I've always been better at ropes and speed than bouldering.  I've been to 3 sport and speed nationals but this was my first bouldering nationals.  What a great experience!  It was held in Colorado Springs in the civic auditorium where they built a wall just for the nationals.  

Last weekend concluded the 2013 ABS National Championships. This year, I traveled out to Colorado Springs to compete in both the youth and open divisions, securing a semifinal bid in the adult category and my 5th National Bouldering Championship title in my last youth bouldering competition ever.This two week Colorado experience has definitely been one of the best times of my life, and I am extremely grateful to be able to live out this lifestyle, balancing my studying with traveling and competing with some of my best friends. Now that I am able to look back and reflect on...

ABS in Colorado springs this year was a great comp. I competed in the open competition along with 75 other competitors. On the day of qualifiers there were 5 climbs, I ended up completing 3 out of the five which put me into 19th place and a spot in semi finals. The first climb in semis was a tricky slab, I got to the last holds but I kept slipping up. The second climb was a stemming climb in a corner with big features and all you had to do was start turned around! But I never figured...

Today was my last day of school before spring break, which means two full weeks of getting to sleep late and relax. Unfortunately, I haven’t had a free moment during the last week. ABS Youth Nationals fell inconveniently on the last weekend before my vacation, and I’ve been scrambling to make up everything I missed before I forget it all next week. I flew out to Colorado Springs last Wednesday, and got in (with all my luggage this time!) at around 8:30 Wednesday night. The next day I ended up hanging out with my friend...

Since qualifying for Semi's was my goal for the comp, I was pretty much happy with how I was going to do no matter what. I went into day two with no expectations and high psych which to me meant I could only improve from there. I showed up for Iso a little earlier than the day before because I felt like I could have used a little better warm up than the previous day, and that put me in a pretty good mood heading out to climb. The routes started on the opposite side of...

Bend Endurance Academy climbers Walker Davis and Tristan Helmich  both qualified to compete at the American Bouldering Series Youth National Championships to be held in March in Colorado Springs, CO.