This weekend, on Saturday, February 28th, 2015, Cliffhanger Vancouver will play host to the second difficulty competition of the year sanctioned by Sport Climbing BC. It is the first time that Cliffhanger Vancouver has hosted such an event. Competitors will complete two flash qualifiers and one on-sight final. If you are just moping around the house this Saturday, get out and support your local competitors. I am sure you will have a good time. Squamish Climbing Magazine thought it best to check with Adam Diamond, the head route setter for the event, and see what they are bring to the table.
Hi Adam, thanks for talking to us. Cliffhanger is hosting the first lead comp of the season this weekend. Can you tell us a bit about the event?
It’s the second Difficulty comp of the season and the first comp we have ever held at this downtown location. It’s created quite a buzz among our local members a lot of whom aren’t at all familiar with the competition scene. We have a lot of our members entering the “recreational” and “experienced” categories and I think we will have lots of people come out to watch as well.
What goes into planning event like this?
Since it’s the first time we’ve hosted an event at this Cliffhanger it’s definitely taking a little extra planning. Logistics, timing, prizes, t-shirts, posters. The routes seem like the most straightforward part. But I have a good crew that I know can make it happen.
Eric the Manager at the Cliffhanger has done a great job dealing with most of the preliminary organization. I just have to deal with the routes and the comp logistics.
Any tricks up your sleeve as the head route-setter for this event?
I think that the competitors are looking for good, solid route-setting that will challenge them and push them out of their comfort zone. As setters we are trying to be creative without resorting to being too tricky or contrived. It’s more difficult than setting for daily use at a climbing gym since we need to create an outcome where only one climber can top all the routes. This comp is part of the BC series which determines the athletes who will represent BC at Nationals and Canada at World Cup events. So it needs to be professionally done.
Can you explain the flash format for this event? How will the qualifiers and the finals for this event be different?
There are two ‘flash’ format qualifiers. That means the athletes get to watch a video preview of someone climbing these routes before attempting them. Everyone has one attempt on each route. The combined score of the qualifiers determines who will advance to finals. Finals is “on-sight” format. Competitors remain in isolation until it is their turn to climb. They won’t know how any of the other competitors have done until they have completed their attempt. But the cheers from the crowd are often a pretty good clue as to how everyone is doing.
You have been in the game for as many years as I can remember. Has the popularity of competition changed over the years?
It’s hard for me to really judge that. I’ve been climbing a long time but competition wasn’t something I was interested in until the last 10 years or so. I got involved through route-setting and then coaching our youth teams. Through them I’ve discovered how great a tool the competitions can be to push you to excel and really develop as a climber.
I’ve been privileged to work with some great young athletes, and it’s just awesome to work with kids like that and watch them grow into just amazing climbers. That and route-setting has really been my focus the last 5 years or so.
Where do you think the future of BC competitive climbing is going?
I think we are at an interesting stage in our organizational development. Sport Climbing BC, the governing body for competition climbing in BC, was established 2 years ago and we have already seen a lot of changes (Disclosure: I am on the competition organizing committee for the SCBC). We have well organized Bouldering and Difficulty seasons and Provincial Championships now. I think it will lead to even stronger athletes coming out of these events.
The real hurdle is creating events that attract more adult competitors. The youth comp scene is solid but we aren’t attracting enough adults to these events. I would love to see some adult teams and clubs develop out of the climbing gyms, much like the youth teams, which would make it a more social and fun event for competitors. The competition community in BC is small but great. Everyone is very supportive and works together to put on these events. Between the athletes, coaches, parents and gym staff, I’ve gotten to know so many great people and climbers over the years. We see each other pretty much every month and it’s a lot of fun. Maybe (if anyone has read this far!) this will inspire some of your readers to sign up for their first comp. I promise it’ll be fun!
Thanks Adam for your time and we hope the event goes well this weekend. So the questions has been raised, what would get more adult competitors out to these events? Please post your comments below.
Adam Diamond is the Head Coach at Cliffhanger Indoor Rock Climbing Centre.
For information on this weekends event, please click here. Doors open for finals at 6pm.
