From Russia ... to better days ahead

1/8/2010
A blank stare
In Moscow we had to find our way to a train station. Since neither Justin nor I read or understand Russian, we were limited to form recognition of parts of works. So we would look at a Russian name and say it in English as best as we could. Even though we could kind of communicate with each other, all bets were off when we had to talk to someone else. The Russian language looks like the English and Greek alphabets were speeding in a car together down the autobahn and then were involved in a major trauma scene.
We finally made it to our train station after working our way through the impressive metro system. We had no cell phones or any other means of communication, but we had a time and a place to meet our contact. Luckily, we looked like out of place American ice climbers and we were snatched up by Michelle, our guide to Kirov.
All the athletes lined up to get on board once we were all assembled, and we were assigned a cabin. There were four of us to one cabin and we took all of our baggage in the room with us. Needless to say, there was no room to move. Our beds were small and cramped and we settled in for the 14 our train ride on the Train. The crew of about 15 athletes fell asleep fairly quickly as there was nowhere else to go, no commons area and no amenities otherwise.
I have not slept well since arriving in Russia and the train trip didn’t help. I was up 4 times as it was intriguing to see the train stations at the stops we made as well as looking at the bleak countryside light by moonlight. Once I’m awake, I have a hard time going to sleep. My mind wanders and with all the excitement going to the World Competition, my nerves are a bit fried. I wake up in the morning more tired than when I went to sleep. The jet lag has taken a severe toll.
We hopped on a bus that took us to the hotel. Some athletes look as bad as I feel and some are asleep in their seat as soon as they sit down.
Arriving at the hotel, we are given rooms and have to report back within the hour to register for the climbing competition. All the foreign athletes are in a small room upstairs in the hotel when 20-30 Russian athletes arrive and register. Most of them are teenagers. The rules are explained in several languages and there is some confusion with interpretation.
A short walk from the hotel brings us to a large tower, a ski jump tower to be exact. Underneath is our climbing venue. We are ushered to the isolation building that is an old building with no heat. The temperature outside is minus 29°C. Ice becomes brittle at minus five. The “warm-up area” is a timber post and lintel system inside the hallway. Competitors swing wildly past each other on the monkey bar structure in hopes of getting some kind of warm-up.
I’m leaning up against the wall and as I look down, the whole room shakes, as if a bomb went off outside. I looked at Justin to see if he felt it, but his face tells me that I am the only one feeling it. I realize that I am in trouble. The jet lag, travel, and excitement have taken their toll. I now know that I am punch-drunk tired and I am not ready to compete. My heart drops into the pit of my stomach. I get more nervous since I know that I am in a weakened state and am not strong enough to even get a good warm-up session in before heading out to take my turn at on-sighting a climbing route in this competition. It’s over before it’s begun and the room continues to shake intermittently. I almost can’t stand up without losing my balance.
Trying to get a warm-up on the flexing timbers, my muscles are at about 60-70% capacity. My name is called out in Russian and I am taken to the venue. They tied my knot and I am looking at the route. I laugh out loud and look around and know that I only want to lay down right there and go to sleep. It’s crazy to think that, after all the training and effort to be afforded a chance to be where I am, that I cannot even climb. I am trying not to internalize the shameful feeling that somehow I screwed up to be in this poor of shape.
They prod me to climb, so I get on the wall and start. Both axes on the starting hold and I begin to move across the traversing opening moves. The third move goes to overhanging terrain and the weight of my body feels like a ton of bricks. The cold penetrates past the skin and my arms feel like lead. I try to kick into the boards, but my crampons bounce off. I let go and drop to the ground.
We are allowed a second try, so I get back on thinking that somehow I might get a better flow to the climb and that by some miracle that I will be able to get moving upwards. The second round I get a twinkle of power, but only briefly. I do some figure 4’s and figure 9’s and get through the same moves and one more. Then, the high feet come in pulling the overhang to a very long stretch to the next hold. This is my main weakness in climbing since short people have an easier time crunching up and bringing their legs up to move past the overhang and I am not a short build.
