Five Ten Athlete Natasha Barnes goes on a road trip to the UBC Pro Tour stop in Seattle and stops in Gold Bar, Index and Leavenworth on the way. About 3 months ago I decided to compete in my first big comp since doing the Dark Horse last Fall/Winter, the UBC Pro Tour stop in Seattle. This time I had been training for the competition under the guidance of Kris Peters and with some strength training help from my friends at Anthropos Performance. A couple weeks ago I got to test myself against some of the best...

Every climber, no matter how long you have been climbing, knows what it is like to have a nemesis. That one route or boulder problem that you just can’t seem to finish for some reason, usually that reason being more mental than physical. Quite often, you have worked out every move and just can’t for the life of you, seem to connect the dots. Rarely is it even the hardest thing numerically speaking you’ve ever done, and often it surprises your climbing buddies who can’t believe you haven’t put the thing to rest.