World Youth Champs Summary

Because of exams, which finished some weeks ago, I was busy and didn't get around to updating my blog. So here's a summary of the World Youth Champs.

Wednesday 17 August

We had a one and a half hour train ride to a different climbing gym with a ten metre speed wall. When we got there we found out they no longer had the speed holds up on the wall (we found some of them in the boulder room), so we did onsighting instead. After some not great first attempts Ken gave us a team talk about how, after going to the swimming complex the day before, we were in 'holiday mode' and needed to switch into hard climbing mode. After Ken's motivating talk I was putting more effort in and getting further on the climbs.

Thursday 18 - Sunday 21 August: last days in Munich

We had three more days in Munich. We went to the Dachau Memorial Concentration Camp and watched the semi-finals and finals of the Boulder World Cup at the Olympic Stadium. One night we watched as more and more people arrived outside our hostel to film a scene or part of a scene for a movie. On Sunday we caught a coach to Imst, Austria.

Sunday 21 - Wednesday 24 August: Comp prep in Imst

We climbed on the indoor wall on Sunday and Monday (the Comp would be on the outdoor wall) and met some of the other competitors who were also doing some last minute training. On Tuesday we went up to the Alpine Coaster for the third year running but the ride didn't seem worth the money so I sat around instead.

Thursday 25 - Sunday 28 August: The World Youth Champs

My first qualifier went ok but I think I could have got further. The climb was very cool and I enjoyed trying it. The next day on my second qualifier I psyched myself out about a move low down and fell off there. I was very frustrated and disappointed about that climb.

In the speed qualification I did better than last year's time and got under 20 seconds.

The team's results were

Junior Male

Daniel: lead: 54, speed: 26 (16.99)

Youth A Male

Christoph: lead: 34, speed: 27 (18.76)
Sam: lead: 65, speed: 33 (22.08)
J.J. (me): lead: 67, speed: 30 (19.80)

Youth B Male

Josh: lead: 39, speed: 27 (21.23)
Kaze: lead: 46, speed: 32 (33.36)
Peanut: lead: 49, speed: 28 (22.90)

Youth B Female

Tayla: lead: 39, speed: 29 (34.29)
Aiyana: lead: 45, speed: 32 (46.05)
Alex: lead: 61, speed: 31 (45.93)

The next day it was raining. The semi-finals were in the morning and we all went down to watch. I got very cold and wet but I stuck it out to the end. In the afternoon the clouds cleared and the mountains all around were covered in snow. In the evening we watched the finals and then the medal ceremony.

On Sunday, the last day of the competition, we headed down to watch the speed finals and trade some of our team uniform. I ended up with a Swiss hoody and a Singapore singlet. We went to the after party that afternoon but the only countries attending were us, the Ausies, South Africa and Japan.

Monday 29 August - Thursday 1 September: Heading back home

We had another long coach ride back to Munich. In the afternoon we did some shopping and I somehow managed to get left by myself in the climbing shop. Because Glenda told us not to go off on our own I made my way back to the hostel and waited there.

We left Munich the next day and travelled back to Auckland with a short stop in Singapore. We arrived in Auckland at 11:00 at night so there were no domestic flights until the next day. Most of us were met by family but Glenda, Sam, Christoph and I all had to stay the night and fly out the next day.

The next day I arrived in Wellington and Mum, Dad and Tessa were waiting for me. I was Home.

Photos:

1. Peanut on his first Qualifier
2. Josh on his first Qualifier
3. Sam on his second Qualifier

Friday 12 August

We had a rest day and went climbing gear shopping. I bought a pair of 5.10 Arrowheads and some of the others spent almost all their money.

After lunch we took two trains and a tram to Nymphenburg Palace and I took lots of photos.

That night Daniel and I did the video diary.

Saturday 13 August

During our first two days climbing we took it easy because of jet lag, but were back to training hard now.

Sunday 14 August

Because it was Sunday almost all the shops were closed and the gym opened late. After hunting around for some time we found a bread shop and had sandwiches for lunch.

Monday 15 August

This was a public holiday so the shops were still closed. Training today was all about getting the boom (German slang for pump).

Photos:

1. Nymphenburg Palace.
2. Josh, Aiyana, Tayla and Alex outside Nymphenburg Palace.
3 to 5 Alex, Aiyana and Kaze training at the gym.

Munich Day 1 & 2

Wednesday 10 August

When we got to Munich we caught a train to our accommodation and had breakfast there. We couldn't check in to our rooms until 2:00 so we went for a walk and played hacky. After lunch we went to the climbing gym and climbed for a while. The climbing gym was massive. It had two indoor, NZ-climbing-gym-sized rooms and an outdoor wall. There was a boulder room downstairs with set problems and another one up stairs with campus boards and other training stuff. That day, though, we just climbed in the first room.

Thursday 11 August

On the way to the way to the climbing gym we went to an old church and some of us went up to the top of a bell tower and took photos of the view.

Photos

1. View of Marienplatz from bell tower.
2. Peanut, Tayla, Aiyana and Alex in the bell tower.
3. The bell tower.
4. The team at Marienplatz.

Monday 6 September

We went to the gym and tried some of the competition climbs. When we were finished trying comp climbs some of us did speed practice. In the evening we packed our bags because we were leaving the next day.

Friday 3 September

We did some home work in the morning and went climbing in the afternoon. We packed for the next day in the evening.

