Packing for Hueco was, to say the least, a little stressful for me. Not knowing whether or not I could climb or not… Would I be able to compete at Nationals the following week? Even if I did, would I have a chance to win? Ok, let's rewind a little...

Last weekend I competed in my first ABS national competition. This was the first national bouldering competition I had attended. Going into this competition, I knew that it would be a great experience. I also learned about what I need to improve for next year. The qualifying round as well as semi-finals went fairly well. I was trying to conserve as much energy as I could. This strategy seemed to work since I made finals with plenty of skin and energy. The finals problems were amazing. The first boulder problem was a technical slab climb. Every hold...

Well, my bouldering season has ended (sort of) but on so many high notes and with much more potential to achieve. The last day of my Hueco vacation in January produced a flash of Rubber Chicken aka Van Dame (V10), bringing the trip damage to two V11’s and six V10’s over the course of three weeks. I took a break for another couple of weeks before returning to Texas for the Hueco Rock Rodeo, and then geared myself up for ABS Nationals the weekend after!

ABS Open Nationals came to an exciting close this past weekend!!! Congratulations to Daniel Woods and Alex Puccio for an impressive win once again. This was my second adult competition. Last year I barely missed qualifying for semifinals in 22nd place. This time I knew I had it in me to make it to semi’s, but I always shoot for finals!!! Anyway, first off was qualifiers. I climbed about midway through the pack which turned out a great thing. Colin Bauer and I were chair buddies which was fun. I ended up sending four of the five...

ABS 14 open nationals was this weekend, and the whole event was very well organized and a lot of fun! In qualifiers, I flashed the first two climbs – both were fairly straightforward and gymnastic. I had a bit more trouble with the next two – there was a big move on the third one, which I tried to static, and in hindsight I probably should have just gone for it. The fourth climb was a technical problem, on which I got about halfway. When I turned to face the last qualifier, I found that it was essentially what...

The Qualification round for the ABS14 Adult Nationals was yesterday. I went out first in the running order which I believe gave me a bit of an advantage over some other competitors because all of the holds were freshly chalked and had not been climbed yet. After a slow warm up period on possible the coolest warm-up area ever (CityRock expanded and had 5 brand new systems boards), I went out and climbed at my first ever ABS Adult Nationals!The first problem was a pretty chill and extremely fun slab route. Starting out on the arete, you worked your...