FRIENDSHIPS THROUGH CLIMBING.

Sidney is lucky to have found climbing so early in life. The most important reason is the meaningful friendships she has formed through climbing and the team. Her 3 best friends on the team are Melina, Cierra and Makenna. I thought it would be a great time to look at their friendship through pictures so here they are. Enjoy!

Sidney and Melina became friends first. Sidney had already been climbing for VW for a year when Melina joined the team. However, it wasn't until Melina's 2nd year on the team that they became best friends and starting training together more.

Melina and Sidney at what looks to be the Stone Gardens gym. Of course they are wearing the same socks. (Photo courtesy of Michele Costanza)


They like to tell people they are twins which most people believe.

Sidney and Melina all dressed up and what are they wearing?! Skirts! (Photo courtesy of me)


They soon met and became best friends with "real" twins, Makenna and Cierra.

The girls before running in a 5K race last year. Again, what's with the socks?! (Photo courtesy of Robyn Graham)


They also like to fly.

The girls, along with Sidney's brother Chase, getting ready to simulate skydiving at iFly. (Photo courtesy of me)


They never fight except as their alter-egos.

The Joker and Riddler getting taken down by Batman and Robin! (Photo courtesy of Robyn Graham)


They love the snow but who doesn't?

Makenna, Sidney and Cierra enjoying the snow after Divisionals. (Photo courtesy of Robyn Graham)


To best friends!

The girls being cute while waiting for the scores from Divisionals at the SBP. (Photo courtesy of Robyn Graham)

ABS 13 DIVISIONALS!

Wow! Our first ever Divisional for Bouldering was at the Seattle Bouldering Project three weeks ago on January 14th and 15th. I say wow because there was some awesome climbing that weekend and I am still trying to process all of it. The best youth climbers from Washington, Alaska, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, Northern California and Northern Nevada converged a mile from my house for 2 very cool days of climbing with National invites at stake.

I decided to go back to shooting video on my Flip camera instead of my iPhone so I do not have any pictures of Sidney climbing. Of course all of her climbs are on our youTube channel, Chasesidney13, so go watch them!

If you've read my previous posts, you'd know that Sidney's category, FYC, is especially tough in our division this year. Sidney, Melina, Cierra and Lia have high expectations to do very well at ABS Nationals this year so the main thing was to get an invite. Of course, that's not how they think as they all want to make the podium.

Saturday was qualifiers in which there were 3 routes per category. On Qualifier # 1, 21 girls flashed the route. On Qualifier # 2, it separated a little bit with 11 girls flashing the route and 2 girls making it on their 2nd attempt. The level of difficulty bumped up tremendously for Qualifier # 3 as only 3 girls flashed it and 1 girl made it on her 2nd try. Do you know who that 1 girl was? Sidney. I'm spoiled when I watch her climb because there is rarely any drama so it was a bit jarring to see her fall going to the finish move on her 1st attempt. It was preceded by a sequencing mistake that got her pumped before the finish but usually she always pulls it out. The 3 girls that flashed Qualifier # 3, of course, were Melina, Cierra and Lia. This put Sidney in the unfamiliar position of going into Finals in 4th place. I thought this was a great situation for her as it would put less pressure on her as the other 3 would be climbing after her in Finals. At the time, Sidney did not see it the same way I did as she was not a happy camper for a few hours after Qualifiers. I could tell she was burning up inside and could not wait for Finals to release some of her angst on the wall.

There were 3 routes for Finals on Sunday and all the girls were chomping at the bit to get out there. The route setters started separating right away on Final # 1, as only 5 of the 11 finalists flashed the route and they were Olivia Brumwell, Sidney, Melina, Cierra and Lia. Final # 2 held true to form as the same 5 girls were the only ones to make it with Olivia being the only one not to flash it. It all came down to Final # 3 as Sidney would need to out climb Melina, Cierra and Lia to finish in 1st as she was behind on countbacks to Qualifiers.

Final # 3 was very, very tough. It scored to 15 points and you needed a wide repertoire of moves to be able to bag it. Balance, slopers, aretes, crimps, power moves. Tough.

On Sidney's 1st attempt, she climbed strong and got to hold 10, which was the high point for the girls at that time. She tried to Dyno for the finish from there but was not close as that was the wrong beta because there were two holds that she missed on the wall around the arete.

On Sidney's 2nd attempt, she again scored to the 10 hold but this time did the right beta. Alas, she could not hang on to hold 11. Although she had done the right beta, she still had not seen the two holds around the arete. After falling, she walked out to look around the arete, saw them and then had the "I'm such an idiot" look on her face.

