Saturday, May 12 the Oklahoma Climbing Team competed in the USA Climbing Sport Climbing Season (SCS) Regional Championships at Canyons of Frisco climbing gym in Frisco, TX. Results are posted here. We had several team members advance to Divisionals in both the Difficulty and Speed events.
Oklahoma Climbing Team – Sport Climbing Season Update!
The Oklahoma Climbing Team has been hard at work practicing, climbing, and competing at a number of climbing competitions this season. Already, it’s clear that the kids on the team have stepped it up a notch or two! All of them are lead climbing – which is quite an achievement. In fact, last weekend in Arkansas, four of them did their first outdoor lead climb! But now we’re jumping ahead so let’s back up for a sec…
On March 31tst, Rocktown hosted its annual Sport Climbing Competition. Those results are posted here. But just to highlight a few of the results: Theo 5th Male-Youth D, Chloe 1st Female-Youth C, Nicholas 4th Male-Youth B, Bibi 5th Female-Youth B, Caitlin 6th Female-Youth B, Alec 1st Male-Youth A, Emily 1st Female-Youth A. Overall, it was a great showing at our home gym!
Next up was a local competition at Summit Climbing Gym in Grapevine, Texas on April 14. The format was “onsight” and quite a bit more pressure and difficult in terms of steepness of the routes. The Summit Gym comp is always a tough one. Those results are posted here. Of note from this competition, Chloe placed 6th, Nicholas placed 7th, Alec placed 4th, and Emily placed 6th.
On April 28th we visited Little Rock, Arkansas for their Rock Madness Climbing Competition. We always have a great time in Little Rock and the team members usually climb really well. It was no different this time as we had a number of first-place finishes: Chloe placed 1st, Theo placed 1st, Nicholas placed 1st, Alec placed 1st, Emily placed 1st, and Hannah placed 1st. In addition, Caitlin placed 2nd and Bailey placed 4th in their categories.
As per usual, the next day was spent in the Ozarks climbing outside. This time it was a visit to Horseshoe Canyon Ranch. We lucked out with dry and cool weather. We arrived on Saturday evening and a few of us went night climbing. On Sunday we spent the entire day enjoying a variety of climbs. Some of the kids learned to clean anchors, some lead climbed. And a couple even ventured off to a few lesser known crack climbs and off-widths (!). It’s pretty awesome to me, as a coach, to watch these young people develop as savvy and talented climbers – both indoors and out.
This week we are in the process of preparing for Regionals which will take place on May 12 at Canyons of Frisco in Frisco, TX. Then it’s on to Divisionals and later, Nationals.
Rocktown Closed March 31 for Competition
Hello everyone,
As most of you know, Saturday, March 31 is our annual Sport Climbing Competition at the gym. The gym will be closed to all regular business (both public and members) and open only to competitors and spectators. This is a once-a-year event for us and the only time other than holidays that we actually close to the public. We understand this may be an inconvenience for some because, hey, it’s Saturday and you want to climb – so forgive us this one time. Please. Thank you.
Now – for those of you that are competing in the event….
GET READY TO CLIMB SOME AWESOME ROUTES!!!!
The Concrete Classic is the name of this year’s competition and the theme is “construction.” So dig out your work boots, find a yellow helmet, and a reflective vest and pay attention to all the DETOUR signs on the way to the gym.
We’ll see you guys Saturday.
Oklahoma Climbing Team – Bouldering Series 2011/2012 Wrap & Nationals Report
The Oklahoma Climbing Team recently completed the USA Climbing American Bouldering Series (ABS) season for 2011/2012. The season began in early September 2011 and officially ended last weekend (March 4, 2012) with the conclusion of Nationals in Colorado Springs, CO. More on Nationals in a moment.
We had a fantastic season and saw a lot of progress in technical ability, strength, determination, and strategy in our team members. We welcomed several new members to the team – first-timers to the competition circuit – and have really enjoyed working with them.
This season took us to numerous states for competitions including, Texas, Arkansas, Georgia, and Colorado. Regionals was held in Dallas, TX. There we had 8 team members qualify for Divisionals in Atlanta, GA. From there we had one climber qualify for Nationals.
