Im playing for some time with how IFSC comp climbing would change if they would move to a Formula1 kind of format where brands/teams (for example: Red Bull, The north face, mammut, BD, ..?? Shoe brands?) have athletes that compete.

Why this might be interesting is because the talented climbers would be less dependent on national budget and facilities and more money is likely to be flowing into the sport. So I think this would be good for the professional development of the sport. For sure, I acknowledge, employing such a system would come with a lot of challenges.

And, of course keeping the current system has advantages too.

But before giving away more of my random thoughts, I am curious to your thoughts of such a system!

https://climbingcanada.ca/24-25-senior-nationals-b-l-event-central-page/

Live Results: https://cec.results.info/

Live Stream: https://youtube.com/@betabreakerz?si=3GCbh0zUHGcsW8Ao

Starts November 21st at 9am EST

Pan American champs is happening now (11/20) in Santiago Chile.

Anyone heard if this is being streamed anywhere?

https://d1n1qj9geboqnb.cloudfront.net/ifsc/public/xnr8mzqc7h8h2yjig472fwvinypj

Kyra Condie and Adam Shahar seem to be the highest ranked in Boulder. Sam Watson is there for speed but not Emma.

Still the finals could be interesting.

The Tenzing Brawl is British comp, there were climber like Toby, Max or Erin in the semi-final (YouTube). Some of them might got to the final, which are on YouTube.

Oceania Boulder Championships took place earlier today, VODs are on YouTube. Couple of climbers I know from WCs, no Oceana or Campbell. Results are here

The Asian Youth Championship were in the last couple of days, VODs are on YouTube as well. Briefly checked the starting list and I haven't seen anyone I know. Results are here

Les Grips in the middle of December won't be broadcasted, sadly. Asked them on Instagram.

Competition organised by French Climbing District in Paris for teams of two!

Finals are streamed, first boulder is flash attempt knock out, if I remember correctly, then they have four minutes for each boulder. Zone or top counts when one of them reaches it. (last years stream in French)

Saturday 16th November from 19:30 (UTC+1) - time zone converter

YouTube with Matt Groom commentary

Twitch with French commentary

Full starting list

Results

Climbers that I know from World Cups (might missed someone):

Jernej Kruder & Zan Lovenjak Sudar, Sam Avezou & Leo Avezou, Samuel Richard & Pierre Marzullo, Thibo Bourgeois & Hannes Van Duysen, Paul Jenft & Mejdi Schalck, Sohta Amagasa & Meichi Narasaki, Manu Cornu & Mickael Mawem, Rhys Conlon & Jamie Jenkins, Sergio Verdasco & Ritsu Kayotani, Kito Martini & Tolani Etchar

Chloé Caulier & Stasa Gejo, Ayala Kerem & Yula Gold, Cloe Coscoy & Brooke Raboutou, Maïlys Piazzalunga & Flavy Cohaut, Maelys Agrapart & Afra Hönig, Fanny Gibert & Zélia Avezou

Instagram

New Sam Watson lore dropped today.

While commentating the IFSC stream for Neom Beach Games, Sam said his BLINDFOLDed PR for the speed wall is 5.8 seconds.

FIVE POINT EIGHT SECONDS.

💀💀💀💀💀💀💀

There is the NEOM IFSC in Saudi Arabia again with boulder and speed in that stunning desert location.

Boulder is traditional World Cup format with four boulders, five minutes of climbing for semi-finals(/qualifications) and finals (without observation). Speed is World Cup format too.

All the action is live on YouTube and called by no one else than Matt Groom. Let me know if there are some geo restrictions. Europe can watch :)

Schedule (UTC+3)

Boulder Men's Q Monday 11.11 14:30

Boulder Men's F Monday 11.11 19:00

Boulder Women's Q Tuesday 12.11 14:30

Boulder Men's F Tuesday 12.11 19:00

Speed Q Wednesday 13.11 17:00

Speed F Wednesday 13.11 19:30

The starting list is interesting so far. It's filled with all the speed climbers you know, but boulder is a different chapter. It'll be interesting either way.

(I know, I know, Saudi Arabia, less then optimal, but there is not much we can do about it.)

