Quick On The Draw Arm Twisting

This January 23rd, 2010, Adventure Rock will be hosting it's 11th Annual Quick On The Draw climbing competition (Q on the D).  It is Adventure Rock's largest and most fun events.  Each year the competition grows and we have approximately 50% of the climbers return from one year to the next.  Rockman attributes the competition's success to several things: fun routes for all ages, sizes and abilities, clear and fair rules, consistent judging, great t-shirts and the great value you get.  Every year we still have to twist the arm's of the other 50% of competitors into competing.   Here is a list of  my typical responses to why you should do the comp:

1. It is only $30.
2. For $30 you get a T-shirt, chalk, drink, cliff bar, stickers, a magazine, dinner (or lunch) and to get first crack at the best routes we set all year.
3. I know you don't think climbing should be competitive, but it is, every time you come into the you are competing to send a route.  At Q on the D it is the same thing except you are doing it with lots of people in a similar skills as you.
4. You have plans that weekend?  That's funny because ______________ just called and said that they canceled that weekend and you should make other plans.
5. You will have a blast.  It so cool, you walk into the and it is totally different place.  You will look around and get butterflies in your stomach cause you are scared even if you climb here four days a week.
6. It will be the best work out you get all year.  When you typically come into the gym you do a few routes and chat, maybe do a couple of boulder problems.  At the comp you get a list of routes you have to do.  You will have to do 7 routes and 5 boulder problems at least once.  You will be so fried you won't even be able to open your car door.
7. It is January in Wisconsin, what else are you going to do?
8. You will climb harder than you ever do because you are forced to climb things you don't know the grade of.  A week after the comp you will come into the gym a say "whoa, I sent that in the comp and it is a an ___a/b."
9. You will not look like a fool and you are good enough.  We have divisions for all abilities and you compete with people of the same difficulty so you won't look folish.
10. I know you can't climb an  ____a/b, we award points for any part of the route you do.  Even if you only get to the second hold of a route you still get points.

Don't make me go through this.  Do you know how hard it is to convince 100 people to sign up?  If people would just listen to Rockman and sign up, I would spend a lot more time and energy on making the comp more awesome.

Click here for the registration for with details.



Visit the Climbing Narc to see photos of past Q on the D.

See you on the 23rd of January, you should have no real compelling reason to be absent.


In The Spirit Of Adventure,

Rockman

13 Questions with an Adventure Rock Local-Joe Miller

In an effort to get to know the Locals of Adventure Rock, Rockman Sez's new feature 13 Questions with an Adventure Rock Local.

1. What is you Name? Joe Miller
   
2. Do you have any Nicknames? If so what are they? The Local
   
3. How long have you been climbing? 10-12 Years
   
4. How long have you been climbing at Adventure Rock? 3 Years
   
5. What is your favorite part of Adventure Rock? Every single darn Thang
   
6. What were you thoughts when you first came to Adventure Rock? Sweet
   
7. What is you favorite climbing area? Adventure Rock
   
8. What is your favorite route and why? ???????
   
9. What is your favorite piece of climbing gear? Nice Simple Shoes
   
10. What do you like about climbing?
    
11. Tell us about your best day climbing?
    
12. If you could change one thing about the sport what would it be? That Adventure Rock was closer to my home.
    
13. If you could name a route what whould you name it? Blank

 I hope this was insightful  for you I know it was for me.


In the Spirit of Adventure,

Rockman

More than a dirtbag

One of Rockman's pet peeves about the spot of climbing is: Dirtbag climbers. The sport of climbing is in its infancy. The sport tends to be dominated both indoors and out by twenty-somethings. Twenty-somethings, who normally in college, tend to be a little cash strapped. They tend to want deals on everything, memberships, gear, camping, pizza, access and any number of other things. As someone who is trying to advance the sport and the business of climbing, this bugs me to no end. That is not the topic of this post.

In late fall a friend of Rockmans had her home was broken into. A couple meth-heads broke in looking for drugs, money or other valuables. There is no doubt that having your home broken into is not cool. One of the things these two yahoos took was her digital slr camera. As a semi-avid climber and photographer super uncool. This is only part of this posts topic.

