2nd SCS comp...yesterday

Yesterday, I had another SCS comp. If you don't remember what an SCS comp is, I published a climbing glossary page. Look up.

Same old routine: wake up at 6:00 a.m, pick up my coach, drive to Starbucks, fall asleep, wake up on the Maryland/Pennsylvania border, eat food, bounce legs up and down impatiently. Oh yeah--this comp was at a gym in Pennsylvania.

We pulled up at the same time as one of the other awesome climbers in my age group. At the last comp, she beat me by 300 points. She would make me really mad, but she's just so nice. Anyway, talked to fellow competitor, went inside, checked in, used bathroom, got FREE T-SHIRT :), and put on gear so I could boulder to warm up. 

This gym had an awesome cave. It was practically horizontal on the ceiling. My gym has a tiny cave, about, I dunno, three feet long with an overhang that is barely overhanging. So this place was so. Cool. And you could top out (climb on top of) the cave!! I love it!!!!!

This comp format was a little--well, a lot--different from the last one. The climbs at the last comp were each worth a certain amount of points, and you only got the points if you completed them. At this comp, they score you by the highest hold you touch, whether you used the usable surface of that hold, and if you made any upward movement off of it. Complicated, right? You might think it gets you more points than the other type of comp, but since there are only a few climbs (at this comp there were three), and there are usually twenty to twenty-five holds per climb, and the twenty-something holds are near or at the top of the route, and you don't always make it to the top, you get a lot fewer points than you would at the other type of comp. In fact, I think the highest score was 83.5, and the lowest point value of the climbs at the other comp was 100. So yeah.

Also, each gender and age group had their own climbs--well, that was just my division (FYC). Some of the other divisions were sharing. The FYDs (youngest females) weren't sharing their climbs with the MJRs (oldest males). But MYC and FYB were sharing their climbs, and so were FYD and MYD. That's really all I remember.

The comp didn't actually start until 10:00. We had a four-minute time limit on each climb, and I either fell off or completed the climb within the first two to two and a half minutes. So it all totaled up to less than twelve minutes of climbing.

I finished the first route--it was pretty easy. Positive crimps at the bottom, semi-jugs in the middle, positive crimps near the top, and a big jug to finish on.

However, I sucked on the second. I just fell, okay? Well, actually, I messed up the sequence, got tired, tried again, and fell. :(

The third one I did pretty well on. I think I could have done it if I hadn't been so tired, and if I hadn't done something to my leg while getting over the overhang. (My leg is fine now, thankyouverymuch.)

I ended up with fifty-two points, which is about fifty-two more than I expected. (No, not really. :}) I didn't place, but I had a lot of fun. Everyone in my group was just so friendly. We wished the person behind us good luck, we wished the person in front of us good luck...it was just fun. It's funny how many people you end up talking to when you spend most of your time off the wall. I saw a girl from regionals and chatted with her and her teammate, I met up with the girl I saw in the parking lot and we talked about our scores (she got fourth :}), and I even ended up talking to some of the younger girls. (They're really nice, too.) It was an awesome experience. 

Next comp: regionals!!!! I'm excited. I think it's not a month away--it's sooner. Anyway, wish me luck!