Emily was our sole competitor at Nationals in Colorado Springs. She went in with a strong foundation and lots of training time – she was ready to crush! In the qualifying round Emily flashed her first problem, second problem, nearly completed the third problem but ran out of time, and reached one of the higher holds on the fourth problem. The nature of problems 3 and 4 really suited her climbing style and favored a lot of what we work on at the gym – namely, balance, technical-ness, tricky sequences that require finesse and delicate power. What we didn’t realize, until after Emily was through with her qualifying round boulder problems, was that on problem 2 when she dropped from the top hold and landed on the mat below, she twisted her ankle and heard a ‘POP’ sound. It became apparent that she had sprained her right ankle. Not that anyone would have known because she gave us no indication that anything was wrong – she simply went on to climb problems 3 and 4. Emily was in 12th place and as such, qualified for semi-finals.
We immediately went to work treating it at the first aid station. The next morning it was clear that the ankle was swollen and going to be an issue. We wrapped her ankle and played it safe during our warm-up time in the isolation area at City Rock Climbing Gym. Instead of jumping down from problems she would climb down. Even getting her climbing shoe on was a challenge – and her range of motion was limited by the ankle wrap.
The first problem in the semi-finals round couldn’t have been a better crafted torture test from someone with an injured right ankle; a high step onto a feature and rock over and leg press up over your right leg. I was sure that would be it – but she finished the problem. Amazing. Problem 2 presented more issues. The movements were getting more difficult, the sequence clearly more tricky, and then a right foot and dyno off it and up to a high right hold. She gave the problem two very good attempts but just couldn’t launch high enough off the right foot to latch the next hold. Under other circumstances I think she would have stuck that move. Problem 3 was an overhanging roof problem that presented a few powerful moves up a steep section. She reached the mid-point of the problem but after a couple of attempts it was over.
Emily finished in 14th place out of a field of 39 in her category – a highly respectable finish – especially considering that she achieved that with a sprained ankle! What was most impressive to me was her positive attitude – never once wavering or complaining or questioning how could something be possible after having injured herself. Instead she remained focused on the goal. The ankle issue would be in the way, for sure, but it wasn’t going to stop her. I’m really not sure how others would have handled it – my guess is that many would have used it as an excuse or a reason to quit. I never sensed that there was any hesitation. As a coach I think it is important to know boundaries to keep people safe and healthy – and I feel we acted within those – but I also think it is important to be able to read your climbers and guide them and support them when they have the willingness and desire to push themselves. In that moment, after she finished her semi-final round I felt a tinge of frustration for her because I knew she felt a bit slighted by the circumstance – but at the same time I was so proud because I’d just witnessed an Oklahoma Climbing Team member achieve the highest finish in a Nationals competition we’ve ever had and at the same time confront an additional challenge of battling an injury. It was quite the performance.
***
We are gearing up for the 2012 Sport Climbing Season (SCS). The first competition of the season is at Rocktown (March 31). It’s always a tough transition from bouldering to sport climbing but the team is learning the ropes again (so-to-speak) and we expect to be up to speed soon. After the Rocktown event we have a number of events in various Texas climbing gyms up through Regionals and Divisionals. Who knows where Nationals will take us this season but hopefully we will be there in full force!
Finally, we said farewell to team coach Chris Yates as he’s set out on a new adventure in the Air Force. We wish him all the best!
New I-40 – Directions to Rocktown Have Changed
I-40 westbound lanes opened on Sunday 2/19 and the old I-40 is officially closed! That means that Rocktown is now on the NORTH side of the highway rather than the south side of the highway. Not only that we are even more visible to passing traffic – which we are pretty excited about as well.
We’ve created some new directions for getting to Rocktown which should be helpful for those of you that are first-time visitors to the gym.
Those directions can be found on our directions page and a Google map has been created http://g.co/maps/whtez.
More chalkbags and new shirts
We just received a new run of custom Rocktown chalkbags produced by Organic Climbing. Each bag features a unique color scheme and our Rocktown patch.
These are available in-house or from our online store.
Also we are expecting a run of t-shirts with our latest and greatest design:
More Climbing
It’s 2012 and we are headed full speed ahead into the new year. We hope your resolutions include some climbing goals – maybe there’s a certain level of ability you would like to achieve, maybe it’s to to climb more often to stay in shape, or maybe you’ve never tried climbing before and you’d like to do something different or get over your fear of heights. Rocktown is the place.