So I'm a new climbing coach with a school team that competes in the USAC youth series, We just had our first competition the other day, and while one of my athletes was on the wall, I shouted some pretty simple words of encouragement like, "come on!" "Commit!" "Trust your feet!" and "squeeze!" My climber fell and I congratulated him on his effort, but then one of the judges came up and warned me to be careful with what I said, because giving beta to climbers on the wall isn't allowed. Which I knew of, having done the level two coach certification, but I didn't think that anything I said was particular enough to be considered beta. But then I kept thinking about it, and thought, "Why CAN'T I give beta to my climbers?"

If i'm their coach, why am I not allowed to coach them while they're on the wall? I can give beta before and after, we can film them and review their movements in between attempts (this was a modified redpoint round).We can sit there and watch other climbers climb and discuss what their doing, but once my climbers on the wall, I'm not allowed to talk to them? In what other sport is a coach not allowed to coach their players during the match? Football coaches can give signals and are constantly yelling on the sidelines, Boxing coaches are right at the edge of the ring yelling combinations, but I can't tell my 14yo kid to remember to swap his feet? what sense does that make? Why even call me a coach then? Why did I pay for a level 2 coach certification if I can't coach? Why isn't there a list of legal things I can say to my climbers if the terms we use are so vague and anything could be taken as beta?

It's one thing to not want random people yelling bad beta to their competitors, and it's another if you're climbing outside and want to solve a problem for yourself, but in a competition? How does that make any sense?

Since we are talking about Ai again, I'd like to introduce 2 podcast where the insider explained the whole situation, one from "That's not real Climbing", one from "Climbing Curated"

Olga is one of the 2 female setter in olympics, she is 158cm +0.

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/climbing-curated/id1617430618?i=1000668023934

Start at 1h17 ish, she talks about how she reached about 20cm higher than the hold.

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/thats-not-real-climbing/id1695501717?i=1000669720024

Start from 35:36, she talks about how much effort they put in to make sure Ai got the move.

Edit: People downvote me for posting this, I am in awe...

Not sure where to start. I've never seen any climbers selling merch. For so many athletes in other sports it's a good revenue sports (maybe even main soirce of income, like in pro-wrestling 😎).

Do any of the climbers have their T-shirts, pants, water bottles etc? Why not?

And if anyone knows are there legal barriers? Maybe National teams do not allow athletes to sell their likeness or names?

I would buy a Janja's T-shirt (obviously with a 🐐), and a t-shirt with some angry cartoon Stasa Gejo

P.s. I'm not talking about collaboration or endorsement products, like TN Pros, or 5.10 models that are associated with Janja or Shauna. Or National team uniform collaborations that profit The North Face directly

I’m attending a small local competition for the first time, so I want to do well. The format is combined lead and boulder, and you get to choose which you start with. I was wondering which one would be smarter to start with.

I’m leaning toward lead, as the bouldering will likely be hard on skin, anyone have good advice?

Twenty climbers climb in mixed teams of two on 180 meter part of 220 meter tall Verzasca dam in south Switzerland. The final route consist of six pitches (sections) with varying degree of difficulty between 6c and 8b. (James Bond bungee jumped from this dam 😉)

They belay each other, that means one climber climbs while the other one is resting and belaying. The key part is speed, the first team topping wins, but with a twist when they fall. They can either be lowered to the start of the pitch and start again or continue to climb from the point they fell, but they get penalty point. Team with the fastest time and lowest penalty points count wins, so it is also about strategy. There are two identical routes, so it's fight against each other in real time.

There were qualifications on Wednesday with four teams getting into semi-finals on Thursday in which were decided teams for big and small final.

UPDATE: Alberto has a small injury and decided to withdraw. (Instagram)

Finals will be streamed on Saturday 2.11.2024 at 14:00 UTC+1 (Time zone converter)

Stream - Red Bull TV 🇺🇸 ESPN+

Starting list with all climbers. Big final Jessy Pilz and Jakob Schubert vs Andrea Kümin and Sascha Lehmann.

Results including qualifiations

Route

Chat

Lets say you don't want to represent your home country.

UPDATE: Start is at 15:30

Climbing without ropes on 18 meters tall wall above deep water. That's Psicobloc. Two climbers climb the same route, the fastest wins. This Sunday live on Red Bull TV or ESPN+ (if you're in U.S.) with Matt Groom's commentary.

