On Saturday Jan. 28, the University of Guelph Climbing Club played host to schools from across Ontario in the first ever inter-university bouldering competition.  Held at the Guelph Grotto Climbing Gym, the event was the triumph of a coalition between U of G alum and general manager of the Grotto, Max Summerlee, and the co-presidents of the Guelph Climbing Club, David Albert-Lebrun and Ali Sutherland.

For those who don’t know, bouldering is a style of rock climbing undertaken without ropes where climbers scale short, highly technical overhangs. It requires a high degree of forethought and power to ascend these routes, aptly referred to as “problems.” Dramatically leaping from one hold to the next is often the only way to overcome these unforgiving obstacles.

The competition on Saturday was designed to accommodate all experience levels. The day began at noon with the Recreational (beginner) and Experienced (intermediate) groups, followed by the Open (advanced) group taking over at 4 p.m. The rules were straightforward: there were 48 problems that competitors could pit themselves against; number 48 being the most challenging and worth the most points, and number one being the easiest and worth the fewest points. Essentially, the more attempts you need to make it to the top of the problem, the lower your score. Scores were monitored by a well-honoured system of peer review, and in the end represented each competitor’s best six climbs.

The talented team of ladies from Guelph bested the women’s Open division while the well-represented McMaster men’s team took home the men’s Open division. The most coveted prize of the evening, for best overall team, went to the Guelph team – proud recipients of the newly minted Canadian University Bouldering Championship trophy.

Bouldering being an inherently individual sport, the competition was more between the climber and him or herself. As participant Emma Switzer pointed out, the real point of the competition was to “let you know where you stand in your own abilities.” Consequently, an atmosphere of encouragement reigned, while roars of applause were given to any person who finally completed a particularly treacherous problem.

What really made this event stand out were the people involved. Imagine a DJ up in the rafters, Red Bulls cans everywhere, swag from sponsors, costumes, photographers trying to get that perfect low angle shot, and a bunch of people crowded in a gym with mattress-like floors and Picasso-like cathedral ceilings. Everyone was on the floor at the same time; talking, sitting, climbing, egging on, and basically having a damn good time trying to get the best of, well – gravity.

What was initially predicted to be a modest gathering in the early planning stages of last April, had clearly snowballed into a major event –undoubtedly for the benefit of those in attendance. Lebrun recalled how he “knew for sure Guelph and McMaster would be there,” but then that number quickly grew to 13 or 14 schools in the end – altogether over 170 competitors. These large numbers afforded the rare opportunity for fellow climbing clubs to interact.

“It’s really interesting to hear how different people run their gyms,” said Ali Sutherland. “It’s all about bringing people together.”

One of the key topics of the day was the growth of the sport in a university setting – after all, it is just volume one of a series. As it stands, bouldering is not a varsity sport. Those who are serious about bouldering often compete in the Tour de Bloc, an organization which promotes an all-ages national climbing circuit. Yet, judging by the considerable overlap between university students and climbers on the Tour, not to mention the tremendous turnout for Saturday’s competition, it is clear that there is great potential for a strictly inter-university circuit.

Fortunately, the creation of such a university circuit is Max Summerlee’s goal. Volume Two of the University Bouldering Series is anticipated to be held at Brock University in the fall, and Max also has plans to develop a mobile bouldering structure to travel from campus to campus. Eventually, what he and many others would like to see is for bouldering to become a varsity sport. So, if Saturday’s competition was any indication of things to come, we’ll be hearing a lot more about bouldering in the future.

For more information on rock climbing at Guelph visit the Climbing Club’s website http://www.uoguelph.ca/~climb/. Full scores for the competition will be posted on the Grotto’s website http://www.guelphgrotto.com/newsite/.

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