Hanging on by a finger and jumping through the air between holds, South Florida’s small but committed climbing community traversed the Outdoor Adventures bouldering wall for its third annual Battle of the Boulders. This red-point style bouldering competition hosted almost 75 climbers from all over South Florida, including 36 UM students, challenging them to complete a gauntlet of 32 climbs.
“It was a great time. It was the first time I’ve ever been in any climbing competition. It was very challenging but everyone was super supportive” freshman musical engineering major Rex Roche said.
Battle of the Boulders is OA’s signature climbing competition, bringing together climbers across Florida.
“I do a lot of competitions down here in South Florida and this was my first time at this gym,” said John Young, a route setter at Boulder Block in Pompano Beach, Florida who finished third in the men’s open division.
Young drove over three hours to get to the competition. “Qualifiers were great. I appreciate the setters putting on a really good final for us and I had a really good time. I hope to come back next year.”
The competition invites climbers of all experience levels to vie for a spot in the finals across four days of climbing. It’s all a part of Outdoor Adventures’ mission to get students engaged with the outdoors.
“I like the community. I like how it brings people together. This is definitely a beacon of culture and community that you don’t really see in a lot of intramural sports here on campus,” said second-year graduate student Nick Tong, who is studying music engineering and competed in the men’s open division final. “So it’s good that there’s a place like this that brings people together not just on campus but in the wider community as well.”
Before the competition could begin, the OA student setters painstakingly placed every hold, transforming the 14-foot bouldering wall into a 32-route, over 200-hold, competition platform. Every single hold needed to be taken down and replaced with unique and challenging routes for the preliminary round that took place on April 27 and 28.
“It was a really fun and challenging process to get this event together, and I couldn’t be more proud of the result,” senior economics major and senior route setter Dan Bennett said. “Our team worked really hard and it culminated in a great community building event. It was amazing to see so many people come together over a shared love for climbing and a chance to compete.”
14-feet may not seem high, but with various different types of grips and footholds scattered across the wall in convoluted arrangements, it can make for mighty challenges to the climbers attempting to scale to the top. Some are giant slabs that are a struggle to hang onto, while tiny crimps provide little area to cling to at all. The routes required immense balance, strength and endurance to get all the way to the top.
Climbers could enter into one of three divisions: beginner, intermediate and open in both men’s and women’s categories.
“This was my first Battle of the Boulders, and it was definitely harder than I thought it was going to be,” sophomore, political science and criminology major Kylie Cohen said. “It challenged me to do things that I probably wouldn’t have done before. When I did complete something, it made me feel so hyped up. It was awesome.”
To win the competition, climbers were awarded points for how many climbs they could complete. The harder the climb, the more points were awarded. Competitors could also earn a bonus for flashing a route or completing it on the first try.
After the conclusion of the qualifying round, the walls were reset in just 13 hours to create the final six routes for the men and women’s final rounds. The 10 finalists had five minutes to complete each route.
Only two of the finalists were UM students – Tong and junior mechanical engineering major Emily Zhu.
Dylan Hewins, a setter at local rock gym Velocity, took home the top prize for men, while Riley McCallum, a setter at Boulder Bloc in Pompano, won the women’s competition.
“It was really fun. It’s awesome for a gym this size to do a whole finals round and it was a great competition for a university gym,” McCallum said.
This was the biggest turnout from outside of UM that OA has had. The excitement for this event spread and people from all interest levels were excited to try their hand at the bouldering competition.
“It allowed us one time to all come together in the same place at the same time and cheer each other on and show each other what was possible,” Roche said. “It allowed us to see some climbers from outside the school and see them come and support us and climb with us and see what the University of Miami climbers can do.”
While an exhausting week for OA employees, the team only hopes to see BOTB and interest in climbing grow in the future.
“BOTB has been both the most challenging and the most rewarding experience of my time at OA,” senior oceanography major and head setter at Outdoor Adventures Alee Winkler said. “Overseeing the event was a big learning experience for me, but overall I am so proud of what our team accomplished as a whole and that we were able to contribute to pulling the climbing community closer together.”