I WON! I won the "Male non-local Yosemite Division" at the 25th annual Pocatello Pump. A bit of trivia that most folks don't know is that the PP was called the "Southern Idaho Speed Climbing Championships" in 1981 to 1984. Pressure from the newspaper to shorten, (speed up), the name made them change it to PP. I competed in the PP in 1990, and took 2nd place to the infamous Dave Bell - founder of Pusher Holds. It was nice to come back and take home the coveted PP winners mug. I will be smiling every time I drink from the mug.
This is NOT just another climbing competition, of which I've been to some 150. I highly recommend going to this event to anyone looking for a great climbing community weekend of fun and getting in a ton of climbing. I feel compelled to give a brief description of the format so you can decide yourself to attend next years 26th event...
Competitors place themselves into one of some 32 categories, as I figure it. With some leading and others not. See: http://www.isu.edu/outdoor/pump.html you get 90 minutes to climb as many routes as you can and ALL of the ascents count towards your score! - I love that! (I got on 32 routes and ascended 29 of them, from 5.6 to 5.12) then the next day they take the top ten finishers from your category and you get a whooping five hours to lead nine routes of which they take your top eight scores! This is combined with your score from the previous day to give your final score. - cool! There is TONS OF BOOTY given out to participants, a famous "pig out barbecue" on Saturday evening, cheap biving places from camping to hotels, brownies for folks who help with judging, money raised for the Access Fund, and welcoming locals who give beta generously, ( - if you want it). You will not regret attending.