BLCCs 2010 II

Back for day two of the competition and the seniors. In practise a lot of the top climbers in the Youth and Junior categories were also the leading contenders in the open category. Similar format to yesterday (and the World Youth championships last month). Two qualifying climbs which everyone sees demonstrated and can watch other people attempting. The climbing sequence is random for the first climb, then flipped for the second, so the second half of the field go first. Each climber has the same time to get as high as they can and their position is determined by how high they get. In the qualifiers there are lots of people 'topping out' by getting to the top of the climb. The scores for the two qualifiers are combined and then the top climbers (four, six or eight, depending on the number of entrants) go through to the final. The final is 'on-sight', meaning the climbers are held in an isolation zone and only allowed a short observation period when all the finalists get to see the wall before anyone starts climbing. After which everyone has to leave the area until they are called for their attempt. As it turned out the two leading women were Nat Berry, an Edinburgh Uni student and winner of the Female Junior title, and Kitty Wallace, winner of the Female Youth A title. The two leading men were Ed Hamer, Male Junior winner, and Luke Tilley, Male Youth A winner, so a certain symmetry there. Another good day. This time I went for slower shutter speeds and lower ISOs to see if less grain wasn't compromised by motion blur.