Official website

Starting at 15:30 (UTC +1) (time changes in Europe on Sunday)

Time zone converter

Results

Instagram

6 to 8 boulders (all boulders count for points)

10 to 15 max attempts per boulder

There's never enough time to reach max attempts for all boulders. Most of your time is spent waiting in line.

I know there is probably some advanced game theory to apply here, but I'm not that smart lol. Here are some ideas:

1. Position yourself at the front of the group before the comp starts, so you can be the first to hand the queue manager your card and start right away.

2. Start with the easiest boulder.

3. Try each of the other boulders once to feel them out. Rank them in order of difficulty level.

4. Go back to the second easiest boulder if you didn't already top it, and keep getting back in line until it's topped or you've maxed out your attempts.

5. Do the same for each subsequent boulder in order of difficulty, saving the hardest for last (assuming there will always be at least one boulder you won't be able to top no matter what).

I like the idea of repeating the same boulder as opposed to jumping around, but I could be wrong about that being a favorable strategy.

Any thoughts?

It was just a kid’s qualifying event but it gave me new respect for how hard judging is. You’re trying to pay attention to so many details at once, in real time and from 8 feet away while the climber’s body is blocking your view. I understand why judges get it wrong sometimes, especially in terms of “using” the zone, which can be really subjective.

Anyway, it was fun to do and they’re often looking for judges because judges aren’t paid, so it’s a nice way to give back. If you enjoy watching comps, I recommend giving it a try

Hey folks! I've always been frustrated by having to scrub repeatedly through hours-long live streams to find specific climbers. I often don't have the time to sit through the full live stream. So I've created a simple website that helps me with this and I wanted to share it with anyone who has that frustration too.

The website allows you to select a climber and generates a playlist of videos. Each video brings you right to the point when that climber starts climbing and ends when they complete their climb.

So far I've added videos for all Lead and Boulder finals for IFSC World Cups and OQS this season (minus Shanghai OQS Women's Lead Finals as it wasn't uploaded to YouTube). Looking to add the IFSC Championships next.

I built this in my free time as a fun project for myself and the community. Please check it out and let me know what you think!

Website link: chalkist.com

UPDATE: Sunday program is streamed on YouTube

IFSC will test new 4 lane speed climbing format for the first time in Madrid, before the World Games next year in China. It's going to be exciting events, most of the top speed climbers will attend (registrations, Sam Watson got food poisoning and will not compete).

Qualification - each climber climbs 4 times, once in each lane. 8 fastest climbers will progress directly to final

Play-In (repachages) - another 16 climbers are split into 4 groups, they climb once, two fastest from each group will get to final.

Final - two fastest climbers from each stage of final rounds progress into the next one. All the winners will be decided in the last stage of final round.

Qualifications stream

Live stream (only finales)

Results

Schedule (UTC +2):

Saturday 19.10

Speed 4 Qualification 11:00

Speed 4 Play-In 16:00

Spanish Speed Cup Qualification 16:30

Speed 4 Finals 19:00

Sunday 20.10 (to be confirmed)

Speed Qualifications 13:00 (the finals were right after that)

Women’s and Men’s Exhibition Team Relay 15:30

Recently saw this posted on some climbers’ instagram stories and was wondering if anyone knew if and when/where we could watch this?

Outside of just climbing.

Should I be incorporating more tension board climbing? Hangboarding? Antagonistic, or any form of push, training? It's no surprise that although my biceps, forearms, and posterior chain have seen great development in the past few months, my push muscles have suffered. I've done close to zero strength training, and my pushing strength levels (as well as muscle definition) have taken a hit.

Would appreciate any insight into how climbers more advanced than me train (for climbing generally, but competition climbing more specifically)!

Stats, for reference:

I'd consider myself to be a v5 boulderer -- I recently got my first v6 and v7 (only 1 each!) and can typically send 1, sometimes 2, v5(s) over the course of a single session.

I have about 6 months of climbing experience (3 months last year, 3 months this year with a 12 month gap in between due to a meniscus tear I suffered from a fall while climbing). I climb 3x a week for 2-3 hours. I generally take about 20-30 minutes to warm up and hop into the sauna afterwards for recovery.