I had been looking forward to the Boston Rock Gym’s Heart of Steel competition since I missed the inaugural event last year. Climbers were talking about it for weeks afterwards and after experiencing the 2010 event firsthand all I have to say is that BRG rocks! The event was very well organized and they gave out more prizes than you could imagine. A shower of t-shirts, chalk bags, water bottles and more were rained down upon competitors. Thousands of dollars of gear were raffled off to contestants and thousands more were ready to be won by the finalists. Props go to my wife Gretchen who somehow managed to jump up and snag me a chalkbag despite being five months pregnant. I am going to schedule another comp in four months and see how much gear she can get me then. 
Over one hundred seventy climbers of all ages and skill levels climbed for five hours to turn in the best six climbs they could find. The feeling of the gym was electric. There wasn’t a moment of peace. As soon as one climber was down another was taking their place. Sporadic bursts of encouragement would well from the crowd as climbers worked their way through a crux or fought fatigue as they approached a difficult finish.
I had so much fun that the entire day flew by. I was at the gym for twelve hours, but somehow it only seemed like a little while. After the climbing portion of the show ended BRG kept the party going with the gear give away, raffle, competitive awards and some words from sponsors The North Face and Life Under Sun. Also in attendance were ASA Photographic, Toyota/Scion of Woburn, Evolv, Vegan Treats (I think, sorry I didn’t sample!) and Shandra Campbell who gave me the most amazing post climb arm massage. Today my legs feel like they were run over by a steamroller, but my arms are fine. I really have to hand it to all these groups who supported the event. Thank you so much for contributing to something that brought so much fun and excitement to hundreds of people.
SICK
Taylor de Lench debuted his climbing video SICK which featured tons of New England’s best climbing sites as well as climbers. It was certainly fun to see local climbers that we know and love conquering some badass problems. I have to give it to Taylor for putting something together that wasn’t just climbs, but also a number of clips that showed the climbers’ passion, fun, and excitement of their day to day climbing expeditions. For me the highlight of the video was definitely Aleksey Shuruyev ice climbing behind an enormous icicle and then topping out by moving up onto the face of it. I don’t even know if I can call it an icicle. This block of frozen ice must have weighed hundreds if not thousands of pounds and was tens of feet long. The videography was intense and the mood of the crowd reflected the danger we sensed. Gretchen had her chin on my shoulder and her nails in my back. I certainly felt apprehensive watching a loved member of the BRG community tackling that problem. It looked like this massive thing would break out from under Aleksey and send him flying off into space. So do yourself a favor and check out Taylor’s work.
The Finals
Let’s get to the real fun stuff though. Finals. I have videos of each of the three men and three women who brought their HEARTS OV ZTEEL! There were actually four men who completed all the most difficult routes. Rob and Vasya tied for first and Michael and Zeb tied for second. This required a spontaneous climb off between Michael and Zeb to determine who would attend the finals. A newly set route was improvised and whoever made it the farthest would move on to the finals. The crowd was cheering like crazy as both of them came to the same super hard move. Check out the vid to see who won. All vids are available in HD so go ahead and change the resolution to 720p for some full resolution glory.
The Heart of Steel has an awesome finals system where prize money is actually taped to the wall along routes. Finalists win whatever they grab and whoever grabs the most cash wins whatever cash was missed. This means the top finisher could win up to twelve hundred bucks.
For the first finals problem the women tore it up. All three of them shredded through the largest “bouldering” problem you’ve seen. It was more like three long boulder problems all crammed onto one overhanging wall. Major props to all of them. Check out these vids.
Women’s First Final Route
Sydney McNair was all business as she conquered the first set of finals problems. Cool as a cucumber she took her time and made every move count. She makes it look easy as she hangs out on one arm scoping whats ahead. That is experience and confidence exhibiting itself on the wall and in the face of some stiff competition.
Sasha DiGiulian looked like she was having fun as a big grin skittered across her face after grabbing her first set of cash money. From then on it was all business though. With a fist pump she exited the course after matching Sydney’s performance.
Francesca Metcalf who finished in second place last year brought back her talent and experience for the finals. A crux move that was done dynamically by Sydney and Sasha she handled statically. The women’s finals were shaping up to be one hell of a competition.
