The Fiesta is over and the results are in from the UIAA North American Continental Championship (NACC). The
multi-disciplined competition was held in Mexico City, November 24th – 28th. Top boulderers, speed and route
climbers from Canada, United States, and Mexico tested their mettle in the worlds second largest city sitting well
over 2,300 meters above sea level. The air was thin, but the atmosphere was thick with anticipation.
Daniel Woods (15) barely made the age cut-off, but did very well overall competing in back-to-back bouldering and
difficulty events, placing 1st in Men's Bouldering and 3rd in Men's Difficulty. Elizabeth “Lizzy”
Asher also had a strong back-to-back performance placing 1st in Women's Bouldering and 2nd in Women's Difficulty.
Emily Harrington looked in top form "resting" her way to 1st place in Women's Difficulty. Meanwhile, the veteran
competitor, Vadim Vinokur, who was the only competitor to complete the finals route, placed 1st in Men's Difficulty.
In the Speed competition, the ever-so-fast Alex Johnson and Patrick Cassiday won their events.
What was at stake? Well, the winners of the Speed and Difficulty events are invited to the 2005 World Games
(www.worldgames2005.de) to be held in Duisburg, Germany, July 14th – 24th. Unfortunately, Bouldering will not be
an event at the World Games. However, Lizzy and Daniel have earned the right to compete in the Bouldering World
Cups next year.
How did these climbers qualify for the NACC? Through the sanctioning body of USA Climbing (www.usaclimbing.org),
eight athletes from each gender and discipline were selected. For difficulty, this was based on the results of the
Adult National Championship held in Miami, Florida back on March 13, 2004. For bouldering, the athletes were
selected based on their final ABS ranking (www.rockcomps.com) for Season 5.
So, here's how it went down - our trip, that is. It was to be a casual trip on a shoestring budget. We booked a
three hour, non-stop, 7:00 PM flight direct from Denver to Mexico City. The elevation gain for us was only a
thousand meters, and we spend more time driving to the crags on occasion, so we figured this was just like a trip to
Rifle, "What could go wrong?" Arrrrgh! We arrived at Denver International to find that Mexicana had decided to cancel
our flight without notice. Thankfully, they were able to re-route us on Frontier via Los Angeles and our arrival
time in Mexico City only changed by about six hours. What?! That’s 5:45 in the AM! Suddenly, this short flight
seemed more like we were traveling to a crag in Europe. We crisscrossed between three time-zones before finally landing
in the smog enveloped city of Mexico.
After a two hour taxi across town, we staggered into our temporary dorm room at 8:30 AM, the day before the
competition, and snagged a three hour nap. Now Mexico City is only home to roughly 23 million people, so a
two hour taxi ride anywhere is pretty much the norm. Our dorms were in the “Conade”, the 1968 Olympic Village that
we affectionately referred to as "The Compound." The Compound had a curfew of 10:30 PM and lights had to be out by
11:00 PM. Leave it to the 'Mericans to test them on this. One evening we decided to see Mexico City's largest
(only?) climbing gym on the other side of town - El Escalódromo. It’s four hours round trip to go to the gym! How's that for a
dedicated urban climber!? We managed to reach the gated entrance to The Compound at 10:35 PM and was greeted by
armed guards that reluctantly opened the gate for us. We just smiled and said "Hola!" in response to their cold
stares.
It's funny that the event organizers were not so strict about being punctual. We learned that the bouldering wall
had just been built two days prior to the event. The stage for the opening ceremony was constructed on the fly and
delayed the bouldering by as much as two hours. Oddly, the only athletes invited to the ceremony were the Mexican
National Team. It was “different” here, to say the least. I could only imagine our team trying to perform the color
guard with the American flag. All of the other competitors were in isolation waiting to climb. Once the bouldering began, it was
well after dark, but someone did think of setting up outside lighting - whew! I reminded myself, "Have no
expectations."
The boulderers came out of the darkness one-by-one to test themselves on five problems set by Tony Yaniro and
Kevin Branford. The freestanding boulder seemed to be holding up, though some of the plywood flexed outrageously
under the force of the dynamic throws. "Is that a technical?" I thought.
The next day, things seemed to run more on a schedule. Competitors moving on to the bouldering finals included 50%
of the qualifiers, plus one. The finals problems were more difficult, longer, and dynamic. Ethan Pringle seemed
more his usual strong self today. He and Daniel were the only climbers to complete all of the first four problems.
The fifth problem was a monster. Though Ethan made it further on the problem, Daniel had less falls on the
previous four and narrowly won the event. The ICC (www.icc-info.org) rules are quite different from USAC or ABS rules. To
earn points, a competitor first has to reach a "hot hold", then to earn the points from the hot hold to the top,
the competitor has to finish the problem. If the competitor is going for the flash, it does not matter if they
even use the hot hold, so there are some new strategy considerations under this format.
