Gordon McArthur–I love to Climb

Somewhere Out There...

Friday, January 29th, 2010

Competing at the 2010 Saas Fee, Switzerland, World Cup

Preparation for the comp-world cup/the night before
The night before a big comp, or any comp for that matter can be an emotional rollercoaster. At the world Cup in Saas Fee, we had a big athletes dinner, did some “testing” for a UIAA survey, mingled a bunch, had a big dinner, and then went home. (Oh, side note, I played a lot of ping pong and owned the table all night…beating all the euros! Yah!). When we got back to the apartement, I tuned my tools, tried to relax and then went to bed. The problem with bed was that my body still wasn’t used to the time change, so sleeping ended up being sort of minimal. So basically I layed in bed for a few hours, then got about 6hrs of sleep. Not bad, but not great. Sleep is important…especially before a big comp, or anything that requires energy and focus.

Isolation
Being in isolation is something new to me (for those who don’t know what isolation is, it’s a place where competitors wait for their turn to compete/climb etc.), and this time was definitely a new experience. Isolation was a heated tent in the back end (in the basement) of a parkade, lit with dim lights, offering minimal food, and of course with 80 athletes waiting anxiously to climb on the comp route. The fact that I drew 5th from last to go (compete), that meant that I was in isolation for 4.5hrs. And for this duration of time, I was definitely not prepared enough. You need food, lots of it, and of course the right food, perhaps something to read, games, whatever, so that you’re not stuck sitting around, letting your mind take over. It was hard, really hard, to try staying comfortable, relaxed and at ease. There was lots of media floating about with big cameras, filming and interviewing athletes and such. That was weird as they were in our faces a lot. Just outside the tent there was an overhung slab of wood x3 that you could warm up on with your tools. Another thing that I didn’t do well enough. Warming up properly is a hard thing to do when you’re outside of your “typical routine”/comfort zone–something to pay attention to next time for sure. Being in isolation is a good time to really focus on your mental game. Being such an important part of competition, gaining control of your mental state is imperative. Isolation offers that opportunity, especially when you’re in there for a few hours.

The walk to the comp route from isolation
Waiting, on the edge of my toes, heart rate gaining speed and quickly, the hair standing on end due to anticipation, knowing that any minute the judge would come into the tent calling your name saying, “Gordon McArthur, you’re up”. That moment, it’s like everything in the world all of a sudden disappears. All you can think about is not puking, and stayin upright on your legs. The walk from the isolation tent to the comp venue felt like it was going to last forever. All the adrenalin pumping through your body like a surge of electricity…it was insane–but so rad at the same point. As I got closer to the comp venue, located in the middle of the circular parkade, I could see the light shining from the actual location of the comp route, and hundreds of people cheering…it was totally wild. And as I entered the comp venue, standing infront of the 130ft structure…well to be quite honest, I don’t really remember much of what I was thinking, as my mind tends to shut everything out at that point. But what I can say, it was freakin’ cool!

The intensity of it all
Climbing for fun, without competition always seems a little more settling, less stressful, and mindfully easier to take in. But put yourself infront of thousands of people cheering, competing against the best in the world…things get intense, ten fold. But maybe that actually works against you. If you allow it to get intense…you need to channel that intensity towards positive thinking. A lot of times, when something gets intense, your mind starts to doubt the situation, or your capability of carrying such a task through to its end. I think working on staying calm, enjoying the moment, remembering why you love to climb (or whatever it is you love to do), the intensity soon gets replaced with peace of mind. Interesting. Essentially, the more experience you can get, the more your mind, body, is likely to accept the situation/task at hand and not freaking out about it…because you’ve been there before, you know what’s coming and you know what it takes.

Being on the route and what I learned
When we previewed the route, at first I was like, “wow, how on earth am I going to pull those moves off?” and of course, back in isolation all the athletes were contemplating how they were going to pull it off. If there’s one thing that was reinforced at this comp, it’s to not worry about what anyone else is saying, or how they’re going to do something. Stick to your own game plan, your own ideas and thoughts. The second you start to question your methods and ability/thought process, that’s when things get confusing. I remember one of the first moves off of the ice and onto the “woody” part of the route, I was messing about with figure fours and nines to pull a move off…and it wasn’t going well, then I allowed myself to snap back into my style of climbing, hooked my leg up on the ledge, and booya, I pulled the move off. A simple heel hook allowed me to progress. But initially I allowed other peoples’ styles/ideas get into my head, and naturally I thought, “well maybe I should do that”. Nope, typically never works out better. Stick to your own game plan, and if that doesn’t work, then maybe explore other options…but until then…climb your style.

Watching the video of me climbing the comp route after, it was hard…because right away I could see my weaknesses, what I was doing wrong. However with the right mind set, I was able to channel this into pure motivation. Fact is, I was climbing way too slow. I was resting where I didn’t need to rest. When I previewed the route, I didn’t pay any attention to where the good rests were…I just climbed like I was doing a redpoint…not like an onsight attempt with a clock tickin’. Lesson learned. Game on for the next comp that has a stop watch.

