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.

2010 Evolv Summer Series - Series Wrap-up

This Friday the 13th Urban Rocks Gym hosted the finale bouldering competition of the 2010 EVOLV Summer Series. In preparation for this competition, route setters stripped nearly the entire boulder and put up 60+ new boulder problems. As a special treat for competitors, gym owner and furniture designer, Chris Gibson, built six new volume features for all competitors to enjoy.

The competition began at 6 PM and by 8:30 PM all scorecards were turned in; however, the night did not end there. While competition coordinators tallied the competitor’s scores, the fun continued with climbers hurling themselves at twelve different dynos on our overhanging lead wall.

For climbers who exhausted all energy during the main competition, grill-master and URG member Walt had free hotdogs and drinks for those ready to re-fuel. After throwing down some crazy dynos and eating some good grub, the raffles and awards began. Thanks to some of our sponsors: Evolv. Rock/Creek, Friksn, Mountain Khakis, 3-Ball Climbing, Insane Paintball and Ruby Falls, every competitor left the competition with something in hand, be it a pair of Evolv climbing shoes, some cash or other climbing swag.

A few highlights from the competition and the series:

Mother and son combo, Susan Hulsey and Grant Speer, crushed it again in Female Recreational and Youth categories, respectively, receiving 1st place in the final competition as well as 1st place in the overall series. In a close battle for Male Recreational, Nick Doss won 1st place in the finale while Steven Holdaway took 1st place for the overall series.



Brooke Hadden, local Chattanooga climber, and Mohssen Fathi, representing Climb Nashville in all three comps, took 1st place in their respective Intermediate categories. Sean Smith won first overall for Mens Advanced and Ron Nance pulled through winning the series in the Masters category. All series winners went home with a free pair of Evolv shoes.

A big thanks goes out to Evolv and Rock/Creek for helping us out tremendously by donating loads of place prizes as well as raffle prizes. Also a big thank you to 3-Ball Climbing who set up a both at all three events and Dr. Ted Showalter who offered a free stress screening and free massage to all competitors at the last competition.

All three competitions turned out great and all competitors came full of psyche. We already look forward to next year’s Summer Series. Until then, our Halloween Cosmic Climbing Blowout supporting the Chattanooga Area Food Bank will be the next competitive event that we will host. So, look forward to October 22 for a speed climbing mini-comp and a highball dyno competition, both on our lead wall!

Competition Series Results Below:

Youth Category
1st - Grant Speer
2nd - Amanda Escandon
3rd - Penn Sibley
4th - Ayla Williams

Masters Category
1st - Ron Nance
2nd - Jim Starry

Female Recreational
1st - Susan Hulsey
2nd - Allison Escandon
3rd - Yvette Damewood

Male Recreational
1st - Steven Holdaway
2nd - Nick Doss
3rd - Chris Parham
4th - Amir Fathi
5th - Jack Shearer
6th - Mo Edmonston

Female Intermediate
1st - Brooke Hadden
2nd - Chandler Wells
3rd - Jillian Sompel
4th - Bethany Macke

Male Intermediate
1st - Mohssen Fathi
2nd - Andrew Byrne
3rd - Anthony Escandon
4th - Adam Macke
5th - Danny Starry
6th - Brad Edwards
7th - Brenan Vega
8th - Josh Littell
9th - Travis Pyke
10th - Trent Kontovich
11th - Conor Cook
12th - Brendan Ryan
13th - Joel France
14th - Patrick McClenahan
15th - Sam Taylor
16th - Jonathan Swader
17th - Akshay Khona
18th - Paul Merchant
19th - Davis Woody
20th - John Stewart

Male Advanced
1st - Sean Smith
2nd - Kit Buckley
3rd - Phil Adams
4th - Matthew Ballard
5th - Brandon Campbell
6th - Nick Ridge
7th - Lucas Kindervater
8th - Kyle Musgrove
9th - Zach Campbell

EVOLV Summer Series - Part I (Post Comp Write-Up)

This past Thursday, June 10th 2010, was the kick off of the first leg of our three part Evolv Summer Series Competition. This competition was a red-point format meaning climbers were scored by their top five problems completed. We had a great turn out with over 30 competitors and great climbing was done by all. There were over 40+ new problems on the boulder which kept all competitors motivated throughout the comp.

Evolv has been generous enough to donate shoes for the winners of the overall series. A big thanks to all of our sponsors, including: Evolv, Mountain Khaki, Friksn, Metolius, 3 Ball Climbing, Insane Paintball, Cheeburger Cheeburger, Blue Orleans, and Ruby Falls. Thanks again to all of the competitors for their overall psyche and good vibes!