She regrouped and started her 3rd attempt with a minute left to climb. This time, she tweaked her beta at the top by eventually getting way out to the first hold on the outside wall before falling into the blue crimp with the left hand. Two moves later she was matching on the finish while the crowd roared with approval. Now it was time to see what the other 3 girls could do.

Melina was up next. She noticed the holds on the outside of the arete right away but would she be able to get to that part of the route? On her first try, she climbed very strong, got to hold 9 but then misread the beta as she did not use the arete to get into the left hand crimp. She fell while trying to figure it out and did not get any higher on subsequent attempts which put her in 2nd place at the moment.

Next to climb was Cierra and on her 1st try, she made it to hold 6 (round blue sloper) before falling. On her 2nd attempt, she changed her beta up a little and made it to hold 7 before falling while pulling up to match the orange sloper. She would not get any higher after that but tweaking her beta on her 2nd attempt would prove to be the difference between 3rd and 4th place as Lia's high hold ended up being 6 on her first attempt.

In the end, the placings went as I expected with Sidney in 1st, Melina in 2nd, Cierra in 3rd and Lia in 4th but is was essentially tied until Final # 3. The C boys also climbed the same routes as the girls and none of them were able to make Final # 3 so Sidney was the only climber to finish the route. Like I said earlier, TOUGH.

My favorite moment of the comp was seeing all 3 girls on the podium sporting their VW gear and having the biggest smiles! It was the only podium (out of 10) where 1 team swept the top 3 spots so that was special for us and the team. Thankfully, I do have a picture of that.

Sidney, Melina and Cierra sweeping the podium for FYC. (Photo courtesy of Robyn Graham)


Nationals is in a month in Colorado Springs. Wish us luck!

ABS 13 REGIONALS!

ABS 13 Regionals was earlier last month on December 10th. Last year at Regionals, we had almost 170 competitors. This year, because of the region realignment, we only had a little bit over 90 climbers. This made for a less chaotic comp, especially since it was held at the Tacoma Vertical Club once again. Sidney's category (FYC) was the biggest at 16 climbers with the format being the usual 3 routes for Qualifiers and 3 routes for Finals.

Sidney was later in the running order for Qualifiers so I was able to watch her best friends and teammates (Melina, Cierra & Makenna) climb. What I noticed in watching them climb was that the routesetting was extremely tough this year. They were taking no prisoners! Sidney came out and flashed Qualifier # 1 but barely half of her group made the route which shows how hard they were setting right out of the gate.

Sidney was one of only 3 girls, the others being Melina and Cierra, to make Qualifier # 2 and they all flashed it. If you watch the video of this climb on our youTube channel, Chasesidney13, you'll be amazed at how effortless she climbs the route. She makes it look much easier than it is.

Sidney on the final hold of Qualifier # 2 as her feet never come off the route. (Photo courtesy of me)


Sidney and Melina were the only girls to make Qualifier # 3 with Sid flashing it and MC making it on her 2nd attempt. Cierra almost flashed it but made a sequencing error that caused her to fall at the top and she couldn't make it on her 2nd attempt.

Showing off the guns on Qualifier # 3 as she flashes the route. (Photo courtesy of me)


Going into Finals, Makenna was in 7th with 1 Top and 36 points. Cierra was in 3rd with 2 Tops, 46 points and 2 flashes. Melina was in 2nd with 3 Tops, 49 points and 2 flashes. Sidney was 1st with 3 flashes. To illustrate how hard the setting was for Qualifiers, going into Finals for all 10 categories, there was the possibility of only 1 Superfinal. That is called separation!

Sidney flashed Final # 1 but it was a toughie as only 4 (Sid, MC, Cierra & Miriam) of the 12 finalists made the problem and they were all flashes. The sequencing was very specific with a couple of strength moves thrown in so I could see how some of the girls would have problems with it.

Textbook climbing by Sidney on Final # 1. (Photo courtesy of me)


More girls found success on Final # 2 as half of the Finalists made the route with Sidney, Melina and Cierra being the only ones to flash it. It was a short but sweet route that had one big move. The key was to be able to make a big crossover with your right hand near the top of the route.

