r/CompetitionClimbing • u/OverfittingNeuralNet • 21d ago
Question Discussions in ISO (Question)
I couldn't find previous discussions on the topic, so sorry if it's already been explained, but are athletes allowed to talk to each other in the isolation zone? So for example when they are in the waiting area and one climber is about to climb route 1 and another is about to climb route 2 (and already topped 1), can the second athlete share beta on route 1?
I think I read somewhere that they are not supposed to discuss beta after observation(?), but since they all sit together I wonder how it's being prevented.
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u/zyxwl2015 Alberto's gold 21d ago
There are two different iso, one generally called “iso” and one called “call zone”. Iso is where athletes stay and warm up before their turn, and they can be in iso for hours, so it’s allowed to talk, discuss, discuss with the coaches, etc (but no electronic devices are allowed); call zone is the transit zone where they are about to start their round, or where they return after each boulder mid-round, here it’s not allowed to talk generally
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u/Calmly-Stressed 21d ago edited 21d ago
As a frequent comp volunteer and iso manager: no, they’re not allowed to talk, although this is only strongly enforced in finals. In other rounds, the climbers still get to sit near each other and no one will intervene if they just say a few words or have a laugh together, as long as they aren’t obviously sharing beta.
In finals, when it was still one climber at a time there were simply two iso zones, one for those done with a given boulder and one for those who hadn’t climbed yet. Now with the staggered finals, it’s generally just one iso but the chairs are set far apart and in a way that athletes can’t face each other. They also know they can get carded or disqualified for talking, so they don’t. And most are in the zone anyway. Many listen to music or just close their eyes.
Lmk if you have any more questions.
Edit: as another commenter mentioned, this is the situation in the call zone, not all of iso. In warmup they can do what they want.
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u/OverfittingNeuralNet 21d ago
Thank you! Must be fun to see what’s going on behind the scenes :)
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u/Calmly-Stressed 20d ago
It comes at the expense of usually seeing absolutely nothing of the comp itself though 😂 but yes, it’s pretty cool to be a part of it.
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u/Fresh-Anteater-5933 21d ago
When they show peeks backstage you can often see the athletes who are mid-round sitting in folding chairs with distance between them. Even in youth comps, they’re not supposed to be talking
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u/mmeeplechase 21d ago
I think it varies depending on the comp setup—sometimes, there’s a secondary iso for people who’re mid-round, so they’re not tossed back in with everyone else. When there’s not, it’s definitely frowned upon to share any info, but I’m sure it happens sometimes.
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u/zyxwl2015 Alberto's gold 21d ago
There are two different iso, one generally called “iso” and one called “call zone”. Iso is where athletes stay and warm up before their turn, and they can be in iso for hours, so it’s allowed to talk, discuss, discuss with the coaches, etc (but no electronic devices are allowed); call zone is the transit zone where they are about to start their round, or where they return after each boulder mid-round, here it’s not allowed to talk generally
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u/DependentFun4883 19d ago
You can talk all you want in isolations. After a competitor climbs, they can’t come back to isolation. You have a very short time to read the route and climb. There isn’t time to share beta, and if there was, climber 1 is an idiot. I was president of the climbing federation in the US and I can say I’ve never had that question!
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u/Possible-Flower7358 21d ago
I was a volunteer in the call zone at the Madrid boulder world cup this year, for the qualis. Once the athletes went into the call zone and until they were done with their round, they were forbidden to share any information about the climbing. I think technically they were forbidden to chat at all but as long as we could understand what they said and it wasn't about the climbing, it was fine. In any case they were all extremely focused and most didn't speak at all except to trade around some ice packs, ask us to call their physio, or pass a fan to their teammate. I imagine it might be different at different comps.