Urban Rocks will be having two more boulder competitions this summer with cumulative scoring for the big prizes being held at the last comp on Friday, August 13th. The next two comps will be bigger and better with crazier problems and even better raffle prizes. Look forward to an all day event for the Series Finale with slacklining and a cookout before the comp, a qualifying round of climbing followed by a finals round and the possibility of a speed climbing mini-comp during the after party!



The results are as follows:

Youth:
1. Grant Spear
2. Manda Escadon
3. Ayla Williams

Masters:
1. Ron Nance

Women’s Recreational:
1. Susan Hulsey
2. Yvette Damewood

Men’s Recreational:
1. Steven Holdaway
2. Nick Doss
3. Chris Parham

Women’s Intermediate:
1. Brooke Hadden

Men’s Intermediate:
1. Adam Macke
2. Mohssen Fathi
3. Andrew Byrne

Men’s Advanced:
1. Kit Buckley
2. Phil Adams
3. Sean Smith

2010 SCS Regional Championship Results

On Saturday May 8, 2010, Urban Rocks Gym hosted the SCS Regionals Championship. This was the first competition of its kind in Chattanooga and Urban Rocks was happy to support USA Climbing and the Sport Climbing Series. Emily Taylor, the southeast regional coordinator, worked in conjunction with Urban Rocks owners, Chris Gibson and Becky Robran to put on the most exciting competition that we have had to date.

Saturday was a fun filled day with strong youth climbers competing for a chance to go to divisionals and then on to nationals, which is scheduled for July 8-12th at Stone Summit in Atlanta, GA. By 8 A.M, competitors started arriving at the gym full of energy, all with positive attitudes looking ready to out-climb the competition.

The championship had two rounds of climbing: a difficulty climbing round and a speed climbing round. The difficulty round was an onsight competition, meaning competitors have no previous knowledge of the routes that they are to climb and climbers get called out by the announcer one by one to put their skills to the test. During the difficulty round, each climber had five minutes to climb each of the four routes. During the speed climbing round, four competitors climbed simultaneously with agility and light feet while pushing themselves to get to the top of the wall in the shortest amount of time.

Regionals championships can be very stressful for competitors especially the younger ones new to the sport. Waiting in isolation, being called out one at a time, racing against a timer and hearing the cheering crowd at your back can make for a very nerve racking competition, but everyone had smiles on their faces and were ready to climb!

The competition had five different age groups and split start times. Youth C and D (competitors ages 13 and under) climbed in the morning and Youth B, A and Juniors (ages 14 – 19) competed in the afternoon. The afternoon consisted of Youth A, B and Juniors (ages 14-19) as well as the speed climbing portion of the competition. Due to very competitive categories, the top climbers were required to climb head to head during a super finals round in order to break three ties that took place. First place winners for difficulty and speed rounds are listed below.

Climbing teams traveled from all around the southeast to represent their hometown gym at the Regional Championship. Team Adrenaline, Atlanta Rocks, Ascension and Urban Core represented Georgia and Team Charleston, Stronghold, and Trailhead hailed from South Carolina. This was a very successful day of climbing and competing and it was great to see that all the training and preparation had paid off.

These young competitors have been training for months now in order to bring their A-game to the competition. Parents and coaches have a lot to be proud of because every competitor in the gym was determined and performed very well. We look forward to seeing these kids move on to divisionals and nationals.

The South East region has such young, strong climbers and we can attribute a lot of their success to the patient parents and coaches of these kids. A big thanks goes out to the parents of these climbers for supporting your kids and letting them do what they love.

We want to give Emily Taylor special thanks, as this was her last regional championship as regional coordinator. When Emily first became the southeast regional coordinator only 24 southeast climbers competed in sanctioned USA Climbing competitions, 5 teams, only 7 climbing facilities with only 4 participating in USA Climbing in the southeast and no major sanction competition venue. The southeast now has over 200 registered USAC members, 10 teams, 13 climbing facilities and for the first time ever, the southeast is the host of the Youth National Championship.

This comp would not have been possible if it were not for our volunteers. Some came in the morning, stayed until the very end and others stopped by throughout the day but in either case, every volunteer that assisted during the competition was extremely helpful, and made the comp run as smoothly as it did.

And of course, we want to give a huge thank you to our local sponsors Greenlife and Rock/Creek as well as the USA climbing sponsors: The North Face, Native Eyewear, La Sportiva, Clif Bar, E-Grips, Vibram, Climbing Magazine and Urban Climber Magazine.