Our list of things to do and improvements remains lengthy. To that end, we stay busy always adding new elements to our climbing environment. Some of you may have noticed the project just past the belay training room. This is a new bouldering cave room. We’re not sure what to officially call it yet – the chute, the shaft, the the cave? Right now it looks more like a fun-house than anything. The climbing wall is 24 feet long and overhangs about 50 degrees off vertical. The floor is about the same angle and parallels the wall. The plan is to “sculpt” and pad the floor to create a cush landing surface. We’re also working on building-out a staging area just outside the room. (The chamber?) This will allow people to hang out and wait their turn outside of the room when someone else is climbing. The project is about 60% done. We still have the floor, the the remainder of the staging area, lighting, painting, and routesetting. I know people are anxious to get in there but these things take time. Patience folks.
With the new semester back in session so are the after-school Touchstone groups. Each day we have a different group of kids at the gym along with a number of volunteer mentors. This has been a part of the culture at Rocktown since the beginning. If you would like to know more about Touchstone and what the program does you can check out their website.
The Oklahoma Climbing Team is in the midst of the invitational round of the USA Climbing American Bouldering Series (ABS) with Divisionals on January 14-15. We have 6 team members competing at the competition in Atlanta, GA in hopes of qualifying for Nationals. Nationals will be held in Colorado Springs in March. The rest of the team is already gearing up for Sport Climbing Season which also begins in March.
Speaking of the Sport Climbing Series, Rocktown will host the first competition of the season on March 31st! So mark your calendars. More to come about the competition at a later date.
Some of you may have noticed the change in directions for the gym. The new I-40 eastbound lanes have opened so that changes the way you get to Rocktown if you are coming from that direction. Now you must take the Shields Blvd exit. Currently only the eastbound lanes are open, the westbound traffic continues to use the old I-40 crosstown. Once the new I-40 is fully open all traffic will exit on Shields to access the gym. It should also be easier to get on I-40 when leaving the gym as well.
Finally, being the winter season, we have been receiving a lot of questions about when we are going to do the ice climb. The answer is that it depends. The weather has not been nearly cold enough to form ice. And the forecast thus far does not give us any indication that we are going to have a weather event that will allow us to create an ice climb. In order to farm ice we need at least 3-4 days of below freezing temps, we’re talking about days in the teens. So far we haven’t seen that. For those of you that are ice climbers, this is a real bummer – for those of you that are rock climbers – this January has been AWESOME!
Truthfully, if this winter stays warm, we’re okay with that. From a staff standpoint, it’s a lot easier for us to work in the gym when it’s 50 degrees than when it’s 20 degrees inside.
That being the case, we welcome those of you that want to practice dry-tooling on the routes inside and outside. Some of the natural feature routes we have are awesome for dry-tooling. And the dry-tool route we create outside is also a lot of fun.
Whatever style of climbing you want to try, just keep climbing. We are looking forward to what 2012 holds.
Happy Holidays from Rocktown
rocktown gift card
Rocktown wishes you and yours a happy holiday season. Don’t forget that even though the weather is changing the climbing gym is still open year-round and is a perfect way to stay in great climbing shape. We have gone to great lengths to climate control the gym more this season – currently we have FOUR infrared heaters and soon we will have heaters in ALL the main silos! This is an investment to YOU, our climbers, to make it more comfortable through the Oklahoma winter season.
Also, a lot of you have been asking about ice climbing, “When are you going to do the ice climb?” Unfortunately, that’s not really something we can control. The best we can do is watch the weather and plan according to the forecast and approaching cold front systems. In order for us to farm ice it takes at least 3-4 full days of extremely cold (sub-zero) temperatures. In the past couple of seasons the coldest stretches have come in the January-February time-frame. We’ll keep an eye on the weather and if the opportunity presents itself we’ll turn the water on and hope for some ice to form. Along with the ice climb we will offer ice climbing classes as well. Just as with rock climbing at the gym, ice climbing requires special training so keep that in mind.
Finally, if you are looking for gift ideas this year consider getting a Rocktown gift card. Gift cards are good for anything at Rocktown including passes, climbing gear, rental equipment, classes, memberships, etc. The cards can be purchased through our online store or at the gym.
Rocktown Birthday Event – Saturday, 10/29
Come celebrate with us!
On Saturday we will have a kid’s bouncy house, half-price day passes and half price 10-pass punchcards (limit of 4). We’ll also have raffle prizes and pizza! This is just our way of saying thanks.
Rocktown featured on OETA’s Stateline
Check out OETA tonight at 7:00 pm for the show “Stateline” and an episode titled “Saving Yesterday.” The program features buildings around the state which have been or are in the process of being renovated or re-purposed. Rocktown Climbing Gym is featured! Check it out. The program will tonight at 7:00 and on the 30th at 11:00 am.