So I went to the "2008 Gravity Brawl" in Fairfield, NJ on good ol' Route 46, just past a shop which bills itself as "Dinettes & Adult Emporium". The event was 11-4pm, so you're supposed to have 5 hours to give it your all. I showed up two hours late and was likely the last competitor to register. They didn't have any red"climber"id tags left so I got a blue "spectator" tag. I got on my first problem around 1pm. But who cares; I really paid $40 to socialize with old friends. Looks like I placed 8th in Male Advanced. My good friend Mike who owns and runs his own rock gym in NY was right there as well in 9th. I hit the 800 point glass ceiling. Everybody above me sent at least one 800 pt. problem, all of which were beyond my ability (I definitely couldn't flash any of them.) So that's 8 out of 33. Not bad. Below Advanced, there were 54 Intermediate and 26 Beginners for a total of 119. Yeah, that's the ticket. 8th out of 119.
My personal climbing results were:
3 V7 flashes.
3 V6 flashes.
2 V5 flashes.
1 V2 flash.
9 flashes. Should really be 10 flashes because one of the V6s you were allowed to start with a foot on the ground, which I found to be atypical. So much so, it had to be pointed out to me after I struggled needlessly. I failed on 5 other problems in the 700-800 pt. range. If I couldn't flash it, I couldn't do it. Of course, to put this into perspective, plastic comp ratings are soft compared to outside, so I would bump everything down 2-3 grades if you want to compare it to bouldering outside. I think the route setters inflate for good reason though. One, it gets everybody psyched, pumped, or motivated because they feel like they're sending hard stuff. Two, if the ratings were consistent with outdoors, the field would be too narrow. This is a business after all and the idea is to pack the place until it's beyond a fire hazard.
Here's a link to the recreational (non-professional results).
My personal climbing results were:
3 V7 flashes.
3 V6 flashes.
2 V5 flashes.
1 V2 flash.
9 flashes. Should really be 10 flashes because one of the V6s you were allowed to start with a foot on the ground, which I found to be atypical. So much so, it had to be pointed out to me after I struggled needlessly. I failed on 5 other problems in the 700-800 pt. range. If I couldn't flash it, I couldn't do it. Of course, to put this into perspective, plastic comp ratings are soft compared to outside, so I would bump everything down 2-3 grades if you want to compare it to bouldering outside. I think the route setters inflate for good reason though. One, it gets everybody psyched, pumped, or motivated because they feel like they're sending hard stuff. Two, if the ratings were consistent with outdoors, the field would be too narrow. This is a business after all and the idea is to pack the place until it's beyond a fire hazard.
Here's a link to the recreational (non-professional results).
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