Difficulty Round - 1st Place Results

FYD - Louise Tester*
MYD - Matt Nunes
FYC - Ansley Murphy*
MYC - Alex Lawson
FYB - Laurel Mailman*
MYB - Jacob Wilbur
MYA - Ryan Strickland
FYA - Morgan Saylor
MJr - Robert Henry
FJr - Victoria Nabb

*These competitors had to climb head-to-head in a super finals round for a tiebreaker

Speed Round - 1st Place Results

FYD - Audrey Miller
MYD - Matt Nunes
FYC - Sophia Nabb
MYC - Jeremy Heit
FYB - Bailey Dickinson
MYB - Thomazs Pitzel
FYA - Katlyn Myers
MYA - Griffin Mock
M-Jr. - Robert Henry

2010 ABS Youth Regional Championship - Competition Report

This past Saturday, January 16, Urban Rocks Gym hosted its first ABS Youth Regionals Championship for the southeast region and the first of its kind in Chattanooga. The ABS is the American Bouldering Series and is the nation’s leading competitive circuit for bouldering. Competitors ages 5 – 18 travelled as far as South Carolina to compete against some of the region’s best climbers. Teams that competed included: Adrenaline, Urban Core, TBA Ballers, Stronghold Athletic Club, Team Reality, Atlanta Rocks, Evolution Climbing, Trailhead Climbing and West High school.

After 87 local ABS events, the regional championship is the competition that determines which climbers get invited to the National Championship. The top one or two climbers from each category received invitations to nationals, which will be held next month in Alexandria, VA. With 67 competitors and twice as many spectators, the event was a great success. USA Climbing sent Chris Danielson and Mark Mercer as head route setter and head judge for the event.

Urban Rocks would like to give a big thanks to both Chris and Mark for all of their help as well as our sponsors who included: USA Climbing, the American Bouldering Series, The North Face, Rock Creek, Native Eyewear, Mountain Hardwear, Mountain Khakis, La Sportiva, E-Grips, Climb On, Vibram, Clif Bar, Metolius, Climbing Magazine and Urban Climber Magazine. In addition, Urban Rocks wants to send out a thank you to all of our volunteers who stuck it out with us for the full day event and helped make the entire day run smoothly.

For competition results check out USAClimbing.org.

For photos of the event search Urban Rocks Gym on Facebook.

ABS Locals Results

November 17, 2009

We are psyched to announce that our 1st ABS locals compeition was our largest comp to date. We had 68 competitors and just as many spectators to make it a packed house. This comp is also the 1st time that we stripped the entire boulder of all 100 problems to set on a blank palette. Urban Rocks setters put up 50 new problems and with several new hold sets from E-grips to challenge the competitors, everyone had to bring their A-game to place. Locals Jimmy Webb, Kaisa Pietras, Jacob Fellers, and Grant Speers all placed first in their division despite stiff competition from climbers ranging from Atlanta to Knoxville. The comp finished up with a great raffle with gear from Mountain Hardware, Native Eyeware, Klime, La Sportiva, Evolv, and Frickson. Prizes ranged from t-shirts and a pair of La Sportiva shoes to several Mountain Hardware hoodies, beanies, an awesome backpack and a pair of Native Sunglasses.

A big thanks to all of our sponsors:

The North Face, Native Eyeware, La Sportiva, Mountain Hardwear, Klime, Mountain Khakis and E-grips - Without their support this comp would not have been possible!


Youth Competition Results:

Youth D:

MEN
3rd Micheal Newell
2nd Zach Galla
1st Grant Speer

WOMEN
2nd Jenna Holland
1st Katie Lyne

Youth C:

MEN
3rd Nathan Bramlett
2nd Billy Porter
1st Ryan Lowther

WOMEN
3rd Mollie Cole
2nd Sophia Nabb
1st Melanie Meier

Youth B:

MEN
3rd Matt McDonald
2nd Thomas Pitzel
1st Jacob Wilber

WOMEN
3rd Halley Mallory
2nd Laurel Mailman
1st Carina Claussen

Youth A:

MEN
3rd Ben Vanwinkle
2nd Brady Hart
1st Jacob Fellers

WOMEN
3rd Anne Holmes
2nd Michele Fredrikson
1st Isabelle Faus

Junior:

MEN
2nd Brennan Bull
1st Andrew Minnick

WOMEN
1st Victoria Nabb

Adult Competition Results:

Intermediate:

MEN
3rd Chris Lyne --
2nd Sam Bendriem
1st Caleb Higgonbotham

WOMEN
2nd Chandler Wells
1st Holly McMullen

Advanced:

MEN
3rd Jacob Mund
2nd Jake Higgonbotham
1st Nathan Drolet

WOMEN
1st Sarah Rennich

Open:

MEN
3rd Alexander Presten
2nd Brion Voges
1st Jimmy Webb

WOMEN
1st Kaisa Pietras

Routes this week

New Routes for Sept 21 - 25

Anchors start on the left side of the top rope area with the A anchor next to the bouldering area. At the lead wall the anchor letters start over again and are then referred to as "A2" etc., with M2 being the last anchor by the beginner wall.

Turn Up the VOLUME Competition Results!

