UKC

British climbers Charlotte Telfer and Tom Peckitt recently came away with 1st and 4th place respectively in the annual Hueco Rock Rodeo outdoor bouldering competition in Texas, USA. Charlotte was competing in the Intermediate category and Tom in the Open event. The competition attracts top boulderers from around the globe - this year being no exception, with big names such as Jakob Schubert, Jan Hojer and Juliane Wurm vying for the Open title.

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In reply to UKC News:

Nice one Tom!

In reply to UKC News:

Great effort to both. It would be interesting to know a little more about what the other competitors did too though. Interested to see the rest of Jakob Schubert's tick list (and Alex Puccio's).

Why such late reporting though? This comp happened almost two weeks ago.

Also the entry fee seems really high now at $95. Presumably that's to attract the big names. It seems a shame though. I did the Rodeo many years ago and I think it was next to nothing to enter beck then. The whole thing was a very informal, fun type of event, open to everyone there. I wouldn't have paid £60 though, and I don't think a many other climbers would have back then either, most living the impecunious dirtbag lifestyle.

In reply to stp:

Yeah right... presumably you worked your passage to the US on a cargo ship?

In reply to Offwidth:

If you go for a long stay, like 6 months or so, then you're pretty much scrimping all the way. On my first trip to Hueco I went with some climbers from Liverpool who had even less money than me. We arrived in a blizzard with no where warm to stay. There was no one else there, nothing to do but to try and keep warm. But despite this grim scene they couldn't even afford to drive the 30 miles back to El Paso to hang out somewhere warm.

The US climbing scene is very different to here. The keener climbers go on long road trips for as long as the money they have will last them. Because the country is so big it makes sense to do it like that. And that lifestyle is really cheap, meaning $95 might buy you an extra week or two's climbing. Blowing it on a one day event wouldn't make sense for climbers like this.

In reply to stp:
There is a difference between choice and need and I fully accept the latter for US climbers scrimping as much as they can. If as a brit you can afford to fly to the US for a 6 month trip and bouldering comps are your thing I really don't see the price being that much of an issue for a major international comp. Its no different to say something like a Triathlon fee.

In reply to UKC News:

It seems a steep price (and I hesitated at first) but you get 3 meals, 2 days camping, access to the park and loads of free stuff so actually by the end of it all you've probably saved some money!

In reply to Tom Peckitt:

Dirtbags camp for free, eat roadkill, enter the park at night and take the free stuff and sell it to fund a couple of extra weeks on the road