Bouldering above Water
Luckily, I got to participate in the deepwater soloing contest at the US National Whitewater Center for Tuckfest. I didn’t find out until after a pretty stressful qualifying round the night before.
I was pretty tired from qualifying , so I napped a lot and laid around in the grass before the contest at night. There where 16 guys that would go up head to head for until there where 4 left. The first round no one knew what to expect. I was the 5th seed, so I was up 3rd. It was pretty nerve racking getting out above the 35ft drop in-front of the crowd, but once it began everything started to tuned out. The route was a mix of big move to make it a show for the crowd. Starting on a big pinch, you move to some crimps, then throwing for a heuco, then you dyno and cut feet to a big sloper, then you pull on a ledge up to 2 gastoning pinches for the big top out dyno. I really didn’t think I maked the dyno, but I lunged and stuck it, but then had to drop off the top willingly.
The 2nd round was intense, I went up against the another guy that stuck the dyno move too. He got the jump off the start and was ahead of me for the beginning, but I luckily move quickly through the top and barely stuck the dyno before him. All, I remember is the crowd roaring.
The final’s problem was weird, everyone was getting stuck on the same move off the deck of the middle problem. It was a really hard move to a undercling with no feet.
Everything was really fun and I hope the do it again..