On September 17th, 2009 climbers gathered at Urban Rocks Gym to pull down in plastic paradise for a chance to win some gear and cash. This competition would not have been possible without the help from our sponsors: Evolv, Mountain Khaki, La Sportiva and BlueWater Ropes. Thanks to Evolv, 4 place winners went home with a free pair of shoes and some raffle winners left with a new chalk pot and flip flops. Mountain Khaki sent every place winner home with a special discount card. Norm at La Sportiva hooked us up with the biggest raffle prizes of the night: a free pair of Sportiva shoes and a BlueWater Rope!

And to those wondering where the comp name came from…

No, it is not because we have an affinity to Christian Slater, although he did a wonderful acting job in the hit 90’s feature film ‘Pump Up the Volume’; but it is because we received a HUGE shipment of HUGE holds! Thanks to Etch and Nicros, our boulder is chock full of volume-sized holds, features and XXL holds now!

This event was the biggest comp that Urban Rocks has hosted to date with 45 competitors and just about as many spectators watching the show. Everyone competed very well and a couple of categories even tied making the results even more exciting. Competition winners were determined by totaling the top five hardest climbs of the night. In case of a tie, the top six problems were tallied and then the top seven problems, ect. There were three categories: Men’s, Women’s and Youth. Within the Men and Women’s categories there were four divisions: Recreational, Intermediate, Advanced and Open. Below are the place winners of the competition:

YOUTH
1st - Grant Spear *

* A special congratulation goes out to Grant for not only being the only youth competitor at this comp and doing extremely well, but also because he tied Men’s Recreational for 1st place as well.

RECREATIONAL – Women’s
1st - Rachel Gilson
2nd - Summer Wofford

RECREATIONAL – Men’s
1st - Tyler Wilson
2nd - Alex Snider
3rd - Nathaniel Bankhead

INTERMEDIATE – Women’s
1st - Brooke Hadden
2nd - Chandler Wells
3rd - Bethany Sizemore

INTERMEDIATE – Men’s
1st - Andrew Bryne **
2nd - Daniel Gonser **
3rd - Tim Willison **

ADVANCED – Women’s
1st - Ashley Hamilton

ADVANCED – Men’s
1st - Jacob Fellers
2nd - Al Smith
3rd - Robby Gambrell

OPEN – Women’s
1st - Kasia Pietras

OPEN – Men’s
1st - Jimmy Webb
2nd - Brion Voges
3rd - Jeremy Walton

** Due to a miscalculation on our part, the Men's Intermediate category winners that were announced at the competition were incorrect. The appropriate changes have been made and we apologize for any inconvenience that this caused.

A big thanks goes out to all of our sponsors, the competitors and anyone else who brought this comp together!

The Beta - New Triple Crown Video Series

The Beta - Controller from Andrew Kornylak on Vimeo.

After School Sessions

The After-School Programs are 6 weeks long, with a one and a half hour session per week. The sessions run from 4:00 pm to 5:30 pm and includes ages 5-15 years old. The program will focus on individualized attention with 1 instructor per 5 students. We believe that climbing is unmatched in building confidence, problem solving abilities, trust and physical fitness all at the same time.

The After school Program is $150 for each six weeks session and participants also receive membership privileges during the duration of the program. Parents wishing to buy a membership during the same time will receive 20% off our monthly membership price.

Sessions

Session 1 - September 14 - October 23
Session 2 - November 2 - December 11
Session 3 - January 11 - February 19

For more information about the specific activities for each age group ad days of the week that they meet please visit the After School Program link below.

Urban Rocks Gym's After School Program

Summer Bouldering Sessions

Up for some night climbing?


During the month of August we will be running a special Summer Sessions bouldering rate. Beat the heat and bugs and start training for fall! With 3,000 square feet of bouldering and over 100 problems to choose from you should be crushing strong by September!

DETAILS:

When: Weeknights
Time: 7 pm - 10 pm
Price: $10.00*

*Bouldering Only

1st Week of Summer Camp...

Our first week of Summer Camp was a great success! With the help of camp directors, Trevor Childress, Warren Hulsey and Nathan Steele all the kids had a great time challenging themselves on the ropes.

We would also like to say thanks to the kids that attended the camp - we could not have gotten a more excited group, always ready to try whatever challenge we threw at them. They all made great improvements throughout the week learning to trust the ropes, improving their climbing techniques and rappelling off our boulder.

For more information on the remaining Summer Camps visit our website or call us at 423.475.6578

Indoor Rock Climbing Summer Camp

New 3 Month Memberships

We are adding a 3 month prepaid membership to our Membership options. Details...

Adult 3 Months: $175

Student 3 Months: $155

Couples 3 Moths: $312 + $30 per child (12 and under)

1 Parent and 1 Child 3 months: $225 + $30 per additional child

Check out our website for all of our membership and day rate options

- Urban Rocks Gym Website

- Memberships and Day Rates

- Specials & Discounts