Men’s First Final Route
The men brought their “A” game as well and Michael was a fantastic first competitor. His high flying and dynamic moves really got the crowd going. His precisely timed dynos to the gray protrusion and out to the telephone handle were awesome.
Local favorite Vasya Verotnikov who won last year’s competition looked super strong and pulled off the most ridiculous move to shortcut his way through a set of the problem. I guarantee you that the route setters checked this stuff out, but Vasya’s unbelievable talent combined with his tenacity let him crimp off of a finger nail sized chip. After two failed attempts I was honestly thinking he was wasting time and energy. Gavin seemed to agree as he suggested that there may be a path of less resistance. I think that little bit of doubt may have helped give Vasya the mental, “I’ll show you,” he needed to pull it off. His next attempt he nailed it and of course the crowd was eating it up!
Last up was Rob D’Anastasio and he struggled a bit with this problem. He started out by going for the same insane crimp that Vasya had just used. I think this may have been a tactical mistake. At this point in the game there was little room for mistakes. He had already spent so much energy climbing earlier and I think this affected his performance.
The Dark Crystal
Now the FINAL FINAL. This was something big. Something no one had seen before. I think I should let this video speak for itself.
I jumped on the dark crystal post comp and let me tell you. It ain’t easy. The dynamics of the thing are difficult to figure out. Each crank on the crystal sucks the strength out of your hands. Intuitively you would think that a pull down with your hands combined with a pull back on the upswing would get that baby flying, but this was no swingset. Cranking down to get some momentum worked, but if you pulled back on the upswing your feet would push out and kill the momentum. I can’t really explain it, but it takes a tricky set of body movements to get the thing going. I can only imagine what it was like for our finalists to conquer the dark crystal both physically and mentally with so much on the line.
Women vs. The Dark Crystal
Sydney McNair started as cool and strong as she did in the first finals run, but as she worked her way up to the big money she struggled with the dark crystal. After a near fall going for a sloper she managed to tenously grasp it with a few fingers before settling her weight. As the big jug that promised so much needed relief as well as cash approached she ran out of juice.
Sasha DiGiulian started out with another big smile on her face as she grabbed some “easy” money. The dark crystal posed no problem as she scrambled up on top of it and made good use of the positive surface to rest her arms. The last move out to some money looked to stump her briefly, but after flying off the rings she stuck to the wall and claimed her cash.
Francesca Metcalf absolutely destroyed. I would have run out of film if it wasn’t for her stellar climbing. She cruised through the final problem in under four minutes. As it was I only had ninety seconds left at the end of the comp. She placed second according to Gavin’s blog post, but as far as I can tell they both had the same amount of money at the end. I’m not sure how they came up with that, but if you are reading Francesca I think it was a tie! Thanks to an update from the one and only Francesca herself I found out that she did have the same amount of money as Sasha and it was a tie. For future reference let it be known that I am always right =).
Men vs. The Dark Crystal
Michael Bautista did a great job figuring out the Dark Crystal. His technique seemed to be the best and involved a cool scramble across three faces while it spun around.
Vasya Verotnikov powered through the Dark Crystal on his first try. His last move up to the cash was sick. He went from a terrible two handed sloper to a tiny crimp at the very top of the wall. There is practically no foot purchase so he had to rely on a powerful burst coupled with absolute body control to nail that crimper.
Rob D’Anastasio started out strong and worked his way up to the big money, but after snagging the fifty exhaustion appeared to set in. He definitely gets props for going for the big money and the big glory first. He didn’t complete some of the side routes, but it doesn’t matter to me. He made a great showing and hit the hard stuff.
All of the finalists provided an inspirational performance that will elevate this sport. Again I have to thank BRG and all the sponsors for putting on an amazing event and for all the great climbers who were there to spot, encourage and crush. I will have a follow up post with some more videos of my climbs and my friend’s climbs so check back soon!
Standings:
Women
- Francesca Metcalf and Sasha DiGiulian
- Sydney McNair
Men
- Vasya Vorotnikov
- Michael Bautista
- Rob D’Anastasio
Hey thanks! Sasha and I did tie, we brought home the same amount of money. It was a lot of fun!
I updated the post with the proper standings. Thanks for confirming and great job climbing!