Being surrounded by extremely talented route setters made me definitely step my game up and I was able to churn out some forced moves and managed to hit my grade range (orange route on left). Jimmy Forbes is not only one of my closest friends but he is the man who has molded me into the setter I am today. His style of setting is calculated and precise. He can tell you if a move is forced or if its too reachy from a mile away. I truly enjoy climbing his routes even if they spit me off occasionally (blue route on right).
We had the honor of setting with two of TRC's (Triangle Rock Club) finest, Scott G. and Tex. Both of these guys are super shredders and I don't mean the secret of the ooze. It was an incredible learning experience getting tips and tricks for route setting by these two guys.
Scott and Tex put up some of the coolest sequences I've ever seen and the routes flowed like water down a stream. Me, Jimmy and these fellas got together and made it happen, team work is the dream work..
Saturday April 28, kids from gyms all over the region came to Inner Peaks with one goal, crush everything..We had teams from Charleston, TRC, Stone Summit and of course team Inner Peaks! For the competition, the set up was rather chill. Normally, people are running around screaming with fear in the eyes due to the tidal wave of people lined up for registration, but the IP staff and volunteers ran it like a well oiled machine (excellent job gang!).
I had the awesome job of being one of only two route setters at this gig, which meant I walked around and fixed holds (if they spun), grabbed Jimmy if there were any fires that needed to be put out (yes, there are fouls and technicals in climbing competitions) and snapped these pics your eyes are feasting on. It was quite a sight to see, all these kids with their little fingers and 0% body fat, just cruising up the hardest rigs we set. Several times, people had to remind me not to stare with my mouth gaping wide open ( I wish I had started climbing at age 10 or younger :-/).
Nevertheless, send after send, figure eight's being tied and untied, the comp came to an end. Jimmy did a fantastic job organizing this shin dig and after all was said and done, myself and the gang went to Boardwalk Billies down the road and enjoyed beverages and wings while patting ourselves on the back. It was epic.....
