I have to say, a tough part of the parent's adjustment to the Collegiate Climbing Circuit is not being able to see my kid climb anymore. I prided myself on never missing Brendan climb. But now with him in Colorado, that just isn't possible anymore. Plus, he has a competition almost every Saturday now! He is thriving, but my husband and I are left to mull about the house thirsty for information.
I have gotten really good at finding internet sources to tell me what is going on. The first question is: Did he make it to the comp? Colorado is having a huge snowstorm right now, with road closures all over the state (Really? I guess I am just a jaded Alaskan...). Okay, so I have Find Your iPhone for that answer. Yes, he made it to the gym. Pro Tip: if your climber is flying and you want to track their flight, Flight Aware is a great app. Or, if you have an iPhone, text the flight number to yourself. It will appear underlined; long press the flight number and a flight preview with a map of where the plane's flight time/arrival in real-time will appear.
The next question is: How comp savvy is the gym he is at? Some local comps will periodically (maybe) post updates to their Instagram stories, video clips, or still photos. I scour the posts to see if I see Brendan. ("There he is!" and a celebration ensues while running to tell hubby.)
The third question is: What is his score??? Well if it is a USA Climbing event, there is a results page that is updated in real time. So I get out the official manuals to understand the scoring and imagine the rest. This is as close as I can get to being there! We were super lucky to have one gym livestream the Qualification round and the Finals round. We didn't have good camera luck but did get to see Brendan a couple of times on the wall. But we were so grateful to have that!
Sometimes we get lucky and a friend from home visits Brendan. Here he is (below) with a fellow Alaskans at the Battle for the Fort 2024 at Ascent Studios in Fort Collins. This is a massive comp with Olympians showing up every year. What a great experience to be there for! But still, some gyms take days to post the results from a competition (Hey! Don't forget about us little people far away, please!)
Well, here I sit passing the time with this post waiting for scores to come in at his first Collegiate Qualifying Event combined with a local competition called Longtucky Showdown. Stay strong Climbing moms and
CLIMB ON!
Battle for the Fort at Ascent Climbing Studio.
Back to today: The wait was long but worth it!
And he came in 3rd in the Finals round overall at Longtucky!!
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