We decided to use the Speed event as a rest day before getting into the bread-and-butter event, difficulty lead
climbing. The lead wall was an amazing 15 meters high, and overhung 22 meters – a behemoth! Suddenly,
everyone was on pins and needles concerning rules and timelines. Rumor was that the entire US Team, Adults and
Juniors, was in jeopardy of being disqualified from the event. Apparently we had been "yellow carded" (slapped on
the hand) because a parent had been caught video taping the wall while it was being set. Sheeesh!
Not everyone was aware of this shift in formality, namely Ethan, who was staying off-site at a friend’s casa with Chris Lindner.
They had assumed it was business as usual for difficulty and had not planned on showing up until later in the day.
While everyone else made their way to an early morning ISO, I noticed Chris walking casually into The Compound. He was going to
check out the schedule then go back to pick up Ethan. When I told Chris ISO was closing in 15 minutes, his mouth dropped and he
sent for Ethan while he got himself checked in. Time ticked by, and Ethan was nowhere to be seen. Then, out of the
blue, sprinting through The Compound like he should'a been a track-and-field contender, Ethan finally made it.
Only, he was ten minutes late, and the other federations were not about to let this one slide. Ethan was
disqualified.
In another near tragedy that day, Vadim Vinokur inadvertently leaned up against the qualifier route and touched
one of the holds. He was immediately disqualified, but later appealed and won. This was a different game for sure,
compared to the lax, even festive atmosphere that surrounded the bouldering event. Nevertheless, it was one of the
best shows from a spectator's viewpoint that I have seen in difficulty climbing. The youth were phenomenal.
Jon Cardwell of New Mexico was so relaxed and confident that he threw a figure-four move off a jug-ring on the
steepest part of his qualifier route. Emily Harrington was amazing the way she attacked her route with an
arsenal of powerful moves, graceful technique, and key rests.
When finals rolled around, the crowd was at its peak. The eight qualifying men and women were showcased by
alternating male and female climbers to the droning sounds of competition techno beats. Half-way into the heap,
Kevin Branford was beginning to get a little worried after the first four male competitors fell at the exact same
spot only half-way up the route. A crux move on a slab through a pinch to a good hold then an off-balance
cross-through to a fat under-cling seemed to be impassable. I watched Daniel struggle through the slabby crux then
cruise through the under-cling to a good rest on the roof. “Echale!” the crowd was cheering, while Kevin breathed
a sigh of relief. By the end of his climb, Daniel had set the high point just four holds from the finish. As the
current leader, the officials sat him in the isolation tent for later drug testing, and incase there was a
super-final.
Mike Doyle of Canada climbed next. Mike is one of the best endurance climbers around and it showed.
In a phenomenal feat of strength, fourteen clips off the deck, Mike locked off a hold just past the final roof and
stretched past the hold that Daniel controlled to touch the next higher hold. It was enough to move Mike into the lead.
Vadim Vinokur was last at bat, so we sat back to watch and learn from the veteran. Vadim contemplated a dyno
on the last roof that would have allowed him to skip four moves by busting up to a jug-ring. He decided not to and
took the conservative path. Pulling over the roof, Vadim found a key foothold that allowed him to setup for the
last four moves. One, two, three moves then a lunge for the finishing jug. His feet swung out, but he managed to
hang on. He looked down at the cheering crowd below with a boyish smile, thoroughly happy and thoroughly exhausted.
Footnote: Our return flight was scheduled for 7:00 AM. Upon arrival at the Mexico City international airport, we waited
for the Mexicana airline staff to show up. They eventually did. At the check-in counter we learned that we were
no longer scheduled for a return flight – they cancelled our return flight, too! Arrrrgh!
Men's Difficulty:
1 Vadim Vinokur USA
2 Mike Doyle CAN
3 Daniel Woods USA
4 Sean McColl CAN
5 Chris Lindner USA
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Women's Difficulty:
1 Emily Harrington USA
2 Lizzy Asher USA
3 Laura Griffiths USA
4 Victoria Weldon CAN
5 Mykael Ann McGinley USA
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Men's Bouldering:
1 Daniel Woods USA
2 Ethan Pringle USA
3 Jamie Chong CAN
4 Sean McColl CAN
5 William Ford USA
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Women's Bouldering:
1 Lizzy Asher USA
2 Laura Griffiths USA
3 Victoria Weldon CAN
4 Maria Fermande de Jesus Rodriguez MEX
5 Alexis Asher USA
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Men's Speed:
1 Patrick Cassiday USA
2 Brett Ashton USA
3 Chris Lindner USA
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Women's Speed:
1 Alex Johnson USA
2 Mykael Ann McGinley USA
3 Laura Griffiths USA
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More photos of the 2004 NACC
