LA Boulders, LA’s largest indoor bouldering gym, opened in December. Over the past month, the gym has seen hundreds of LA climbers looking for a new gym to call home. “My favorite thing is watching climbers who have never been here before walk into the gym for the first time,” said LA.B manager Remi Moehring. “Man, the look on their faces! It’s like a kid who’s just been told they’re being driven to Disneyland instead of school.”
LA Boulders is hosting a Grand Opening Competition and Party on Saturday, January 25th, to officially christen the new gym! “Members are super excited,” said Moehring. “I keep getting emails from Bay Area Touchstone members who are coming down to participate and support the new location. It’s generating good deal of buzz, so we’re hoping to psych up existing members and guests, as well as attract some fresh new climbers and build the community.” If you’re from Southern California and have never been to a Touchstone Climbing comp, here’s a sneak peak of what to expect.
Leading up to the comp:
A team of our Bay Area setters, along with the new LA.B setting crew will be re-setting the ENTIRE gym for the comp. This means that throughout the week there will be partial gym closures as we put up over 80 new problems for Saturdays competition. “I’m most excited for bringing the Touchstone flavor to the LA masses,” said Touchstone Head Route Setter Jeremey Ho. We always have a ton of fun at our comps and I think LA will enjoy what we have to offer. Plus setting finals problem on those kick ass walls will be super fun for the setters!”
The day of the comp:
The WHOLE event is free to members and only $10 for guests. If you’ve never been to the LA.B The open competition will run from noon till 5pm and competitors of ALL levels are welcome to participate. Some people can’t help but hear the word ‘competition’ and get a little stage fright. Never fear!
Each competitor will register on the day of the comp in the beginner (v0-v2), intermediate (v3-v5), or advanced (v6+) categories. To save time, print out a new waiver ahead of time. You’ll receive a score card that lists each climb and the points available. Then it’s climbing time! You’ll have 5 possible attempts to complete a climb, and the fewer attempts you take the more points you get! Be sure to have your spotter or someone who sees you complete the climb sign your score card to validate your send. You can try as many climbs as you’d like. Once you’re done, be sure to turn in your score card! Then enjoy the party! We’ll have food, drinks, booze, vendors, and a DJ to keep you entertained until finals! Oh – and TONS of prizes! “The staff keeps on dropping hints to me about which raffle prizes they like the best in hopes that I’ll rig the raffle….” said Moehring. “The favorites so far are the Retrospec bikes (we’ve got one men’s and one women’s), the Prana chalk pots, Madrock shoe bags, and Five Ten shoes. There’s also a copy of Stone Mountains sign by Jim Thornburg, yoga mats, t-shirts, and tons coming in from La Sportiva.”
Finals: Aka, the big show:
After scores are tallied at 5pm, we will announce the top 6 male and female competitors. They’ll go into isolation while our world class route setters reveal 3 final problems for both men and women. Each finalist will have 3 attempts to on-sight the problems and our judges will crown the winner. 1st, 2nd and 3rd place in mens and women’s categories will receive a cash prize! This comp is our way of thanking the LA climbing community for their warm welcome and start the year off right! Be sure to come out on Saturday, January 25th! See you at the LA Boulders.
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