WSU’s Student Recreation Center is hosting the annual Pullman Pull-Down Bouldering Competition on Saturday, March 29. The competition is split into three divisions: intermediate, advanced and open.
Justin Zhong, UREC head route setter, said the competition is a good way to meet other climbing enthusiasts.
“We have a lot of people from other colleges come around as part of the NC3 Circuit, so that involves a lot of schools in the Pacific Northwest and some down in Oregon too,” he said. “It’s a really nice time to meet people from other climbing communities.”
Arturo Gavilanes, UREC climbing wall and ropes course manager, said various competitions have been held at the climbing wall since 2014.
“The intention was to get climbers all to hold space at the same time,” he said. “While its namesake is competition, I really do like to acknowledge that it’s kind of a festival where you get to see your friends and your peers pushing themselves, climbing a fleet of new problems. There’s an energy of climbers projecting new routes together.”
Gavilanes said the competition is not just a celebration of the winners, but more so a celebration of the climbing community as a whole.
“It’s a really good opportunity to just bring the community together to work on climbing and celebrate the achievements that people can make, be it climbing something that may be a lower grade or watching somebody be marked the best climber in the room,” he said.
Zhong said he agrees with the sentiment that the competition is more of a celebration than anything.
“A lot of people hear the word competition and they think it’s a tooth-and-nail fight for first place, but that’s really not the case. Everyone there is happy to celebrate each other’s climbing,” he said.
Following the theme of celebration, Gavilanes encourages people to attend whether they are experts or newcomers to the sport.
“You may not feel confident joining the competition but the competition routes are going to be up for quite a while. I’d really say come watch, it is a spectator sport as well,” he said. “We’ll have finals around 2 p.m. on Saturday and we’ll see people do their climbs on the final problems.”
There is no better opportunity for beginners and pros alike than learning from other climbers, Gavilanes said.
“The wall will be open as per usual that day and people can climb the same problems that people were competing on,” he said.
People will also have the opportunity to learn and practice after the competition, Zhong said.
“Those same routes will be open for a couple of weeks following the competition,” he said. “You can try them in a lower pressure environment [without] all the eyes looking at you.”
The UREC allows people to borrow shoes and offers free liquid chalk. When staff are not there the wall remains open for those who would prefer to tackle it without an audience.
“If folks realize, ‘Hey, I like this,’ then we have the ability for folks to continue to incrementally increase their knowledge of climbing,” Gavilanes said.
Various clinics are offered at the UREC for people who are starting out in the sport.
Winners of the competition have the chance to win some prizes. These include branded bags, chalk, water bottles, carabiners, outing backpacks, climbing equipment and everyday consumables for climbers.
Registration for the competition opens at 9 a.m. March 29 with heat one commencing 30 minutes later. Heat two starts straight after the first one ends at 12:30 p.m. Each round lasts two hours 30 minutes.
Tickets are available on their website with the standard student fee costing $30.
