Imperial College climbers scale dizzy new heights!
ClimbingVirgil 209 10th John (me) 205 11th Markus 196 17th Oli 190 20th Rob 178 27th Matt 175 30th Fresher Oli 154 37th Steffan 140 39th
Last Sunday some of us from the Imperial College Mountaineering Club ICMC entered an open climbing competition at the Westway Climbing centre here in London. Some of you may be wondering how you can have a rock climbing competition, I'll explain, the type of climbing in this particular comp is called bouldering, this is where you climb short routes 2-4meters high (boulders) with a big mat under you in case you fall. The difficulty comes from tiny holds, lack of holds, horrible holds or very big reaches which involve a bit of flying. There were 25 routes in total, ranging from easy to ridiculously hard. You gain points by completing the climbs, 10 points for completing it on your first attempt, 7 for second and 3 for the third attempt. Also some climbs have a bonus hold, usually halfway, and you gain one point for reaching this. Seeing as climbing is not intrinsically competitive, the competition was very relaxed and friendly, and you meet loads of cool people.
My flatmate Virgil and I arrived at the Westway, the UK's largest climbing centre, in North Ken at around 10, we were supposed to be there for 9 but seeing as time wasn't important in this comp it didn't matter that we were an hour late. We found Markus, Oli, Matt and Rob lying on the bouldering mats at the bottom of the wall watching people warm up; the comp hadn't started yet. The first climb we tried was an easy traverse, climbing sideways, everyone got it on the first attempt, ten points all round. We warmed up on the easy climbs for a bit, and then tried something that looked hard. It was a dyno, this is where the handholds are about 2-3 meters apart and you have to jump between them so both hands and feet leave the wall simultaneously. It was actually easy and everyone from IC got it in less than two gos. Most of the climbs were fairly friendly and most of us could do them, but there were a few that stuck in my mind. The campus board, this is something which strikes fear into the hearts of most novice climbers. It's a wooden board around 20 degrees overhung, bolted to the board are slats of wood around the thickness of a doorframe and about a foot apart, the plan is to do a series of pull-ups and move up this board using only your hands. It is a test of brute strength alone, and requires absolutely no skill. Only Virgil, Markus and I managed this problem. There was another in the woody room, it was on a wall around 25degrees overhung, the holds were tiny, the crux was to move from a two finger pocket to a "ledge" around the size of a pencil, none of us managed it but Oli and Virgil got the bonus hold. The hardest climb there was in the centre of the bouldering wall, about 60degrees overhung. You had to move up the wall on tiny ledges, some of them horizontal to a finishing hold which was the size and shape of a football cut in half and stuck to the wall, only the guy who came first managed to climb this.
So our BUSA competition team for this year is Virgil, Markus, Nick, John, Katie, Laura/Alex (Mixed teams). I may have made climbing sound horrendous but it's really not, the best bit is coming off having nearly done a problem, talking to your mate about it, trying again, getting someone better than you who's done the problem to help, trying repeatedly, then finally you do it and get this immense sense of satisfaction, this happens right the way through from a beginner trying 4a right up to the pros climbing V14. Get Involved, Beit Quad, Wednesdays at 1pm!