Another note about the route and previewing it…moves are never as big as they look from the ground, looking up. Every time I see a route and look at the moves from ground up, they always seem so much bigger and scarier then when face to face with them. Relax, wait ‘til you get to the move before you count yourself out from being able to pull it off.

Something that I’ve also noticed about my competitive climbing is the fact that I drown out any sound other then my own breathing. I can’t hear anything. Is this a good thing? Not sure yet, but I know that my friend was yelling at me to move faster and I didn’t hear him. Gotta work on this. It’s good to be able to tune things out, so that your focused on the task at hand, but be careful as you may want to be listening to “help” from the crowd.

The feelings I had after I competed
After the comp, like when I untied from the route, I was excited. So excited infact. All I wanted to do was keep climbing. Instantly I was psyched to call my coach, tell him how it went, and get back on the training gig to get stronger, improving on my weaknesses. It was a cool feeling. Of course there was a bit of dissapointment as I had hoped to do better, but that’s ok, the experience I gained from such a venture/competition, it’s only made me stronger mentally as well as motivated me more.

The intensity of how much I want to train
I think it’s really cool that I’m so psyched on training. Training is the meat of it. When you’re competing, it’s 6 minutes of your life. But it’s the training that takes hours, days, months, sometimes years. And now, I’m starting to see how cool training is. Training allows you to go deeper, and in the end, you’ve had a chance to address your weaknesses merely improving your climbing, offering a huge level of satisfaction. Of course the science of training is so intriguing to me too…as there is so much to training, whether physical, mental, dietary, whatever….all of it is so cool. So stoked to learn more, try harder, go deeper.

The emotions of it all
The entire trip, what came with it, the ups and downs, lack of sleep, level of energy expended, the adrenaline, all of it opened a door of emotions that fluctuated so rapidly that I thought my heart rate was hitting 300 and dropping to 30 top speed. It’s an emotional rollercoaster. Wow.

Moving forward
From all of this, the experience of traveling across the world, competing at a whole new level, the expectations, the motivation, all of it has lead me to wanting to try harder. My coach has been very encouraging, and without that, it would be a lot harder to want to push forward. But, I’m psyched and am ready to give ‘er. To try harder means more commitment, digging deeper, and allowing those who want to help…help. Onward hoe!

Thank you to all my sponsors
Having help to reach and attain your goals, it makes things more attainable. Anything is possible, but with help, it becomes more feasible. I’m super greatful for all of my sponsors, having the opportunity to represent their brands, using their gear to the best of my ability…so greatful indeed. Thanks to Petzl, Loki, Scarpa, HighCountry Sports, Ice Holdz, Wigwam socks, and for redbull giving me the “boost” that I need.

The competition aside, one of the coolest parts of the entire event was the after party. This “party” was held under the parkade, opening only once a year for this very event, and it was super cool. Why cool? Well there was a boulder problem, with climbing holds, on the roof of this “bar” that people were sessioning all night, amongst thousands of others partying and having a good time. So cool. There were a lot of people packed into this place, with no ventilation and pretty sure no security, but things stayed calm, and by calm I mean no fighting etc. I was psyched on that. Pretty much anything went at this bar, including my buddy sewing up my other buddy from an open flesh wound he received from his ice tool in the speed comp. Yup, crazy, my buddy whipped out his suture kit and proceeded to sew up my other buddies cut, right in the middle of the bar. That was rad!

The finals, it was like being at the super bowl, front row seats, the energy was out of this world, as the top athletes picked their way through the route, the crowd would erupt with every gain. Thousands cheering at the top of their lungs, no resting, always screaming. This was prolly the most motivating part of it all, watching the best of the best compete in the finals…so rad. The energy was off the hook. Marcus Bendler ended up taking first place (which seems to be the trend for the moment) climbing to just about the last hold, falling at the last second. Man that guy can climb. But lets not forget about the Korean who was flying up the route, crushing everyone’s time by minutes…but in the end his speed worked against him as he blew off a hold just below Marcus. The crowd was in shock as everyone knew he was on route to winning. Oh, and something to give mention to, probably the coolest part of the entire comp was watching one of the Russians. In the semi finals, half way up the route he dropped one of his tools. Well, everyone at that point thought he was done, except for him that is. This Russian without hesitatin all of a sudden dyno’d with one tool from one hold to the next. And as if that wasn’t enough, he did it again…campus dynoing to the next hold, with one tool. It was out of this world.

Going to Switzerland was a new experience and an adventure I’ll always remember. And although there was not much climbing for how far I went, it was for sure worth the experience, every second of it. I mean come on, every morning waking up to the swiss alps, getting to compete in the world cup of climbing, meeting amazing people from all over the world, hanging with my friends (who are wicked) in a foreign land across the world. All of it was worth every bit of sweat, tears, blood, and money. So, ‘til next year with a vengance.