Q: Did you take any kind of prize home for the wins?

A: Being a junior, the rules say that we can't win any prizes.  I did get two really nice trophies, though.  They are probably the nicest trophies I've ever won! 

Q: What does a big international competition look like?

A: Well I can't tell you how different it is to a competition in North America.  For beginners at Worlds, it's such a unique experience.  In Canada, we're lucky if we have 60 competitors in six categories for our Junior Nationals.  At Worlds, there's at least 60 people in each category.  Also, the routes are hard all the way up and usually at least 15m.  At home, the biggest wall I can train is on 13m, but the architecture is nowhere near to that of the walls in Europe.  To do well at a competition like Worlds, you have to be physically fit, smart, and have good endurance.  I find that the routes in Europe are not as straightforward as routes I've climbed in competition in North America.  Also the setting is very different.  In North America, you can usually identify a crux in the route, where a lot of the field will fall.  In Europe, since their walls are so high, they can just make the route consistently hard and the fitter/stronger people will climb higher. 

Q: How many comps have you participated in total?

A: I got to Europe on May 25 and since then, I've competed in nine international competitions.  Before Junior Worlds, I went in two Adult Boulder World Cups, one Adult Lead World Cup, one European Youth Cup, an International invite-only competition in Serre Chevalier, an Adult Swiss Boulder Cup, and the Petzl Roc Trip in Millau.  After Worlds, I was invited to the Arco Rock Master. 

In the next two months, I'll be competing in three more Adult Lead World Cups, and another Petzl Roc Trip in Kalymnos, Greece. 

Q: Geez, that's a lot ... you probably don't get nervous anymore, right?

A: Well, I still get nervous at the Adult Cup World level, I mean these are the best climbers and boulderers in the world we're talking about.  I've always thought it's good to be a little nervous, though.  If I'm too relaxed, I don't take it seriously and I'll make mistakes.  Even though I'm nervous at all these comps, I really have nothing to lose yet at the adult level in Europe, so I usually climb my best.  Also, once I'm climbing on the wall, I'm totally in my zone. 

Q: Do you get outdoors much?

A: During my stay in Europe, in the past three months I've only actually trained indoors about eight times.  I've been climbing outdoors as much as I can, mostly onsighting.  I went to Ceüse for three weeks, and all over Switzerland, in various bouldering and climbing places. By trying to onsight as much as you can, you teach your body to relax while climbing long routes.  You also get to practice reading a route and adapting while on-route.  Onsighting outdoors is very similar to onsighting the finals route at a comp.  I find that onsighting outdoors is a lot harder, so by practicing something that's harder than what you'll be doing, onsighting indoors should feel easy when that time comes.