I’m too cold, too tired, and I can’t think. I look at the hold and I now see two of them. Double vision isn’t what I needed. I simply let go and I’m done with my first World Competition climbing event. I’m completely embarrassed. I feel I’ve disgraced everyone, including the route setter, friends, family, and sponsors. I just want to puke. As cold and miserable as it was, I stayed around to watch Justin climb. Justin, unfortunately, did as poorly, but was also the victim of either the language barrier or unfair judging since they called him “outside the boundaries” on his second attempt at the second hold. They counted his highest point however, so we tied for 33rd place out of 38.
The route was too hard right off the deck since we weren’t the only ones who suffered as bad. Nearly 1/3 of the climbers has fallen there and never even made it past the first clip. In fact, nobody even finished the climb, not even the world’s best climbers could not finish it. As a result, there is a complaint to be filed by the judges to the overseeing body of route setters. I’m not sure how any of that will work out in the future, but it was a rough start for the newcomers from the USA.
I wasn’t really phased by the ordeal since I couldn’t expect that I knew that I was pretty much doing well just to make the appearance and to expect much more would be unfair. Justin was upset for a while but he got over it quickly after I told him how I did and reassured him that this was only the first of a long series of competitions this month. We weren’t in Ouray where we only had one shot for the whole year. We were on the World Competition circuit and would have at least three more opportunities to tie in. The rest of the evening was spent socializing and meeting some of the people involved in organizing the competition as well as some of the other English speaking athletes.
The following day we were able to go to the Kirov indoor rock climbing gym where all of the local people climb and train. I was shocked to find out that this was the only place that many of the Russians have ever climbed using their ice tools. So, they are familiar with all of the climbing holds used in this competition in Kirov, whereas we were learning on-sight, meaning that we had never seen the holds or were able to hang off of them. This is a clear hometown advantage. I would have liked to of climbed in this gym at least once before getting on the route. The locals make all their own holds out of 1 part polyester and 3 parts sand, but wouldn’t share an exact recipe, all interesting and good information for me or anyone else who might compete here in the future. Anyway, we all got a good session of climbing in under more hospitable conditions. It felt good to move and I got into bett humor quickly.
We dressed up for the speed climbing competition in the early evening. The sun had set hours ago and the ice climbing wall was lit up with bright lights and a disco ball with music trying to pump a good vibe through high winds and blowing snow. I had never competed in a speed climbing competition before, although I had set a few of the lines in Ouray several years ago when they used to have speed climbing competitions. Dennis Van Hoak lent my his speed climbing tools and I gave it a go with a couple of warm-up tries. I as moving well enough and thought I might have some fun. Indeed, I had a load of fun in the competition round. I climbed well all the way up and nearly hit the buzzer at the top when I pulled out a chunk of ice that sent my flying, leading to my disqualification. I would have made the next round had I stayed on, but it was not to me.
Dennis was really upset since he fell off only three moves up the ice. Having taken 2nd in a World Cup speed climbing competition, he was a bit disturbed. I gave him some good words that it wasn’t his fault and that he still has more competitions. It seems like a nice way of coping with failure when we look ahead at the next round. It sooths our emotions somehow and is like a little sugar after having swallowed a heap of bitter.
More socializing and hanging out watching others climb in the semi-finals and finals competitions for the remainder of the stay in Kirov. There’s really no nightlife for foreigners that we knew about, especially with the language barrier.
The finals route ended as expected. The girls all failed at the ice since they have never thrown their ice axes into virgin ice. The men finished as expected with Markus Bendler finishing first. Harold Klammer from Italy might have been closer to the podium, but he dropped an ice tool and was not allowed to continue. Russians finished out the top remaining slots.
We were still on the clock since we still had to pack, eat dinner, and catch a bus to the train station all within an hour. We got on a train the took us about half way back to Moscow and we went into the bar and had a good time with al the athletes and some of the local folks. Unfortunately, we had to be dropped off at the half way city for some strange reason. Likely it was an error on the organizers part. This set us laying on the terminal floor for four hours until the next train came through to pick us up for the remainder of the trip. At least on the second leg we were able to get a bedded cabin and catch some sleep, although I didn’t sleep much. Go figure. Time to start changing something.

