[Doug]

If you like to geek out on the bouldering WC's, then I found this lengthy podcast with Udo Neuman offers some interesting and anecdotal points:

http://ctclimbingpodcast.com/2016-world-cup-roundup-udo-neumann-ifsc-climbing/

He gives a good insight into the organisation of various WC's, the structure of different teams, styles of route setters, quality of holds (Laurent Laporte's Cheeta volumes age really quickly) and why the Russians never get ill on their travels (because Russians see sickness as a matter of willpower).

[ferret]

as somebody who now lives in colorado, i can tell you that going from sea level to 8000' is going to affect anybodies athletic performance. how much its going to effect a bouldering competition is difficult to say. i can go and work away for a month at sea level, come back and go mountain biking at 10,000'. im gasping for air but other than that ok. if my wife goes away for more than a week, she gets headaches and dizziness for a day or 2, it affects people differently.
it would seem that competing against the worlds best in any sport, that margins are small and a fully acclimatized athlete will perform better, i imagine those that can will try and get out there a week early.

[SA Chris]

Good move, where in CO are you based now?

[ferret]

Just outside of golden

[SA Chris]

Nice, the lowlands I lived in Fraser ("Icebox of the Nation") for 2 winters.

[ferret]

Nice, the lowlands I lived in Fraser ("Icebox of the Nation") for 2 winters.

was up there today, beautiful right now, super green and still loads of snow on the peaks

[SA Chris]

Yep apparently amazing snowpack this season

Sent from my SM-A300FU using Tapatalk

[Duma]

IFSC just put on fb that female qualifiers to start an hour earlier at 1400 tomo. If I've worked it out right that's 2100 BST

[GraemeA]

& hours difference - they are on Mountain time in the mountains 

[GraemeA]

Or even 7 hours difference. Doh!

Ty and Dave both through, Ty 3rd in his group and Dave had his normal nail biter by being in 10th for half the comp.

It would ge great to see all 3 Brit women through as well to help consolidate our 3rd place national ranking. It is strange to see us beating Austria and possibly even over hauling France to get 2nd 

[standard]

no stream of the qualies?

[Percy B]

Correct - there is no stream of qualification. Vail is always a hard comp if you're a lowlander - I've set there twice and I have struggled both times with the thin air for the first three or four days. You don't notice it at all until you try and exert yourself, and then you're puffing like an old bastard! Before Dense starts confirming that I am an old bastard, a mate of mine who is an ultra runner and one of the fittest guys I know was in Vail for the mountain games last year, and I caught him on his way back from a training run on his first day in town. He'd made it half a mile from the hotel before he was totally done in, and had to do the walk of shame back home due to the altitude doing him in.... A spot of acclimatisation will do competitors the world of good...

[Duma]

Onbouldering have a vid on FB/Instagram of a Qual problem.

As Graeme said, both Brits through, but also Hojer, Coleman and Hori out.

Shauna's just flashed W1

[moose]

a mate of mine who is an ultra runner and one of the fittest guys I know was in Vail for the mountain games last year, and I caught him on his way back from a training run on his first day in town. He'd made it half a mile from the hotel before he was totally done in, and had to do the walk of shame back home due to the altitude doing him in....

A friend who is into mountaineering once told me that when he went to the Himalayas, the people who suffered most from altitude were the keen fell runners.  The one who coped best was the smoker.  Reading around since suggests that it's an acknowledged phenomenon - combination of smokers being used to coping with low partial pressures of oxygen, and fit types being a bit high maintenance and / or incapable of taking it easy enough to acclimatize. So.... put your bets on the indolent chain smoker.... or maybe not!

[robertostallioni]

Pic of Puccio on Insta getting her shoulder taped for the comp today, but she's not on the results page......

edit-looks like they're still coming out. guess she must be last

[Duma]

Pooch is one of the last out.

Shauna is top so far, and Micheala looks safe, but Leah is 19th and given the strong Americans still to go, looks in danger of not making semis.

[Duma]

Pooch is back, joint 1st with Shauna.

[Muenchener]

a mate of mine who is an ultra runner and one of the fittest guys I know was in Vail for the mountain games last year, and I caught him on his way back from a training run on his first day in town. He'd made it half a mile from the hotel before he was totally done in, and had to do the walk of shame back home due to the altitude doing him in....

A friend who is into mountaineering once told me that when he went to the Himalayas, the people who suffered most from altitude were the keen fell runners.  The one who coped best was the smoker.  Reading around since suggests that it's an acknowledged phenomenon - combination of smokers being used to coping with low partial pressures of oxygen, and fit types being a bit high maintenance and / or incapable of taking it easy enough to acclimatize. So.... put your bets on the indolent chain smoker.... or maybe not!

Another description I heard was that altitude is like trying to operate with a severe hangover, all the time. And there is an obvious way to train for that ...

So who is the Don Whillans of competition bouldering?

[T_B]

a mate of mine who is an ultra runner and one of the fittest guys I know was in Vail for the mountain games last year, and I caught him on his way back from a training run on his first day in town. He'd made it half a mile from the hotel before he was totally done in, and had to do the walk of shame back home due to the altitude doing him in....

A friend who is into mountaineering once told me that when he went to the Himalayas, the people who suffered most from altitude were the keen fell runners.  The one who coped best was the smoker.  Reading around since suggests that it's an acknowledged phenomenon - combination of smokers being used to coping with low partial pressures of oxygen, and fit types being a bit high maintenance and / or incapable of taking it easy enough to acclimatize. So.... put your bets on the indolent chain smoker.... or maybe not!

Runners and the super fit are often crap at altitude it seems. My theory is that they can't necessarily go slow for very extended periods and tend to push too hard. There are exceptions - we had an ultra marathon runner who did very well, but then he was used to being on the go for 12+ hrs. The smoking thing is bollocks though, generally speaking smokers don't do so well. As for bouldering, I've bouldered at 5400m and you know about it, but I reckon it would be a poor excuse for a bad performance. If you've not arrived a few days early in Vail then you've asked for it!

[andy popp]

I always got the impression that adaption to altitude is a pretty random physiological quirk. The year I went to the Himalaya I "trained" by working in a bakery in Bristol and climbing in the gorge in the evenings and was pretty worried that I simply wasn't going to be fit enough. But I felt positively good when I got out there, I would almost say better than normal. I felt like it suited me. Not that this proves anything of course.

[a dense loner]

Does anyone know what time the final is? I can't make anything out of the ifsc website, again!

[fried]

This is the only way I can work it out. Using the countdown on Youtube. Not sure how much prewaffle is included.

[T_B]

Does anyone know what time the final is? I can't make anything out of the ifsc website, again!

They're 7 hours behind us, semis 5pm and finals 11.30pm. I think.

[fatneck]

Correct

[a dense loner]

Cheers guys. The ifsc website makes my head hurt