BouldeRaVe 2011 – Post Cosmic Craziness

On Friday, October 7th 2011, Urban Rocks Gym hosted our 2nd annual climbing party: BouldeRave – presented by La Sportiva. BouldeRave 2011 was host to free cosmic climbing, an Industry Gear Demo, the pre-registration for the Triple Crown Bouldering Series, various climbing contests and games, two DJ sets by This Is ART from Nashville, TN and an after party sponsored by Riverside Wine and Spirits Company. In addition to providing activities for participants of all ability levels, the purpose of the night was to raise funds for The Trust for Public Land and raise awareness for the sport of rock climbing.

BouldeRave was our most successful event in 2010, so we were very excited to see attendance rise from 300 to 530 participants. BouldeRave is Urban Rocks’ way to give back to the Chattanooga community. We were able to introduce new people to the sport of rock climbing and throw a party for those already interested in climbing all while raising money for The Trust for Public Land (TPL). Throughout the night, participants purchased raffle tickets to test their hand at the game of luck. With the support from local business and gear sponsors, we raised $150 for TPL through raffle ticket sales.

New participants entered straight into vendor alley, where they could play with, test out and try on the newest climbing and camping gear on the market. This year’s presenting sponsor was climbing shoe company, La Sportiva, who had had their full demo fleet of shoes set up alongside other big names in the Industry, including: Evolv, Five Ten, Scarpa and Salewa.





Once inside, participants were engulfed in colorful lights and vibrant music. Volunteers were stationed throughout the gym to provide a safe climbing experience for any interested participant. Emerging artist and climber, Ashley Hamilton, entertained climbers with a live drawing during the event. She is currently putting the finishing touches on her 40” x 32” piece which may be purchased through her Facebook fan page for $150 upon completion (www.facebook.com/badashart).

The SPORTIVA CHALLENGE was a beginner-friendly climbing activity in which participants could race each other up the climbing wall. Anyone who attempted the activity was entered into a special raffle; and Christina Scheitel [climbing for 1 year from Murfreesboro, TN] and Brian Sheperd [just started climbing from Chattanooga, TN] were the lucky participants to take home a free pair of La Sportiva climbing shoes. If you raced at the CHALLENGE - friend us on Facebook and find your photo!

From 7 – 9pm, This Is ART was pumping up seasoned climbers to put their agility to the test during the SPEEDSTER SPRINT – a speed climbing competition in which 1st and 2nd place winners, David Eisonstad & Greg Wingate, also took home a free pair of La Sportiva shoes. After raffle winners and awards were announced, the Riverside Beverage kegs were tapped, This Is ART began his second set and The Crash Pad – Pad Stacking Contest was underway. Participants attempted to stack AND stand on top of as many crash pads as possible for a chance to win a night’s stay at Chattanooga’s only hostel, The Crash Pad. Congrats to the best balancers out there: Rachel Bonham and Brandon Campbell!



Chattanooga is one of the best cities to live in if you are a rock climber. With at least eight crags in the area, it is a destination location for adrenaline junkies interested in climbing on a wide variety of rock. We believe that the sport of rock climbing has its benefits to more than just those adrenaline junkies out there. It is physically demanding and mentally challenging; but most of all it is a FUN sport.

The climbing community is a bit of a niche community here in Chattanooga. “I feel like climbing is perceived by the general public as a super extreme sport and while it can be an intense activity at times, climbing can make for a fun afternoon as well,” says manager, Jonathan Berry. BouldeRave is Urban Rocks’ way of giving back to the entire Chattanooga community. The event exposes the public to that niche group of climbing athletes in Chattanooga and provides insight to the world of rock climbing.” Berry continues, “My hope is that BouldeRave will be the event that continues to get students and young adults interested in the sport of climbing for years to come.”

