Although most of my Vail trip was plagued with luggage issues and transportation nightmares the comp itself was a good time.

When I competed in Vail two years ago John Bowles and I missed opening ceremonies so it was nice experiencing it this year. We were paraded through town to a very warm welcome from people lining the streets to clap/cheer on climbers from about 20 different countries. It was a little surprising to me (but kinda cool) to hear some loud shouts out for Canada. Audrey took a great shot of the Canadian Team (minus Sean McColl and Stacey Weldon who were arriving later) before opening ceremonies. (Doesn't seem to want to let me paste it in this message but I could e-mail it to you if you want it; Selena Wong has some really great shots of most everyone on the team as well).

The next day was comp day and I had the somewhat unfortunate bib #37, also known as the last female qualifier of the day. That's not all bad though, with four hours in iso at least my warm up wasn't rushed. The only real downside was not being able to watch any of the other girls climb, but as a bonus the rest of the team was cheering me up the wall the entire time. :)

The problems this year were quite different than they were two years ago, and although not really my style - long, high, and dynamic - I tried to make the best of it and jumped until I could jump no more. Although I was close on Problem 1 and had just two moves left I ran out of time before I could top out. Overall the routes were much better quality than two years ago (which was a complete disaster, setting-wise) but I felt like a lot of the bonus holds were higher/further in the routes this year than I expected them to be.

The fifth problem, although not the one I got furthest on, was my favorite as it was less dynamic and more balance-y. And I did have to laugh when on one attempt I smoked my head into the overhanging section of wall off the first move (leave it to me, haha), and again when one of the route judges almost got karate kicked while I fell off the move out right, hehe.

All-in-all I was pretty disappointed with how I did but hey, that's the way it goes sometimes. I had fun and I tried my best... can't ask for much more. :)

I got to watch the men compete in the afternoon and was really glad the women didn't have to try to climb their routes! They were definitely tough and also dynamic, and everyone on the Canadian team put in a great effort.

Semi-finals and finals had wall-to-wall spectators and the crowd was amazing... super loud and supportive, cheering on each competitor the entire time they climbed. Lots of “Gamba!”s were thrown out there for Tsukuru Hori of Japan, and "Come On!"'s for Jernej Kruder of Slovenia, who were both crowd favorites. Sean (McColl) was the only Canadian to make semi-finals so the rest of the team was cheering him on like crazy (among other people), but finals wasn’t in the cards this year I guess. And Daniel Woods put on an incredible show of strength the entire weekend.

Overall the Teva Games has a great atmosphere and I find it's really welcoming to all athletes. It's fun being able to take in other activities and watch some of the best in the world in their respective sports while you're not competing. Everyone is super friendly and it's just a cool relaxed environment. If you ever have a chance to be in Vail during the games I would definitely recommend it.

Although school got in the way of my travel plans for this summer, I'm hoping/planning on attending some WC comps in Europe next summer and am really looking forward to that. I've heard the setting style is quite different so it should be great experience. The tentative plan is to hit up as many WCs as I can and then just climb/travel/explore in between comps. Should be FUN! :)