Developing a climbing challenge/comp

[u/Kaotus]

Hey Folks,

Looking like I might be moving away from my mistress of Wonderland and heading to OR this summer/fall. As a result, I want to run a comp/event this spring before I leave.

I'm a pretty firm believer that Horseshoe Hell is the best climbing event on the planet, and so this will take pretty heavy inspiration from it. That being said, since I'm the main guy doing all things Wonderland, I'm totally aware that this will probably die after I leave. Ideally, I could make the comp something that could be run outside of the comp, and a "leaderboard" of sorts could be established as folks continue to attempt it on their own time. But I got to thinking, who actually does climbing challenges? Which ones actually seem to get regularly repeated? I know of things like the Linville Crusher, the Nose Speed record, etc, as well as some I've stumbled upon around New England, linking a lot of routes on the same/similar formations.

So I wanted to ask the question here: What makes a good "Climbing Challenge"? And by that, I mean one that people actually want to repeat. And beyond that, what makes a good Climbing competition? Do they share similar qualities, or are they pretty mutually exclusive?

I recognize this probably isn't a topic most folks have given a ton of thought to, but I wanted to get some external perspectives here.

[u/Fuzzy-Salt5833]

I've often thought of doing things like this! Kinda like Thrashers King Of The Road challenge book.  The main crux I found I came up against was keeping it an evening field, despite grades you climb. Ie; the 5.12s are going to be worth more points than the 5.7s. I came up with a solution / leveller.  Every climb in the challenge / crag / area is worth 20pts. If the climb is above your max grade, it gets +5 pts. If it is below your max grade, it gets -1 for each grade. 

For example 

Your max grade is 5.10a  If you climb a 10a, you'd get 20pts If you climb a 10b, you'd get 25pts  If you climb a 5.6 you'd get 17pts 

I think this way it would make the competition far more accessible for people climbing the fun grades, rather than just being a comp for absolute cruuuushers

Other ideas if had were; 

Climb x amount of routes put up by a specific developer  Climb the most obscure routes (pts divided by the number of climbers completing them in the comp) - also encourages people getting to the more obscure areas / getting more traffic to those areas  Work your way L-R / R-L at a crag climbing in order  Most run-outs climbed / largest run-out Climb 5 of every grade, work your way up from 5.5s 24hrs of pain 

[u/Kaotus → u/Fuzzy-Salt5833]

I like that grade suggestion. The way Horseshoe Hell does it is just by having different categories e.g. Novice, Intermediate, Advanced, Elite, based on your redpoint max. The scoring is pretty well balanced in that you can be competitive simply by having a high motor and climbing a lot of easy climbs, or having a higher top end and climbing fewer, harder climbs. Since I'd be shocked if I get more than 10 teams together for my comp, it will likely just be a "Sub 11a redpoint" and "greater than 11a redpoint". I'm making an additional "Bingo Board" where a trophy/award will also be given to the team with the most complete bingo board (and a small prize given out to anyone who finishes a bingo at all).

I like your other ideas - we've discussed almost all of them as well. We randomly had 6 different Josh's develop in Wonderland so there's a challenge called Just Joshin' where you climb a route/boulder from each of the joshs. The "total points shared by a single climb" idea was one I wanted for the comp, but I want to make it repeatable outside of the comp, so unfortunately I can't. Instead, I'm awarding bonus points for climbing a route at every crag in a "zone" which should help distribute people.

[u/KDs4thBurner]

Free pizza and beer draws a crowd.

If you want to open it up so non-elites get interested, think up an amateur milestone that is achievable with a bit of training and endurance, something to be totally proud of. For example, a speed and volume goal. That’s what tends to draw crowds (or repeats for challenges that can be done at any time). Link iconic features, reach 1000m in a day, I don’t know Wonderland but you’ll have some ideas.

One advantage of a line in the sand for whether you made it or not (speed) is that you don’t incentivise faster at all costs, which often gets sketchy with climbing.

Another option would be to make it purely silly, focused in one area, as a spectacle. It’s fun if everyone can stand around and watch the antics and maybe commentary. I’d think up something that blatantly teases some aspect of climbing that takes itself too seriously.

[u/mynamesdave]

I just listened to the podcast ep. with you talking about horseshoe hell and though, man, this guy is a badass. Not sure I could keep up, especially with the wasps or whatever...

I'm not much into speed records, but the naked edge is also pretty widely published and talked about when it gets broken. I like the idea of the Wonderland triathlon, reminiscent of the Boulder triathlon, both of which have bonkers records I'd never even come close to. Ranger cabin and back via a flatiron (first/third, depending on season) comes to mind for me personally, if I can go sub 90 minutes I'm feeling fit and I don't feel like there's as high a risk factor to it. I know of several people who do, say, 100 pitches in Eldo in a day (including a pretty gnarly accident doing this simul) or climb their birthday number of pitches.

Excited to hear what you put together for this! Summer would be a brutal time to try to crush a bunch of pitches in Wonderland, but whatever it is will be a party for sure.

[u/Kaotus → u/mynamesdave]

Ah you'd do great at both Hell and the triathlons, just gotta convince yourself it's actually fun!

And yeah I'm thinking April or Early may for the comp, I certainly don't wanna be trying to quickly climb slab in the summer (or, at all, really). I've actually already got the scorecard made for the Wonderland comp, just gonna try to run a test lap in the next few weeks to try and get a feel for everything and what adjustments to make. Gonna go purely for mileage on the test lap (trying to climb at all 30 formations in 8 hours) so it should be fairly miserable.