We want to thank all of our sponsors who set up vendor alley, who provided raffle prizes to raise money for TPL and who kept thirsty participants happy! A special thanks goes out to volunteers who kept climbers safe and excited throughout the night. We are pumped about BouldeRave 2012 and already have a few ideas of how to make it bigger and better next year. We would love you hear some feedback from you, so If you think of any suggestions for next year’s event, please send them to Jonathan at JBerry@urbanrocksgym.com.

2011 EVOLV Summer Series Competition Wrap Up - Including Overall Scores

Urban Rocks is happy to announce that the 2011 Evolv Summer Series was a great success this year. The purpose of the Summer Series is to introduce new climbers to the competitive side of climbing in a welcoming atmosphere while giving seasoned climbers some motivation to keep training during these hot summer months. This series was host to 75 competitors (a 30% increase from the 2010 Summer Series!). The word must have gotten out over the course of the series because competitor participation doubled between the first and second competitions (from 28 competitors to 56 competitors).

In an attempt to raise funds for Siskin and encourage more climbers to try out competitive climbing, two thirds of donated gear were given away at raffle. One hundred percent of raffle ticket sales have been donated to Siskin Children’s Institute, and thanks to all of our wonderful event sponsors, we had a slew of prizes to raffle off at each event. With over $575 raised for Siskin Children’s Institute, this comp series was not only fun and exciting, but also beneficial for local area youth. A lot of that money can be attributed to the big-ticket raffle prizes that every climber was crossing their fingers for: a BlueWater Rope and a pair of La Sportiva Climbing Shoes. To make sure we rewarded the competitive at heart, 1st through 3rd place overall series winners also went home with place prizes!

Gear Sponsors Include: Evolv Shoes and Sports, La Sportiva, Five Ten Shoes, VooDoo Climbing Holds, BlueWater Ropes, Sterling Ropes, Mountain Khakis, Black Diamond, Friksn, Metolius, SoIll Climbing Holds and Horsepens 40.

Local Sponsors Include: Rock/Creek, The Crash Pad, Insane Paintball, Lupi’s Pizza, Big River Grille, Urban Stack, Clumpies Ice Cream and Cheeburger Cheeburger.

You can find photos from the event on Facebook and a video will posted shortly. All-in-all a great event that we look forward to continuing for years to come!

Here are the scores for all our competitors over the course of all three competitions. The overall competition series winners are listed in order. Great job everyone!

Click here to view the overall comp results along with scores from each comp

ABS SEASON 12 REGIONALS CHAMPIONSHIP

On Saturday, January 15 2011, Urban Rocks hosted the ABS - Season 12 – South Eastern Youth Regionals Championship. The ABS is the American Bouldering Series and is the nation’s leading competitive circuit for bouldering. Competitors ages 6 – 19 travelled as far as South Carolina to compete amongst some of the region’s best climbers. Packed to the brim with over 300 people, Urban Rocks was teaming with excited competitors alongside their friends, family and coaches.

Comp day was filled with adrenaline, motivation and an exhilarating competitive spirit. Sixty eight competitors gave their all for a chance to win one of sixteen invitations to the ABS National Championship in Boulder, CO. The day began with the Qualifying Round of climbing in which competitors had three hours to complete the five most difficult climbs they could muster up. About half of each category moved on to the more intense Finals Round held that evening. During finals, each finalist had five minutes to complete each of three boulder problems.

Congratulations to Chattanooga locals, Grants Speer, Anna Fox and Jacob Fellers who all took first place in their respective categories at the championship. Sarah Grainger, of Flowery Branch, GA, deserves big props, as she was the only competitor to crush all three Finals problems on the first attempt!

After all finalists ran the gauntlet of Finals problems, everyone settled down to listen up for raffle prizes. Our sponsors deserve a big thank you for giving these competitors a chance to win some great prizes. Our event sponsors include: USA Climbing, the American Bouldering Series, The North Face, Metolius, La Sportiva, Native Eyewear.

