Mike Doyle’s Rants&Raves

So I spent this past weekend up in Anchorage, Alaska helping out at the Alaska Rock Gym with their annual “Frigid Flash” competition and running some clinics. I went up last year as well and had a great time so I happily accepted when they asked if I wanted to come up again.

This year was a little different though. Many of the local routesetters were taking a certification course so I didn’t have to routeset for the comp but I did help forerun and tweak a few of the problems. This meant that I had more energy for the clinics on Sunday and Monday. Last year I routeset on the Friday, climbed on the Saturday and then did clinics Sunday, Monday and was quite tired by the end of it all.

The competition this year was awesome. A group of climbers came of from a gym called “The Yeti’s Lair” in Klamath Falls, Oregon. Included in this group were four young climbers doing their first rope comp and their two coaches; Josh and Logan. Josh I had met previously in Alaska while Logan I knew from Smith Rock where he has a reputation as a beast. Turns out he’s not such a bad comp climber as he walked away with the first place and coveted title of Frigid Flash Champion. I would recommend this comp to anyone who wants to do an onsight, lead comp but with a relaxed atmosphere.

All in all it was a cold but fun weekend and I’m glad I was able to get up there again.

Posted on March 3rd, 2009 by Mike Doyle
Filed under: Rave