Flash forward to a couple of day ago at Adrock. She arrived in town and stopped into the gym. She was going to meet one of her climbing buddies from Yahooville.  When her climbing buddy came in she was brandishing a Christmas present.  The long and short of it is that a bunch of Yahoos from Yahooville got to talking about how uncool the situation and they started taking donations to replace her camera.  When the present was opened it actually brought tears to Rockman's eyes.  For all of the pooh-poohing I have done over the years about dirtbag climbers this was really cool. It made my Christmas, it turns out climbers have the ability to think about other people.  Their is hope for the sport of climbing.

Merry Christmas

Rockman

P.S. I gave them both day-passes

Why Girls Go Extreme - Travel - FOXNews.com

I was watching a little Fox Six News the other night when they had this video about women rock climbing. The video is called "Why Girls Go Extreme". Even though the title is makes it seem more exciting than it actually is it is fun to see our sport get a little "good" press. Watch the video below:




Why Girls Go Extreme - Travel - FOXNews.com


The piece was pretty basic, but brings up a topic of endless discussion: Are girls better rock climbers than men? In general when climbers start climbing I would say "yes". The muscle bound man in the video also says "yes", because women are smarter than men. While that may be true for the muscle bound man and Rockman, I don't think it is entirely true. I think it has more to do with basic approach to things by the sexes. Men ,in general tend to jump into things, rely on their brawn usually their upper body strength. Women tend to rely other skills to help them be successful. Brains,flexibility, their legs, all of which tend to helpful in the sport. So why at the top end of the sport aren't there more women? That is a topic even Rockman is smart enough to stay away from. I don't no why "women go extreme", but I am glad they do. Women at the crags and at the gym make the sport way more interesting.

In The Spirit Of Adventure,

Rockman

Recently Adventure Rock has gotten some blog press from a blog name USA Climbing Gyms.  Mr. Arthur seems to travel  a fair bit and seems to have a good take on climbing gyms.  The on caveat is that he seems a little bit of a boulderer.  I think he makes a real honest take on Adventure Rocks triumphs and pit falls. 

Here is a selection of what he has to say,

"This gym is really good compared to everything Illinois had to offer. It has pretty tall overhanging walls, topropping w/ auto-belays, 2 bouldering rooms, campus boards, hang boards, and my favorite aerobic device so far a revolving wall with variable speeds and angles. The gym also has a full pro shop for anything that you may be missing which includes: shoes, harnesses, biners, trad gear, ropes, guides, chalk, etc... There is also a subway inside the same building and a burger ice cream joint next door. The gym does not offer any other type of fitness devices such as tread mill, ellipticals, bikes, or weight benches. That's ok though since the moving wall and some good problems are all you need for aerobic and anarobic training".

If you would like to read more of this post go to USA Climbing Gyms.  Like most of our visitors to AR,  he didn't really like the water.  You can really blame him for that, it does smell like eggs.  I was a little disappointed to see that our climbers friendliness was only a 7 out of 10.   Looks like we have some room  to improve at making our guests feel more at home.  Overall we got a great review.

In The Spirit of Adventure,

Rockman

Another Climbing Blog

If any of you are like me, I spend way more time in front of a glowing box than doing anything else, including climbing.  I spend a lot of time reading about people that get out and do things.  I have become a armchair climber.  As a result you are getting another climbing blog.  So what's the take on Rockman Sezs?  My goal for this blog is a couple of things:

1. Give folks that climb at Adventure Rock a peek behind the curtain of the inner workings of the gym.
2. Help keep Members of Adventure Rock up to date with what is happening at the gym on a regular basis.
3. Create a forum for all the glowing box climbers to type in their participation to the sport of climbing.
4. And like any good blog, rant, specifically about the climbing sport and industry.

If you have stumbled onto this blog and have no clue what or where Adventure Rock is check out or web site www.adventurerock.com.  If you are an Adventure Rock regular you should go to www.adventurerock.com.  Both groups could learn a lot about what the gym is about.  I hope you check back to see what else Rockman sezs.

In the spirit of Adventure

Rockman