The North Face Cup 2013 @ BASE CAMP

Before I begin, this trip would not have been possible without Singapore Climbers Association’s sponsorship of the air ticket and The North Face (Singapore and Japan) for all my expenses in Japan.

Though fresh from winning the recent Lead Climbing competition at Onsight Climbing gym, I was not looking forward to my trip to Japan. I was still down with a severe case of elbow tendonitis from my trip to Switzerland in Dec 2012 and was basically treading the fine line of trying to stay reasonably fit whilst not worsening my elbow’s condition. In need of a well-deserved break, I am. It didn’t help that I knew Japan has many excellent climbers and I would have to be in tip top condition even to perform fairly.

Judith (Women’s Open Champion for 2012 at TNF Boulderactive) and I arrived on Thursday evening and were picked up by Yuji himself who gave us a quick tour of his gym before dropping us at the hotel nearby. 

Climb Park Base Camp at Saitama Prefecture!

Our 1st meal in Japan, Dan4 Dan4 noodle!

With the qualifying rounds on Saturday and semis and Finals on Sunday, all of us had a free day to ourselves on Friday. Kevin brought us around to do some sightseeing and shopping in Tokyo and we joined the guys from BigUp Productions and Sender Films (Brett and Nick) who were going around filming Daniel.

Took me a while to figure out how to use the spray function!

Sightseeing in Tokyo

nomz nomz

commuting in Tokyo

I headed down to Base Camp early on Saturday morning to get a hang of the format for the competition.  The Under 8, 10 and 12 categories started at about 9am followed by the Division 4, 3, 2 and finally 1. All the top climbers as well as overseas participants were grouped in the Division 1 category which is equivalent to the Open Cats in Singapore.

Check out the action!!!!

its warm inside...too many ppl!

So this was how it worked for all the categories. Qualifying and Semis were flashed format style with 8 routes to be completed in 1 hour. There were 2 bonuses per problem with no consideration for the number of attempts. 6 top qualifiers were chosen for the Finals and thereafter it was elimination format, meaning 2 climbers will be eliminated after every route. For the Finals, observation was 1 minute per route and climbing time was 2 minutes per climber so you can imagine the pace of the competition was relentless. That is certain great for the audience as it reduces the amount of time spent waiting.

For the Division 1 Men’s category, there were a total of about 39 participants in the qualifying round. 8 climbers were exempted from this round as they have already qualified for the Semis by virtue of them winning their respective division competition in other gyms a couple of weeks before. Routes were excellently set, testing climbers on a range of styles. I haven’t had such a good time climbing inside on plastic for a long time now. Problems were hard but not impossible. Easiest was probably about V7/ 7b with the hardest around V10/11. Even the slab problem was not easy as only 2 climbers finished it. Back home in Singapore, the difficulty for the Men’s Open finals will be around V7/8 at most and that would probably be the hardest problem.

my result. Wasn't fantastic but not too shabby either

At the end of the day, I completed 3 problems (I was close on 2 others) and was placed 29^th out of 39 climbers. The other 3 problems were not possible for me under the competition conditions, including the one on the slab. To qualify for the Semis, I would have to complete at least 5 boulders.

The girls were exempted from the qualifying round and proceeded straight to the Semis on Sunday, due to the lack of participants. Judith came in just after the halfway mark out of about 24 climbers.

lovely glow on the walls

Under 8 category climbers!

It was very impressive watching the Under 8 category climbers. Japan sure has a bright future ahead, considering that the difficulty of the problems in the finals for them were probably around V3/4. Now THAT was no stroll in the park at all. When the dust finally settled, Daniel Woods and Akiyo Noguchi were crowned male and female Champion respectively for the Division 1 Category.

Last night at Saitama-shi

We had the opportunity to try some of the routes the following day, and it was easy to conclude that Akiyo can probably out-boulder most of the top male climbers in Singapore. A pity we have only 4 hours at Base Camp as we had to leave for a 3 hour long drive to Jogasaki; climbing by the sea at the popular sea side cliff – volcanic rock! Imagine the amount of fun we will have had we stayed longer  at Base Camp as ALL the problems for the competition were left on the wall. That was like 60 problems with more than half harder than V4. I also had the opportunity to hop onto a 28+ move route graded 8a which was excellently set by Yuji himself. Flashing it would be close to impossible due to my current fitness level but I surprised myself by making it to the 3^rd last handhold.

en route to Jogasaki - Mt Fuji!

 We embarked on our trip to Jogasaki at about 3pm with about 5 cars in all and loads of filming equipment. I was looking forward to checking out the sea side cliff after seeing pictures of Obe-san climbing some route on Rock and Ice many years back. The blackish volcanic rock looked amazing in the photos. We had a lovely dinner at the resort by the beach and I had the opportunity to go to their onsen. Let’s just say that it was an unforgettable experience.

Post Onsen photo

dinner at Jogasaki - check out the spread!

 We woke early the next morning to head down to the crag as the weather forecast was not looking so promising in the late afternoon. It was an easy approach with a 15m abseil to the base of the cliff itself. Though there weren’t many routes there (about 30-40), there was plenty to climb for that day from 5s all the way to 8a+ and according to Yuji, the grades can be quite stiff.

main crag at Jogasaki

the harder stuffs are on the right...

remaining of some routes after the earthquake 2 years ago

By 3pm, I was pretty much wasted. Did a nice 6c/+ and a superb 7b that was long and sustaining with a spicy finish right at the anchors. Also had the opportunity to get onto a pretty stiff 8a that had a nice bouldery start and a super sustaining mid-section.  I gave it 2 goes anyway, knowing that a r/p was probably impossible. We left for Tokyo around 4pm as we will be flying back to Singapore the next day. A pity we couldn’t join the rest of them as they will be heading up to Shiobara for some outdoor bouldering!

* WARNING: the subsequent photos will get you salivating esp if you are a fan of raw fish*

breakfast at Tsukiji fish market

fresh uni

tuna

O-Toro

Fugu anyone?

plenty of octopus

I am truly grateful and impressed with the way everything was organized here. The Japanese have been great hosts! Its amazing also how the streets are so clean and there are NO trash bins around. Even in the climbing gyms, everything is so clean even though their climbers use quite a fair bit of chalk. The Japanese enjoy cleanliness and they make an effort to maintain it even if the place does not belong to them. Singapore climbers sure have a longgggggggggggg way to go.

A big thank you once again to Yuji-San and his team from The North Face Japan.