In an attempt to give competitors something different to go home with South Eastern climbing gyms, Stone Summit, Adrenaline Climbing and Atlanta Rocks from Georgia; Climb Nashville and The Climbing Center of Tennessee; First Avenue Rocks from Birmingham and Trailhead Climbing from South Carolina, all donated day passes as raffle prizes to give competitors a chance to climb at their gyms as well.

Urban Rocks would also like to give a big thanks to the new South Eastern USA Climbing Regional Coordinator, Paul Mailman, who worked closely with Urban Rocks to prepare for the event and helped carry out the most well run championship hosted in Chattanooga to date.

The most warranted thank you must go out to all Urban Rocks volunteers who donated a total of 140 hours of their time to ensure the competition went off without a hitch.

A big congrats goes out to all competitors who received an invitation to Nationals in Boulder, CO. Everyone here at Urban Rocks Gym wishes you all the best of luck. For full competition results and rankings, check out USAClimbing.org. Thanks again to parents and coaches for bringing your climbers here to throw down at the Urban Rocks!

Additional Notes about the comp:

Chuffer Photography and volunteer, Mandy Rhoden, got some great shots at the competition. We post our event photos on Facebook, so become a fan or Urban Rocks Gym to see if you made it in the album.

We will also be putting together a video from the comp that you will be able to view at either YouTube, Vimeo, our Blog or our Facebook page.

Competing teams include: Georgia Spiders, Adrenaline’s A-Team, Stone Summit’s Urban Core, TBA Ballers, Stronghold Athletic Club, Atlanta Rocks, Trailhead Climbing, Stoneworks Climbing and West High school.

BouldeRAVE 2010

On Friday, October 22nd 2010 Urban Rocks Gym hosted Boulderave, our inaugural Halloween Climbing Party. The night was filled with activities and offered something exciting for everyone. All participants were engulfed in the energetic lights, music and a cosmic atmosphere. In addition to hosting gear demos, two mini-competitions, a costume contest and a huge raffle, the purpose of the night was to raise food, funds and awareness for the Chattanooga Area Food Bank.

BouldeRAVE 2010

On Friday, October 22^nd 2010 Urban Rocks Gym hosted Boulderave, our inaugural Halloween Climbing Party. The night was filled with activities and offered something exciting for everyone. All participants were engulfed in the energetic lights, music and a cosmic atmosphere. In addition to hosting gear demos, two mini-competitions, a costume contest and a huge raffle, the purpose of the night was to raise food, funds and awareness for the Chattanooga Area Food Bank.

Boulderave was undoubtedly the biggest and most energetic event hosted at Urban Rocks to date. Bringing in around 300 participants, $250 and 100 cans of food it was also the most successful event at U.R.G. Not only was it great to see our regular members and previous visitors having a good time, it was really exciting to see loads of new faces in the crowd getting their introduction to the world of indoor pebble wrestling. Whether participants were new to climbing or had been scaling the walls for 20 years it is scarce to find a climber in the South East who has participated in such a unique event.

To set the stage, first the house lights were turned off and the music turned up. Next, courtesy of Lee University Theatre Department, colored wash lights flung lively blues, reds, purples and yellows on the climbable surface of the wall. With the addition of a couple of professional studio lights provided by Chattanooga State Media Department and some dancing DJ lights, the already vibrant scene was intensified to make a high energy climbing party. Topping it all off, black lights provided that elusive neon glow all boulde-ravers were looking for. Of course, the party would be nothing short of a gathering if it were not for gym member, Ron Nance, lending his bumpin’ sound system for the event’s tunes that stayed on point with the night’s various comps and contests.

Outside the cosmic craziness, climbing manufacturers set up gear booths in the parking lot showcasing the newest climbing gear on the market. Rock/Creek pulled together shoe companies Evolv, Five Ten and La Sportiva as well as gear manufacturers Black Diamond, Petzl and BlueWater Ropes. The shoe companies and their knowledgeable reps allowed participants to try out (and climb in) a bunch of different models of shoes. Sticking with the cosmic theme, Petzl and Black Diamond demoed the newest headlamps on the market as well.

