I have spent the last week in Chattanooga, TN staying with Jimmy, Kasia, and Rami. Being back in the south for a little while has be really refreshing and has gotten me really psyched to train hard for trips to Arkansas, Hueco, and Bishop this winter. Yesterday was the first leg of the Triple Crown Bouldering Series. Originally the comp was scheduled for Saturday, but because of heavy rain the night before the boulders were wet, and the comp was postponed to Sunday. On Sunday morning everyone woke up slow, exhausted and overall just not psyched to compete. People were seeming really disheartened because of the comp being postponed. However, when we got up to the boulders the mood and energy totally changed, the weather was PERFECT, the vibe was chill and people were ready to climb.

For people who dont know, the Triple Crown is a series of 3 outdoor comps at world class areas in the South East. Houndears, Horsepens 40, and Little Rock City. The format is simple you have the day (6-7) hours to complete 10 problems which are assigned a point value according to their difficulty, whoever has the most points at the end of the day wins. In order to well in this kind of comp, it is best to have already done most of the problems in your circuit, and know in which order to your problems. The climbers who do well in these comps are efficient and can execute problems very quickly.

For me the comp went really well, I was able to do the majority of my circuit fairly easy, and do some new problems as well. The only problem I wasnt able to complete was Fuc Yo. I could climb threw the crux of the problem every time, but the mantle top out kept throwing me off. I finished 2nd behind Kasia and Leanna Lockhart followed me in third. Kasia and I had our best days ever at the Houndears comp, putting at least 1000 points more on our cards from last year. For the men it was, Brad Weaver in First, Nate Draughn in 2nd, and Andrew Palmer in 3rd. Jimmy Webb, and Brion Voges decided not to compete this year and gave some other strong guys a chance at the money. This weekend is the LRC comp, im psyched to step my game up and try and win this one! After that its back to boulder to train and enjoy the fall season out there!