Fall has fallen, and it’s time to start the bouldering season out right! We’ll be kicking off a brand new, never before seen ‘Bowldering League,’ at Dogpatch Boulders. 2 parts fun, 1 part competition, .5 parts fame and .5 parts glory, this competition will run for 10 weeks this fall. Read on to find out more about this exciting new format and find out how to sign up. Here’s what you need to know to get started.
1) Collect a team of four boulderers and one alternate (for weeks when someone can’t make it). All climbing levels are welcome. If you climb V3 and your buddy climbs V10 – great! You can totally be on the same team. The way we score everything will make it fair no matter how hard you climb (we’ll explain below).
2) Come to the front desk and ask for a Dogpatch Bowldering League Registration Form. Registrants will need to be Touchstone Gym Members or 10 Pass Holders; otherwise, they must purchase a day pass for each visit. There will be a $50 registration fee for each team. That means each of your buddies have to fork over a whole $10-$12 each to get your team started! All teams must be registered by September 27th.
3) Once registered, make sure to “Like” our Dogpatch Boulders Facebook Page. We will post weekly updates, share Bowldering League Problems, and announce special weekly SUPER SPECIAL BOWLDERING CHALLENGES that can earn your team extra points.
4) Every other week, as marked on our league calendar, will be a Bowldering League competition. Teams will be matched up against each other with the highest scoring team of the week earning one for the win column. During the Bi-Week, we will set new problems and our staff will calculate your team’s scores and email them to your team captains.
5) Beginning on Monday of a League competition week, scorecards will be available at the front desk.. Your team will only be allowed one day to fill out the scorecard, but it can be any day within the competition week that your team chooses. All team members must be present to receive a scorecard. There are no do-overs, if your team does not turn in its scorecard they will receive 0 points that week.
6) On competition days, teams will be responsible for keeping track of what problems they have climbed and handle their own scorecards. Be sure to note whether the ascents were flashes or redpoints following the instruction on the scorecard. We will be using the honor system, so please be honest when you mark down your sends. Cheaters will be run out onto the street and forced to do Crossfit. Don’t forget to turn in your scorecard at the end of the night so we can tally up your points!
8) After 5 competition weeks we will host a final Dogpatch Bowldering League World Championship Tournament of Champions! (DBLWCTC) On December 7th, teams with the best win/loss records will be pitted against each other in a bracket-style elimination competition. The two best teams at the end of the day will compete for the GRAND PRIZE and the Title “Dogpatch Bouldering League Champions of the Universe!”
Registration is open from September 1st to September 27th!
Scoring in the bouldering league will be based on a handicap system. Handicapping will allow teams of noobs to compete alongside teams composed of v12 mega-crushers. Our system rewards personal achievement while prioritizing fun and camaraderie.
Handicapping is actually fairly simple. When a competitor registers they will be asked what their regular climbing level is (what V-grade do you climb). We want to know what the hardest grade you regularly climb is, that’s it. You can usually get up at least one v6 per visit? Great, you’re a v6 handicap. Usually you climb v3, but once every couple of weeks you get a v4? You’re a v3 handicap. You can climb v8 once a week or so, but a year and a half ago you climbed v10? Guess what, you’re a v8 handicap. If you have any trouble deciding on your handicap, just ask a staff person and they can help you out.
Handicaps can change throughout the competition; so don’t get too hung up on them. If you have a breakthrough and start regularly climbing a grade harder than before, our scorekeepers will adjust your handicap. Likewise, if you go through a rough patch when you can’t seem to get up the same problems you used to, we’ll adjust that as well.
Each competition week the scorecard will have 20 Bowldering League sanctioned problems from v0-v10+. The goal as an individual is to try and flash or redpoint problems at or above your handicap to garner the most points. Flashing means a problem is climbed on the first attempt. A redpoint in this competition means a climb has been completed after the first attempt. For a more complete explanation of the term redpoint please visit Wikipedia.
A competitor will receive full points for a problem redpointed at the level of their handicap. Flashing a problem earns you half a point extra. Climbing a problem below your handicap costs you a point, while climbing above your handicap get’s you an extra point (remember handicaps will be adjusted and sandbaggers will be punished severely.)
For the purposes of this competition a ‘flash’ will be considered the first attempt of a problem on the competition day. Many of the competition boulder problems will be chosen from the many problems already on our walls so it is very likely that competitors, prior to competition week, will have tried the boulder problems. So for competition purposes a competitor may very well flash a climb they had done on a previous visit, this is well within the rules.
The top three scores from each competitor on a team will be added together to get the team score. If your team score is higher than your opposition’s score your team earns the win that week. At the end of league play the teams with the best win-loss records will have the highest seeding in the Dogpatch Bowldering League World Championship Tournament of Champions! (DBLWCTC)
