Photos from 2011 SCS National Championships, Stone Summit, GA

Back in Bend and enjoying the relief from the relentless humidity of Hotlanta.  We had a great trip for Nationals and have come away as stronger climbers both physically and mentally.  Here's some photos from the 4 days of competition.  Yes, those walls are that big!

Over 14 draws on some of these routes!

Lukas way up high and on his way to flashing Q1.

Jack grabbing a quick shake and chalk before things get real steep.

Steep.

Steeper!

Steepest!

Lukas starting his way up the steep climb.

Getting onto the steep stuff.

Climbing the steepness!

Lukas chalking up on the massive roof.

Jack on Q2.

More steep climbing for Jack.

Transitioning to some vertical face climbing.

And back to the steep stuff.

Lukas finishing up a mandatory down campus on his finals route.

Lukas on his finals route.

Lukas on his finals route.

Lukas (4th from Right) finishes in 6th place.

Day Four 2011 SCS Youth Nationals, Stone Summit, Atlanta GA

Done.  It's been a long four days of climbing for all the competitors here in Atlanta.  Four days on very hard routes is really stressful when one false move or wrong sequence can bump you down several places in the standings.  Over the whole four days of competition there were only 2 climbers in all of the catergories who flashed all four of their routes.
Lukas had another good day on the wall on a cool route with a couple unique movements.  He made it high on the wall and looked very solid climbing through a couple complex sequences and then fell high on the route matching on a bad hold. 
Lukas had a good run at his first SCS Nationals and finished 6th place in the nation for Male Youth C.  Way to go Lukas!

Day Three 2011 SCS Youth Nationals, Stone Summit, Atlanta GA

Another day done here at Stone Summit.  Today were the semi-finals where the top 16 in each category were climbing on some ridiculously hard climbs.  Isolation was a bit lonely this afternoon with Lukas being the only climber from Oregon in the afternoon iso.  Lukas had one route today with over 50 hand holds for him on the wall!  There  was a real techy traverse section to a very cool no-hands rest that Lukas found that I didn't see any other climber use.  A couple more  moves and Lukas was in another no-hands with a real cool drop knee.  Climbing smooth Lukas negotiated a little crux with a very high heel hook that seemed to work well for him.  After moving off the face climbing Lukas was unfortunately thwarted by a powerful move way up high.  Going into today Lukas had qualified in 6th for semi-finals and now sits in 5th for tomorrows finals route.  Hopefully he can continue to claw his way up a couple places!

Day Two 2011 SCS Youth Nationals, Stone Summit, Atlanta GA

Day two of the 2011 SCS Youth National Championships is wrapped up here in Atlanta at Stone Summit and I can't tell you how impressive the level of climbing is in the qualifier rounds.  The youth climbing teams in the US are getting more and more organized and the athletes are really stepping it up. Today's routes for Jack and Lukas were a mix of some old and new routes.  The gyms walls still seem super high and it's hard to climb so strong and precise on these long routes.

Lukas was first up for the Bend Climbing Team and was climbing on the same wall and route as Jack did yesterday.  After watching the demo climber and a few extra climbers Lukas felt that he had the route pretty well sussed out but was still nervous about the long moves out the horizontal roof.  Lukas had some great flow through the opening sequence and the first crux. He moved well through the direction change on the roof but fell after a couple power moves pulling the lip.  His hard work put him into 6th place after qualifiers and will be moving on to semi-finals tomorrow.

Jack's route today found him off the horizontal and onto some steep sections with some dead vertical thrown in for good measure.  After watching some other climbers and figuring out the moves Jack was ready to tie in and give it his best.  The start of his climb was steep but on good holds, sticking to his plan Jack climbed smooth and fast through the steep section to an awkward rest and shake just under halfway and before the first crux.  After some chalk he was into some hard moves but not stopper. a wrong foot placement and body position forced Jack into a harder than it should have been move where he fell throwing to a pocket.  Jack finished the two day qualifier round in 30th place which means he doesn't advance to semi-finals.  We're all extremely proud to say that Jack finished 30th in the NATION in the Male Youth C category.  Way to go Jack!

Day One 2011 SCS Youth Nationals, Stone Summit, Atlanta GA

While most folks back home are just starting work we're already done for the day out here at  the 2011 SCS Youth National Championships.  The gym here is very impressive with it's 60 foot walls and steep terrain and you can feel the excitement from the 400+ athletes.
We're all a bit tired from the 3 hour time change and a day of traveling but Jack and Lukas still managed to climb well on their 1st round qualifier route.  Lukas flashed his route and was surprised that the route didn't feel as long as it looked!  Jack climbed smooth and controled through the first half of his climb and then took a dramatic swinging fall from underneath the roof on a tricky direction change.  Both Jack and Lukas will thankfully be climbing as bit later in the day tomorrow so we'll manage to get some much needed sleep.