Spire’s annual Spring Fling Rope Competition

Love climbing and competition? Well, you’re in luck. Just around the corner, Spire is combining both contest and climbing for their 12th annual Spring Fling Rope Competition. The competition will kick off Friday, April 6 and end on Saturday, April 7. There will be routes for every skill level, from kids to adults. Registration for all categories is $50, with raffles and a pint glass for competitors (only on April 6) included in the price.

The adult competition will be on Friday, April 6 from 5 - 10:30 p.m., and the youth competition will be on April 7 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. There are four formats that competitors can participate in. The open category will have two rounds — the qualifier and the finals. The beginners/intermediate/masters category allows contestants to attempt as many routes as possible, but only the top four completed will be counted toward their score. The marathon is a new format in which competitors can also climb as many routes as possible, but they can only attempt each problem once. The youth category will consist of a single round and climbers will be judged based on the USA Climbing scoring system.

The competition will mostly be in redpoint style, which encourages strategy-based climbing. Participants are prompted to warm up on the easier routes and save their strength for the harder climbs. The point is to use their energy wisely and to not repeatedly attempt routes that they might not finish to save their endurance for ones that they can complete. All routes are marked based on difficulty, with more points allotted for the more challenging routes.

The top three routes completed will be scored for the youth category and top four routes completed for all other categories. Proceeds from the competition will go to the Bozeman Climbing Team and Touch the Sky Climbing, a series of climbing programs designed to get Bozeman youth outside and climbing.