Ouray Ice Competition 2009

01-16-2009
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Anyone who saw the route knows it was a tough year. Anyone who was on it, knows it was impossible. Someone asked me what the route was rated. I replied M20 since nobody sent it. Granted, it’s doable, but not on competition day and not in the conditions it was in. Overhanging verglass ice made for an improbable ascent. Brutally cold temps at night (10F during the comp) contributed to sublimated detachment and brittle ice on the competition route. Most competitors fell within a few feet of one another ( a couple of bolts apart). The route may be doable on a better day when a climber can reef on the holds, but not this day.

Speaking for my own performance on the route, I felt that I did a poor job of reading the route. Being 6’4” with a +2” index and strong lock-off ability did me no favors in trying to over pull through the opening moves to save time. My second placement hit ice and I felt secure. However, when I looked down at the placement, I could see the ice spalling from under the pick. Needless to say, that placement popped and I was off. Embarrassed and disgusted I was lowered off and wished Stephen Koch good luck and not to take anything for granted. 14th place this year wasn’t what I set my goals on, and I didn’t represent what I’m capable of.

Beyond the agony of self defeat, I was amazed at the amount of people that showed up to cheer and jeer me on. Jason Williams, Justin Spain and Ben Goddard were instrumental in helping me train hard this year and they were letting me know they were in the stands. Thanks guys. The Shooks made the journey and got some ice climbing in as well. Nic and Rose Mary came, bought me dinner after cheering me on, and enjoyed shopping at OMS shortly thereafter. Chrissie brought Logan and Sierra to watch “dad” climb not only mixed rock and ice for the first time, but also to be a part of the Ice Fest in Ouray. All my friends and climbing family from Ouray and elsewhere were having a great time and being a part of a great memory that will last forever. I feel so fortunate to have such great support from these people.

What can I say but, THANKS !

I’d like to publicly thank Chuck O’Dette and Petzl for sponsoring me and having me be a part of an elite team of world renown climbers. It’s a great crew that shows up every year and gets people from all ability levels involved in ice climbing and then throws an incredible party after the competition. PMI has been another great sponsor. Their ropes have kept me alive for many, many years whether pushing my personal limits in climbing or doing rescues in the middle of the night. Their Tech gloves have been great to climb mixed rock and ice with.

On another note, I was happy to coach several people this season so far in the contrivances of mixed climbing. I hope to bring more people into the sport and am thinking about holding a clinic on hard mixed climbing techniques next year. Seems I’m a good coach/cheerleader.

I’d also like to thank Vince Anderson who put so much time and effort putting up this year’s route, Erin and Mel who ran the Fest, Bill Whit who ran the comp, Conrad Anker who MC’d the Comp and took my information at breakfast in the wee hours before the start at the athlete’s breakfast, and everyone who played a role in making the Ice Fest and the Ice Competition happen not only for the competitors, but everyone who enjoys climbing in Ouray.

Having been in the only International Climbing Competition in the USA on an annual basis, I have to say that it’s a great experience. It’s now my third, going on my fourth season in competition and it’s a great experience. My personal goal is to be in next year’s competition and be able to give it everything, to have a good run, and to make the finish or to be gassed out trying, but not to fall off of a chincy hold.

I told Jay Smith at lunch the other day that my heroes are also my friends, there’s not many sports out there like that. I hope to compete again next year and hope to see everyone out there pushing themselves and living life !