DZ Artworks: University of Delaware Rock Climbing Club Fall 2008 Flash 'Em Competition Nov. 9th, 2008

If the title isn't a mouthful than I don't know what is. The University of Delaware Rock Climbing Club hosts two climbing competitions a year. I am fortunate enough to be invited by the club to set for the comps and was again invited to set for this fall comp.

Props go to Dustin Briggs for some unbelievably hard work put in despite him balancing going back to school and working two jobs. He is a setting machine if there ever was one. You can find him almost daily in The Delaware Rock Gym high on a rope working out a sequence on the infamous roof section on the lead wall. He is a good friend of mine and has been my setting inspiration throughout my rock climbing career. He is a course setting artist for sure.

The setting is a definitely hard work and the best part is when you get to see your fellow climbers work out your sequence. I am constantly in awe of the abilities of each individual climber and how they solve the problems in their own ways. There is no right answer and it doesn't have to be about the finish either. Sometimes the little battles can be the ones that fuel your day. In a comp setting the finishing of a route is stressed of course because you get points for finishing the route without falling. In a comp you want to score as many points as possible. Each route or problem is given a point value based on its difficulty and the harder the problem the more points you score. A climb that is completed first try is called a FLASH....hence the (partial) name of the comp - Flash 'Em.

I was also lucky enough to be allowed to photograph the event and couldn't wait to pull my new camera back out of the bag. I was deemed the ninja photog as i seemed to disappear and reappear at different places to get just the right angle. If you have ever been to this gym you know the difficulty as the gym is the size of a racquetball court. I did my best to capture the vibe of the day........take a look