[Durbs]

Oh - Graeme, as you're here, a question...

Is there anything in the rules which cover what would happen should a member of the audience shout beta?

I've always wondered, especially if a climber was in front of their home crowd (or as they usually have teammates in the audience), if they'd completely missed some beta, or preceding climbers had figured out easier beta, what would happen should someone in the audience give advice...?

Are their penalties in place or suchlike?

[Will Hunt]

Going back a page, I see there was some bitching about the speed climbing in the Olympics. I was at Harrogate Wall recently and noticed that they had an accredited set of the speed climbing route. It has a little engraved plaque at the bottom of it.

I clipped in and apprehensively started to climb, unsure of whether I was getting ideas above my station by attempting a route specifically designed to test the ability of Olympic level athletes. I had heard it said somewhere that the speed route was graded French 6c. It's a 5+. Maximum. It might actually be a 5. I would actually expect most able bodied and reasonably active non-climbers to be able to get up it clean on their first climbing session. Literally a ladder. In fact, a ladder might be harder going, especially if it was wobbly or had some missing rungs.

[GraemeA]

Going back a page, I see there was some bitching about the speed climbing in the Olympics. I was at Harrogate Wall recently and noticed that they had an accredited set of the speed climbing route. It has a little engraved plaque at the bottom of it.

I clipped in and apprehensively started to climb, unsure of whether I was getting ideas above my station by attempting a route specifically designed to test the ability of Olympic level athletes. I had heard it said somewhere that the speed route was graded French 6c. It's a 5+. Maximum. It might actually be a 5. I would actually expect most able bodied and reasonably active non-climbers to be able to get up it clean on their first climbing session. Literally a ladder. In fact, a ladder might be harder going, especially if it was wobbly or had some missing rungs.

Well sorry Will but you are wrong. When Percy first set the WR back in 2007 he thought it was 6a+/6b. Which it is probably still is as it hasn't changed. But only if you can climb harder. It is a massively physical, weirdly dynamic 6a+/6b. If you think that it is a 5 then you are demented. And probably quite a good climber.

[GraemeA]

Oh - Graeme, as you're here, a question...

Is there anything in the rules which cover what would happen should a member of the audience shout beta?

I've always wondered, especially if a climber was in front of their home crowd (or as they usually have teammates in the audience), if they'd completely missed some beta, or preceding climbers had figured out easier beta, what would happen should someone in the audience give advice...?

Are their penalties in place or suchlike?

Difficult one, need to prove intent etc. Ideally need coaches etc plus the audience behind a sound curtain. We did it at the Sheffield BWC in 2011, he was called Dustin the Shouty Canadian. Maybe he is the future.

[teestub]

Going back a page, I see there was some bitching about the speed climbing in the Olympics. I was at Harrogate Wall recently and noticed that they had an accredited set of the speed climbing route. It has a little engraved plaque at the bottom of it.... etc

This is like walking the 100m on the track and wondering what the fuss is about, you're missing the defining factor of the route.

[Teaboy]

It's a fair point though, the route isn't a test of climbing skill but of speed. It's not hard to imagine a basket ball player or sprinter training for the speed even and in a couple of months being competitive it still being unable to climb routes or boulders above, say, 7b - obviously that grade is plucked out of thin air but the point is that it's a physical challenge for the sake of it rather anything to do with climbing. Ok, hardly a revelatory point!

[Durbs]

Oh - Graeme, as you're here, a question...

Is there anything in the rules which cover what would happen should a member of the audience shout beta?

I've always wondered, especially if a climber was in front of their home crowd (or as they usually have teammates in the audience), if they'd completely missed some beta, or preceding climbers had figured out easier beta, what would happen should someone in the audience give advice...?

Are their penalties in place or suchlike?

Difficult one, need to prove intent etc. Ideally need coaches etc plus the audience behind a sound curtain. We did it at the Sheffield BWC in 2011, he was called Dustin the Shouty Canadian. Maybe he is the future.

And presumably you'd need multi-lingual judges to capture it... I guess it shows how respectful the crowd are that it's not cropped up, but I can certainly imagine a sneaky " TOE HOOK THE ARETE", or even "YOU'VE GOT TWO ATTEMPTS TO WIN" making a significant difference.

[Muenchener]

"YOU'VE GOT TWO ATTEMPTS TO WIN" making a significant difference.

Not any more. Janja said in her post-victory interview in Moscow that they now have a scoreboard in isolation.

Unlike on the f*cking live feed 

[Fiend]

It is a massively physical, weirdly dynamic 6a+/6b. If you think that it is a 5 then you are demented. And probably quite a good climber.

Well you got that mostly right :D

Ratho have theirs as 6b which felt about right. I didn't enjoy it very much.

Edit: I forgot about M2, that was ace, seeing Alexei do it in slow mo.

[Will Hunt]

Going back a page, I see there was some bitching about the speed climbing in the Olympics. I was at Harrogate Wall recently and noticed that they had an accredited set of the speed climbing route. It has a little engraved plaque at the bottom of it.... etc

This is like walking the 100m on the track and wondering what the fuss is about, you're missing the defining factor of the route.

