other.
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8flood8
Mar 15, 2005, 4:42 AM
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i see comp flyers all the time.
i figured i'll start competing when i'm pro.
until then. i'm climbing.
edit***south, not se
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nedsurf
Mar 15, 2005, 5:26 AM
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Whats this sport climbing stuff? I thought that a sport had somthing to do with hitting, dribbling, sinking, throwing some kind of ball. I guess with climbing, one has to summon two balls.
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ron_burgandy
Mar 15, 2005, 8:17 AM
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I think that this apparent lack of comps should be a good way to get your ass outside and onto some real rock
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edge
Mar 15, 2005, 1:59 PM
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Check out http://www.usaclimbing.org or http://rockcomps.com/ to see how many comps are in your area. There are also many more that are not sanctioned by these two entities.
Here in New England, there are a ton of comps in the late Fall, Winter, and Spring. 100+ competitors is not unheard of.
In reply to: Cash prizes are shrinking turnouts getting smaller.
Two years ago my daughter won over $1000 in cash and prizes, mostly cash, by competing. This as a 14 year old in Women's Open, all at large comps. It got to the point where I would pay her entry fee and then she would re-imburse me after the comp. $500 to $100 first place winnings are quite common here.
It does seem like the snowier regions have larger, better attended comps than the southern regions, because the Winter season here lends itself to more indoor climbing, while the temps are perfect in the South for being outside.
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edge
Mar 15, 2005, 2:00 PM
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edge moved this thread from General to Competition Climbing.
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j_ung
Mar 15, 2005, 3:12 PM
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In reply to: You know, the fact that no one from the southeast has replied to this topic means they don't care or maybe I am right!
Yeah, it must mean that. There's no other explanation. :roll:
Actually, badass, I partially agree with you on this, at least as far as indoor comps go. In the Southeast, the outdoor comp is king. The Triple Crown, Bouldergrass... all of these still draw huge crowds.
Also, the indoor comps that do still thrive in the Southeast have cash prizes. Gear prizes are on the way out, mostly because there's only so many pairs of shoes a person can wear and so many ropes of which a boulderer can make use.
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bler
Mar 15, 2005, 6:23 PM
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comps are a good way of displaying your climbing ability to sponsors, witch would otherwise require pictures and a writeup of your abilities sent to a sponsor very impersonally.
not that comps are the best thing to happen to climbing, but they do have a positive side to them... they get some great climbers together to have fun..
we rarley see cash prizes here in the west, We just has USClimbing nationals and there weren't even prizes for the winners, but is that really why you are competing !??!?! for a CASH prize ?? Thats the complete wrong reason to compete..
just DO IT...... for the money ?
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badass
Mar 15, 2005, 6:31 PM
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Do any of you remember when bouldering was in the X-Games. They were giving away 9,000 to the first place competitor. What the fuck happened is all i'm saying. It seems like Europeans find something they like and stick with it while we Americans just have hobbies to occupy are fat ass boring Superbowl watching lives. Also Ron, take a look at your measley tick list before you start blabbing on about how I need to go climb real rock just because I think climbing should be an olympic sport over stupid Basketball.
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jkarns
Mar 16, 2005, 1:17 PM
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Speaking of outdoor comps, there's one coming up this weekend at Governor Stable.
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sarah
Apr 3, 2005, 3:42 AM
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i agree badass, competitions do nothing but promote the sport of rock climbing. the cash prizes for climbing comps are far below the standard of any other sport - professional bowlers make more $ hopefully that will change when climbing is in the Olympics.
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