Sidney at the big crossover move on Final # 2. (Photo courtesy of me)


Being as Sidney was right after Melina in the climbing order, she knew what Melina would have gotten on each climb before she was to climb. It makes her a little nervous but she deals with it well. On Final # 3, Cierra fell 3 times at the crux and did not make the route. Because of that bobble, Cierra finished in 4th place with Miriam squeaking by her for 3rd. That's the nature of the new scoring changes as you can climb better than someone else for most of the comp but if you make one mistake, it can cost you placings. Melina looked strong and easily flashed Final # 3 which put some pressure on Sidney as she would have to flash the route, too, in order to finish in 1st place. Sidney looked just as strong as MC and flashed the route. In fact, she finished with a flourish by skipping the 2nd to last hold and going for the finish in typical Sidney fashion. Only Sidney and Melina made Final # 3.

Sidney at the crux on Final # 3. (Photo courtesy of me)


In the end, Makenna qualified in the 8th and final spot for invites to Divisionals (Great job!). Cierra finished in 4th place. She was pretty bummed about her placing but it was a great learning experience for her nonetheless. Miriam, an up and coming first year C girl climbed very strong and finished in 3rd place. Melina was in 2nd place and Sidney finished in 1st place. Sidney was one of only 2 climbers (the other was Gavin Dixon) for the entire comp that flashed all 6 routes. Melina was right there by climbing all 6 routes with 1 fall. That's all that separated Sidney from her, 1 fall! Close. Divisionals is in two weeks and like I've said before, the FYC competition is going to be a doozy. I can't wait!!

NEW SEATTLE VW OPENING TODAY!!!

Are you ready for the BADDEST lead walls in the Pacific Northwest? If so, then you will want to go to the new Seattle VW which opens today at 4pm. I actually took a tour of the facility yesterday and the gym matches the pre-opening buzz everyone is hearing. The bouldering area is nice but is not going to make you forget the SBP. That's a minor quibble as the sole reason to come to this gym is to get your lead on.

Here is a shot of the back wall of the lead area. Notice the tiny and beautiful Laela (Sidney's sister) at the bottom of the photo. (Photo courtesy of me)


The bouldering area is very nice and incorporates the same wall technology as their Tacoma gym. It would have been cool if the bouldering area was bigger but you can't have everything and it's still a great place to boulder.

Sidney getting some bouldering in a day before the grand opening. (Photo courtesy of me)


We will be at the grand opening today even though I know it will be a zoo! Hope to see everyone there!

2011 PORTLAND BOULDER RALLY.

This past December 3rd was the 1st ever Portland Boulder Rally at the newest Circuit Gym in Portland, Oregon. The Circuit has been away from the comp scene for a few years now but made a big splash on their return as this was a huge event. The winner of each "Open" category received $1,400 so they weren't messing around in trying to attract a lot of climbers to the event.

Sidney climbed in the "Open" category of which there were 14 competitors. We made a day trip of it with Cierra and her father, Andy, so the girls climbed in the 2nd session. Being that Sidney is only 12, I know that when she competes in the "Open" categories, there is always the possibility of her running into some reach issues. It's never a complaint, just a fact. The PBR was definitely set with the adults in mind as a majority of the upper point routes had very long reaches. Sidney's scorecard was not her usual strong zone of 5 climbs all bunched together. There were some big gaps between the points of her routes as she attempted a lot of different climbs but kept running into a section of the route that she was not able to reach. She was a bit frustrated but understood that she had to make the best of it and try to maximize her score as best she could.

Sidney extending as far as she could at the 1st Annual Portland Boulder Rally. (Photo courtesy of me)


In the end, Sidney came pretty close to maximizing her score, although there were a couple of routes she possibly could have gotten but she ran out of time. They took the top 6 to Finals and Sidney finished a strong 8th so she was actually pretty happy with her result.

Sidney using ALL of her reach to get this hold. She had to throw with both hands from the hold that her left hand is on, all the way up to where her right hand is with only the right foothold and smearing the left foot. (Photo courtesy of me)


We stayed to watch Finals and were rewarded with watching some excellent climbing. In the end, it was a good thing Sidney did not make Finals because she would have really, really struggled on those routes. She might have surprised herself a bit, but overall she would have had a rough go of it as they were very tough with a lot of reach. The first thing she said to me after Finals were over was that she was glad she DIDN'T make Finals and I agreed with her. If she stays on the same career arc that she is currently on, I would bet she makes a bigger dent in the PBR next year!

2011 SEATTLE BOULDERING CHALLENGE.

The oldest and biggest bouldering comp in the Northwest, the SBC, took place this past November 19th. This was Sidney's 5th year in a row competing at the SBC. Unfortunately, I forgot to take any pictures of her climbing and I have not found any of her on the web. I did take video which I will post on my youTube channel, Chasesidney13, sometime in the near future.

