Climbing NZ National Cup - Round 1, Base Camp Wanaka, Wanaka

On Friday 1 April Dad and I left Wellington on a climbing trip to Wanaka. We would be competing in round 1 of the National Cup Series. I would be in the Youth A Male grade and Dad would be doing Masters, and both of us were doing Opens as well. After the comp we would stay in Wanaka for a few days and do some outdoor climbing.

Sat 2 Apr: comp day 1

We got up at 8:00am, had breakfast and drove to the climbing gym. There were six people in my grade including me, and Dad was the only one in the Masters.

Youth A First Qualifier

My first climb went up an Arête and was quite technical and delicate but I managed to top out, without too much difficulty, along with two other people.

Speed Qualification, Open and Junior

The speed routes were very narrow and the one on the left was quite hard, the Youth D competitors fell off on that route. I got the fastest time in both Open and Youth A :).

Open First Qualifier

My first Open climb went up on to the right hand side of the roof and the last move was a dyno off a bad crimp to handle. I got a no hands rest before the roof but it didn't help much as I wasn't pumped. I got to the dyno but didn't hit the loop. At the end of the first round I was coming fourth equal with one other competitor.

Open Second Qualifier

My second Open climb went up onto the left side of the roof.I was first up and I fell off going to the second hold on the roof.

At the end of the Qualification round I was coming fifth and Dad came ninth.

Open Final

Our final route went up onto the roof, traversed right bit on to a 45° wall, traversed the 45° wall and then went back left across the roof and topped out. I fell off just before the climb back onto the roof. The climber before me topped and only one guy after me did better than me so I ended up coming third. I was pretty pleased with that result.


Sun 3 Apr: comp day 2

Youth A Second Qualifier

This climb went up onto the far right side of the roof and the two guys who topped our first qualifier topped this route along with me. At the end of the qualification round I was coming first equal with two other competitors.

Youth A Final

My final route roughly followed the same line as the Open second qualifier. I fell off on a hard throw to a sidepull on roof. The other guys who topped our qualifiers fell off at the same point so we all came first equal for the comp.

Speed Finals

I came first in Youth A, and second in Open.