Alien Bloc Winter Bouldering League
On Friday 31st January, I was up in Edinburgh for the 3rd round of the Alien Bloc Winter Bouldering League. The league consists of 4 comps from October to February, one on the final Friday of each month (excluding December). On the day of the comp, the wall shuts completely to set the problems, meaning that none of the public can get a sneaky peek at the problems in advance! The centre sets 30 problems in total, ranging from number 1 at the easiest, and 30 being nails. An interesting structure for these comps however, is that you don’t climb all of the problems. In fact, you only climb 20.
Whilst this might initially raise some eyebrows, I actually think it’s a really clever system. The climbers have the option to pick score cards from one of three categories: Easy, Intermediate, and Hard. For those competing in Easy, they climb the first twenty problems, Intermediates climb problems 6-25, and the climbers in the Hard category climb 11-30. This means that each climber gets a full span of difficulty, but your top end climbs are more appropriate for your level, and you have more time to spend on them.
Now, you may be asking about scoring for this system. The points for each climb are fairly standard; 10 for a flash, 7 for 2nd attempt, 5 for 3rd go, and 1 for any attempt after that. If you compete in the easy category, adding up your scores is simple: what you got is what you got. Intermediate climbers don’t climb the first 5 problems, but it is assumed that they would have flashed them, so the centre adds on 50 points to their overall score. The hard category is similar, but for the first 10 problems, so they get 100 points added to their score.
I really like this format, as it makes the comp feel far less stressful, particularly, for me, as I’m not getting shut down on lots of boulders that I just can’t do.
It must be said, I am not, in any way, shape, or form, a comp climber. I have competed in a handful whilst at university, and a few fun ones, but it’s not where I shine. I get pretty nervous for Comps, I’m very competitive, but don’t really perform my best under pressure. I also don’t really like climbing when it’s busy and there’s lots of people watching you. So yeah, not a great recipe for comp climbing! Because of this, I often find that I flash some of the problems, and then don’t finish the rest. This can make it pretty easy for me to get in my head, and the format of the Alien comps allows me to manage that.
On Friday, I was feeling pretty jittery. I was nervous, and I’m still getting used to new ADHD meds. I knew I could have done ok if I’d competed in the hard category, but my headspace was not in a place for it. I chose to compete in the Intermediate category, and this was definitely the right option. Being able to climb the easier problems whilst feeling jittery helped me settle in a little bit, even though I did make a silly mistake.
After doing a handful of easier climbs, I then went and put myself on number 24. I wanted to try something I wasn’t expecting to flash, as this helps me to switch on that try-hard part of my brain and go into a flowy state of climbing.I also find that once I’ve fallen off something, some of the tension is broken and I can relax more.
The setting at the comp on Friday was really good fun. I found a lot of the problems to be nicely techy, and a lot of them were really up my street. I flashed all but one of the first 20 problems (remember the silly mistake I mentioned; my foot slipped off the start of 9), and got some good attempts in on 21. Towards the end of the comp, I opted to continue trying 21, a pressy, flexy, crimpy groove climb, rather than try 22 or 25. This is where I’m in a much better position now to be able to leave those climbs behind and not worry that I didn't try them. After all, did the results of the comp impact me, really? No, it was a fun comp, and I was there to climb fun problems that I wanted to try. For me, that was 21. 22 and 25 were much more strength dependent and much less my natural style.
So, why do I go back to the comps at Alien Bloc if I’m not a comp climber? Well, firstly, it’s good to get out of your comfort zone every now and again. and Secondly, I really enjoy climbing there. For me, the wall in general feels not dissimilar to the Works; It’s an old school gym, with non-standard walls, feature-heavy setting, and lovely people.