As you hopefully have read in a previous post, last year Sidney qualified in 11th place after the Redpoint round in the Open category. They only took 10 to Finals but because of an injury to Tiffany Melius, she was able to climb in Finals and moved up to 8th place! Her past SBC results have shown a clear arc of getting better every year so I was curious if she could continue to improve this year.

Sidney, as always, started out strong and flashed quite a few high climbs. She then looked around for some higher climbs and worked some projects. With a half hour left in the session, she thought she was good enough to make Finals so we shut it down to rest up and wait for results. It was very hard to gauge her score compared to the other Open competitors as this is not a USA Climbing youth event. A lot of youth compete in it but it is definitely an event geared for adults. With Sidney not even being a teenager, yet, my goal for her is just to improve her Redpoint score every year. If she makes Finals, that's just icing on the cake and gets her more experience. I know the Finals routes are set for the adults and that's the way it should be. Well, Sidney improved again by qualifying for Finals in 7th place this year.

As I expected, there were 4 Finals routes and they were TOUGH! The first route had a bunch of really big holds that Sidney is not a fan of, yet, but she flashed the route with no problems. The second route she climbed well and got two holds from the top on her first try but did the wrong beta for her and fell. Her second try she used the correct beta but was not able to execute the move, fell and then decided not to try it again as time was short. She thinks she could have made the route if she did the correct beta her first try instead of her second. The third route no competitor came even close to making with Sidney getting to around where everyone else was falling. The fourth route gave her all kinds of trouble as the beta was really hard for her to read and she was hurt by her lack of height. All in all, she climbed really well and finished in 9th place for Finals, a couple of spots back from where she started. However, she got some more experience climbing really HARD problems in front of a big crowd so it was a very positive night.

Here is a really cool warped view of the event. (Photo courtesy of Stone Gardens)


These are Sidney's results for the past 5 years which really shows her improvement.
2007 - Age 8 - Redpoint score was 65th out of 76 female competitors.
2008 - Age 9 - 48th out of 90.
2009 - Age 10 - 22nd out of 77.
2010 - Age 11 - 11th out of 96 - Qualified for Finals and finished 8th.
2011 - Age 12 - 7th out of 100 - Finished 9th after Finals.
2012 - Age 13 - ????????

Looking forward to next year!

VERTICAL WORLD - REDMOND.

The last local of the season for our region was on November 12th at the Redmond Vertical World gym. It had been 3 years since they last held a local there so it was very nostalgic to be back for another comp, especially knowing that they will be re-modeling the bouldering area soon. There were over 80 climbers for the comp but they had two separate sessions (male and female) so they were really laid back. Everyone had plenty of time to get in all the climbs that they wanted to try.

Unfortunately, Melina and Makenna were sick and couldn't climb with Sidney and Cierra. Lia Messinger, from Portland, made the trip up and climbed with the girls so that was a cool surprise. It was sort of like a VW team comp as almost 50 of the 80+ competitors were on the VW team. Let's just say that there was a higher concentration of red than usual. To illustrate this, in Sidney's FYC category, there were 14 climbers and 11 of them were on the VW team. For the entire region, there are 17 climber's in Sidney's category and 14 are on the VW team. Wow.

Like I stated earlier, it was a really laid back comp. It was easily the most relaxed comp I have been to. Sidney crushed it and won her category by a healthy margin. Lia and Cierra were pretty even but Lia snagged 1 big climb that was the difference as Lia took 2nd and Cierra came in 3rd.

Sidney going horizontal on a hard route. (Photo courtesy of Lisa Grannell)


It's going to be a Battle Royale at Divisionals when all these girls (Sidney, Melina, Cierra and Lia) duke it out for the invites to Nationals. It actually will be a great preview of Nationals. I say this because if you look at last year's ABS Nationals results for FYC and omit all the girls that aged up to FYB, all 4 girls would be in the top 6. Here is what I mean. 1st-Aged Up, 2nd-A/U, 3rd-A/U, 4th-Grace Kane, 5th-Sidney, 6th-A/U, 7th-Melina, 8th-Lia, 9th-A/U, 10th-A/U, 11th-A/U, 12th-A/U, 13th-Piper Boudart and 14th-Cierra. Cierra has improved tremendously since last year and it shows as Melina, Lia and Cierra's climbing scores have basically been the same all season. Throw in strong veteran climbers Olivia Brumwell, Olivia Durant, Dakota Angeli, Jenna Wang and a strong group of first year "C" girls, it means whoever gets an invite to Nationals will have earned it. I would bet that any "C" girl who gets an invite from our Division will do well at Nationals. It certainly will be exciting to watch.