Yes, but you wouldn't ask Bolt to run the 100m and then have a judging panel score him or out of 10 based on form and style would you? So it's really the speed climbers who have missed the defining factor of the whole sport.

[teestub]

They’re all games Will, there’s some stairs round the back you know.

[Will Hunt]

They’re all games Will, there’s some stairs round the back you know.

Indeed, but this particular game is of so little consequence in determining who is the best climber as to warrant its exclusion from the Olympics. I understand this isn't going to happen, but it doesn't mean I have to be happy about it.

[GraemeA]

Oh - Graeme, as you're here, a question...

Is there anything in the rules which cover what would happen should a member of the audience shout beta?

I've always wondered, especially if a climber was in front of their home crowd (or as they usually have teammates in the audience), if they'd completely missed some beta, or preceding climbers had figured out easier beta, what would happen should someone in the audience give advice...?

Are their penalties in place or suchlike?

Difficult one, need to prove intent etc. Ideally need coaches etc plus the audience behind a sound curtain. We did it at the Sheffield BWC in 2011, he was called Dustin the Shouty Canadian. Maybe he is the future.

And presumably you'd need multi-lingual judges to capture it... I guess it shows how respectful the crowd are that it's not cropped up, but I can certainly imagine a sneaky " TOE HOOK THE ARETE", or even "YOU'VE GOT TWO ATTEMPTS TO WIN" making a significant difference.

You don't have to be that unsubtle. A simple code like Come on = correct sequence and That's right = wrong sequence is sometimes all that you need. Or a simple smile when paths cross in the finals = yes the sequence we discussed works.

[Reprobate_Rob]

So this happened earlier in Chongqing...

https://www.instagram.com/p/BiZO6T8DBoR/

 

[jwi]

Jesus. Noguchi was strong today.

[teestub]

In a different league today for sure, super impressive.

[bigironhorse]

The split finals thing is really bad, makes watching a bit of an ordeal. Especially when you have nearly half an hour of everyone failing on the first move of a problem!

[GraemeA]

The split finals thing is really bad, makes watching a bit of an ordeal. Especially when you have nearly half an hour of everyone failing on the first move of a problem!

Complain on IFSC Youtube or IFSC social media and then it might have some affect.

(Pedant alert: it was a mere 24 minutes and it was the 3rd move, albeit the 1st significant move  )

[teestub]

I may be in the minority, but I'm a fan of the split format, but that may be because I'm rarely watching live so can skip past any rubbish bits!

[Fiend]

Jesus. Noguchi was strong today.

Fuck yeah. Just caught up on this, Baldy Boscoe got it spot on calling her "imperious". Impressive indeed.

Good fun as usual although some oddities, especially some volume-heavy stuff in the sun and the strange balance of the men's final. Although M2 and especially M4 were ace to watch. I watched the W's last week so have forgotten about them but I think they were all interesting.

[Fiend]

Also Sean on M4 was great and the co-commentators were good.

[SA Chris]

I may be in the minority, but I'm a fan of the split format, but that may be because I'm rarely watching live so can skip past any rubbish bits!

I never watch live either. If you are watching on a phone where you can double tap the screen to jump forward 10 seconds you can crack through boring bits quite quickly.

[Fiend]

Caught up on Taiwan or whatever it was. Thoughts are a bit haphazard on this so bear with me.

Setting balance does seem a bit off this year? Men's again this time. The co-commentator sounded a bit frustrated it boiled down to 2 blocs again. M2-4 were good to watch tho. M4 in particular was a cool problem despite the foothold at the start, looked very fontesque.

Question about M2: Has it always been legit to pull off the ground with any combination of limbs vs. taped holds, as long as you make the requisite number of limb-tape matches before moving to the next hold?? Gregor and a couple of others started with 3 limbs on a 2 tape hold and 1 limb on the other 2 tape hold, before moving up and tapping 1 limb back onto the other 2 tape.

Women's was really good, I liked the variety of problems, some really nice movements e.g. W1 going from slab teetering to a wee jump to slopey mantles. Interesting to see the contrasting in styles as well, e.g. Miho going for high moves and locks to get lots of compression on the go. Obviously exciting for Team Japan!

As always a thoroughly entertaining watch overall.

[GraemeA]

Question about M2: Has it always been legit to pull off the ground with any combination of limbs vs. taped holds, as long as you make the requisite number of limb-tape matches before moving to the next hold?? Gregor and a couple of others started with 3 limbs on a 2 tape hold and 1 limb on the other 2 tape hold, before moving up and tapping 1 limb back onto the other 2 tape.

Yes it has always been okay although I am sure that some climbers will have been stopped by boulder judges making a mistake 

[Fiend]

Cheers. I think later on on that problem, one climber pulled on and then just tapped the right hand 2 tape hold with his hand and got called down, and another climber did the same but firmly pressed the same hold with his hand, obviously that was the "hands must be in control" rule in effect. I never knew about the pulling leeway in general though.