At 8 o’clock the lights turned to the lead wall as competitors geared up for the first ever speed climbing mini-comp to be set on the prominent, steep and over hanging lead wall. Competitors climbed head-to-head top roping up to the 6^th bolt, leaping to the glowing tape signifying the end of the route and finishing the climb with a 15 foot whipper (Google it). Highlights of the speed comp were seeing Escalade Gym owner, Chris Sierzant, and TBA’s resident strong girl, Kasia Pietras, battle head-to-head in a 3-round climb off. Sierzant pulled ahead taking the cake, but they ended the series with a crowd pleasing mid-air high five to end the event.

Up next was the dyno competition. “Dyno” = dynamic move = climbers (some dressed up for Halloween) flinging themselves from starting holds to various finish holds towering 8 feet above. With U.R.G. in house entertainer, MC Chedder, on the mic the competition began with the qualifying round. 20 competitors received 3 chances to snag the highest hold possible. After narrowing it down to 8 finalists the smaller dynos were removed and replaced by 2 super dynos. The results were close: a 3-way tie for 2^nd place between Preston Alexander, Jacob Fellers and Nate Bierce, but of course long-armed Chris Sierzant smashed the 2^nd placers taking 1^st for the event.

Local brewery, Terminal Brewhouse, was the official after party sponsor for Boulderave donating a keg of their tasty Maibock to the event. While competitors eagerly waited for the comp results, MC Chedder kicked off the raffle. Thanks to climbing companies and local sponsors, we were able to raise $250 in raffle ticket sales for the Chattanooga Food Bank. Prizes ranged from the highly sought after Blue Water climbing rope and 5.10 climbing shoes to some of the newest headlamps from Petzl and Black Diamond, gift cards to local eateries and a 2-hour photo session with Chuffer Photography.

A special thanks goes out to all of the volunteers who helped the event run smoothly and to Rock/Creek and the vendors who brought all of the latest gear and friendly vibe. Also a big thanks to the sponsors who donated raffle prizes to really increase motivation for raffle ticket sales. We look forward to the Boulderave being the Halloween climbing event in Chattanooga for years to come. Rumors have already been circulating about having a live DJ for Boulderave 2011!

Pics and Video soon to come...

2010 RiverRocks Ruckus

If you stepped in to Urban Rocks this past Friday night, you were saturated with color and surrounded by the area’s youngest climbers. This new immersive experience at Urban Rocks was developed for the RiverRocks Ruckus, an event held as a part of Chattanooga’s inaugural RiverRocks Festival. It was a night of free cosmic climbing for children and families. Generous volunteers donated their time by helping child participants ascend to the top of the thirty-five foot climbing walls and returning them to the ground complete with tired fingers and wide smiles. Good Dog had their tasty on-the-go hotdog cart on-site and contributed a percentage of their profits from the entire night.

The event was a huge success bringing in over 300 excited participants and raised over $200 for the Ronald McDonald House. Even more exciting was the debut of cosmic climbing at Urban Rocks Gym. Overhead lights were absent and in their place a vivid light show accompanied by high-energy music. A special thanks is given to Lee University Theatre Department for lending stage lighting that made this cosmic experience possible.

Thanks to our generous local sponsors, Urban Rocks raffled off prizes throughout the event. The lucky raffle winners went home with prizes donated by Insane Paintball, North Shore Yoga, Montlake Golf Course, Blue Orleans Creole Restaurant, Lupi’s Pizza Pies, Holiday Bowl, Stone Cup Coffee House and the Hunter Art Museum. One hundred percent of raffle ticket proceeds were donated to the Ronald McDonald House.

Urban Rocks Gym looks forward to continued partnership local charities and our next cosmic climbing event, BouldeRave on October 22^nd, benefitting the Chattanooga Area Food Bank.