Thursday 2 September

We went for a wander after breakfast and I found a soccer ball. We did lots of climbing after lunch then went back and had nachos for dinner. In the evening we went for a walk up a steep road passing the ball to each other on way and having to get ourselves and the ball out of the way of cars going up and down the road.

Wednesday 1 September

We got up, had breakfast and packed our bags. Some of the others went for a wander but I didn't because I was still packing. We caught a train to Munich then another train to Innsbruck, Austria, and one final train to Imst followed by a taxi to our accommodation. In the afternoon we went to the climbing gym and did some climbing.

Wednesday 25 August

We got up and ate breakfast. Then we caught a bus to the train station and Chase got told off by a securaty guy for walking on a chain. We took a 50 minute train ride to the Villa Wood climbing ym and climbed there for a while. At the end of our session I practised speed climbing on a copy of the official speed route. When we got back to the hostel we had to get all ready go at 4:15 the next day so we set our alarms to 3:45.

Tuesday 24 August

I got up really early and got to the airport ages before my flight so I could check my bag through to Sydney. We used the spare time to find a photocopier and photocopy the pages I was going to use for homework fom my textbooks so I didn't have to take the textbooks with me. When I got to Auckland I couldn't find the path to the international airport so I caught the bus. I then met up with the others and got given my uniform. Then the others checked in but I didn't because I had checked in through to Sydney in Wellington. We had lunch then went through to secrity and then on to our gate. While we were waiting for our flight James got us to work out what our numbers were and they were:

No.1 Sarah
No.2 Mark (who would join us in Korea)
No.3 Jesse
No.4 Speedy
No.5 Me
No.6 Wiz
No.7 Chase
No.8 Alex
No.9 Josh
No.10 Tayla
No.11 Peanut

What number someone was was based on how many years they had been to the worlds before and then on how old they were. I was called up along with some other people to have my boarding pass swapped for a new one because the planes had changed.

On the plane I didn't have a vegan meal prepared for me because it wasn't pre-orderd but it was ok because someone had ordered a vegatairian meal but changed their mind so I got it.

Once we were in Australia we caught a taxi to our accommodation, Glebe Village Hostel, and unpacked. We then caught a bus to the climbing gym. The gym was massive and really busy. We climbed for a while and had dinner there, and when we got back it was really late.

Milandia and zoo

15 August

We went to Milandia and did competition onsight/flash practice, and we had to get our warm up routine sorted.


16 August

I wrote the team diary.


17 August

We got Euros turned into Swiss Franks so we could go to the zoo, and we had money left over to spend on things.


18 August

Went to Gaswerk again and did packing etc.

13-14 August

13 August

After breakfast we guessed what we would do tomorrow, one guess each and if one of us got it right we all got ice creams. We guessed in reverse number order:
No. 1 Claire
No. 2 Sarah
No. 3 Damon
No. 4 Mark
No. 5 Rowan
No. 6 Jesse
No. 7 Speedy
No. 8 Olivia
No. 9 Irmak
No. 10 Emily
No. 11 Josiah
No. 12 Charlotte
No. 13 Wiz

We got some clues, and Claire guessed correct. So the next day we got ice creams.

At Gaswerk we did hard climbing and my hands hurt from the day before. We also had to work out our warm up.


14 August

We went to the Mammut factory and got a tour of the factory, the different steps of making ropes and other stuff. At the end we each got given a Mammut mammoth and it was lots of fun.

Switzerland

11 August

On the next flight I attempted to sleep. Then I did some more stuff on the computer and had breakfast.

When we got to Zürich Jesse's luggage didn't come so it had to be sent to us. We met Emma and Rob at the airport, and we ate breakfast again. We then caught a train to Oerlikon.

When we got to our apartments we sorted out who shared a room with who, me and Rob in our apartment, and after that we went to the supermarket. We then ate lunch at a small bit of grass, and we then played games afterwards. After that we went back to our apartments and made dinner.


12 August

We went to Gaswerk, where you're not allowed loose chalk or bare feet, and on the way there we caught two trains and then did a lot of walking. I touched a poisenous plant with my hand on the walk and it really hurt. Gaswerk is so humongous it makes HangDog look like a home boulder wall. We then did some pumpy leading and bouldering and I got a B5 on the outdoor boulder wall. One of the boulder rooms had a 45° angle boulder mat so you could do really high and long problems and everyone thought my yells were funny.

The team is away

It was great to see the team off from Auckland Airport on Monday morning. All were bubbly and excited; the uniforms looked very smart. It's nice that there are some in the team who have been on long overseas trips before and can help the others with unfamiliar tasks like filling out departure cards. They were all looking after each other well.

James, the coach and supervisor, exuded calm and confidence, which was exactly what was needed (what I needed, anyway). He told the team that he is not their mother, or their father, and expects them to take care of their own belongings. Even in the short time before going through to the departure area, there was evidence that this was little more than a vain hope on James's part: James had to repeat his instructions about what to do with their two boarding passes, luggage labels and passports half a dozen times at least, and in the process sounded just like a parent!

Josiah was keen to be off and very happy.

We have had first contact: an email posted from Singapore Airport, where the team had a six hour stop:

I am in Singapore now. I enjoyed the flight here and watched mov[i]es on the plan[e].

The team is back in the air now en route to Zurich, Switzerland, where they will spend their first week, training at the impressive Kletterzentrum gyms.