2006 Rock Master Climbing Competition

September 3 – Men’s and Women’s Redpoint, and Men’s Bouldering
On Sunday morning, I decided to show up at the wall a little earlier than usual and, by surprise, witnessed the athlete’s “behind the scenes” warm-up, watching a crowd of iPod–dependent zombies who would later transform into the main attraction of the day. (Prior to the beginning of the redpoint comp, the athletes were let in the Coliseum for one last look at the route, which they’d worked the previous Thursday.)  This was my favorite part of the whole weekend — seeing a bunch of climbers, heads-up, facing the wall and mimicking moves with their hands.  For a spare second I felt as if I were climbing with them, hanging on the wall in pain, as they would be in a few minutes. 

The men’s route consisted of a flat, slightly overhanging five-bolt run to a balancey side-pull, where a few of the climbers rested by knee-locking against the hold.  The route continued with a technical star-shaped hold that made for a tough clip, then a bouldery move to a pinch, followed by few more roofs and a mandatory splits leading to a final, balancey series of crimpers. 

The women’s route was equally interesting, yet slightly more bulging.  It reminded me of Bulges of Munge  (5.10d) in Rifle, with its weird bulging bellies and “resting” slabs, yet much more difficult. It started on the right corner of the wall, traversing left past two bulging holds below the first roof. This was followed by a roundish protuberance on the second roof and a mandatory splits move on the last roof before reaching the top. Both routes were set by the Arco locals and Rock Master regulars, Leornardo Di Marino and Donato Lella. 

The morning had started with a grey, cloudy sky, highly soporiferous, for the already sleepy crowd. But, just in time for the first climber to hit the wall, the sun decided to chime in and brighten the route. It wasn’t until the fourth climber though that the atmosphere became fully awakened -- by the performance of the Italian Luca Zardini, a 13-time Rock Master participant, who left the competitive climbing scene with a breakthrough climb, falling as the crowd chanted the Italian soccer World Cup refrain “Po, po, po, po, po!”  

“This was my last Rock Master, and I wanted to show you what am I made of. I hope you all enjoyed the show,” he said. “Thanks for pushing me higher for so many years. I appreciate the enthusiastic fans who come back every year,” and with this he left the field for the youngsters.  Next up was the teenager Marin Garcia Eduard, a new discovery from the Catalan climbing scene and the first to come inches from the rooftop. The male comp was punctuated by 20-year-old Angel Eiter, regaining her past two-year Rock Master popularity, by racing to the top in the women’s event. Still, despite the screaming crowd and the adrenaline rush, climbing from a sixth to a first place was angelically impossible. Nonetheless, Eiter’s sweet smile and thankful appreciation for the fired-up public granted her a second place and lots of applause. Winner of the 2006 Rock Master of Arco, with great climbing performances in both on-sight and redpoint comps, was boulder world champion Sandrine Levet, 24, whose long, skinny legs took her all the way to the top of the podium without showing any fatigue at all.  Third place was assigned to Charlotte Durif, whose slow but steady climbing technique paid off.  She was followed by Katharina Saurwein (AUT), Emily Harrington (USA), Barbara Bacher (AUT), Maja Vidmar (SLO), Chloé Graftiaux (BEL), Martina Cufar (SLO), and Jenny Lavarda (ITA). 

Switching back to testosterone mania, the male comp took off again as the 16-year-old Austro-Nepalese son of a Sherpa, David Lama, entered the stadium and came within reach of the top zone.  But the best was yet to come, with the top four climbers still in the box. The first out of isolation was Italian winner of the 2005 World Cup, Flavio Crespi, who showed the way to the finishing holds and ended up fourth overall. Next came Tomasz Mrazek, number one in the world rankings, who found time to ask the crowd to cheer him up before falling a few moves after Crespi, ending up third. Second place was gained by Jorg Verhoeven, 21, from the flattest country in the world, Holland, who climbed impeccably, yet not high enough to send the route.  So, the 2006 Arco Rock Master champ remains Ramon Julian who managed to skip the mandatory splits move at the top of the route, substituting it with a burly one-armed pull-up.