More than 60 climbers participated in the annual fall climbing competition in Whitehorse on Nov. 26 at the Porter Creek Secondary School bouldering gym.
Climbers from all skill levels took part in the competition, including the kids fun event category, youth D, C, B, A and open categories.
The competition is typically held annually in October, but this year the event was delayed by a month due to gym availability.
The Climb Yukon Association said the event has become a staple in the fall sports scene in the territory, with previous highlights including a visit from Canadian Olympic climber Alannah Yip, ever-growing youth interest and participation, and the introduction of the first-ever non-binary category in a Climbing Escalade Canada-sanctioned event.
Association president Sara Bradley said the competition is great for the community and kids.
“It’s just to remind everyone to get out and climb,” she said. “We have exposed a few more kids to indoor sports climbing. Lots of the kids that climb get their friends out to these events as well. We have also done other programs this year, like running a kids camp, and lots of them are here as well.”
In the youth D male category, Isaac Rainey won with 702 points, while Eiger Allen came second with 680 points. In the female category, Bronwen Urquhart secured 485 points, and Adelaide Hubert came in second place with 450.
In the youth A male category, Dylan Eby won with 991 points, while Jaxson Long finished with 906. Aira Yoshimura won the female category with 898 points, and Madie D’Abramo secured 768.
In the youth B male session, Asher Johnson won with 1,049 points, while Peter Embacher finished with 908 points. For the female category, Juno Hanatani won with 832 points, and Hanna Ryan finished second place with 682.
The youth C male category had Erik Embacher with 696 points and Elias Wolfe coming second with 351 points. Abby Johnson was the only climber in the female category and won with 258 points.
Gerard Garnier, head coach of Climb Yukon’s youth team, said athletes were judged on how many climbs they completed. He said climbers received more points the harder the climb was, noting that there were 23 climbs of progressive difficulty.
Sarah Marsh, whose son Eli is one of the climbers, said it’s fun to see his progress from his first year in climbing to the second year.
“It’s really exciting to watch it all unfold and see how advanced all the climbers are regardless of age,” she said. She said Eli has been part of the climbing team for the past two years and has done some outdoor climbing with the Alpine Club of Canada.
“He has been climbing for a long time, like anytime he could climb something, even when he was little. He likes to climb at the park,” she said.
Bradley said the association will have a new facility in the Whistle Bend neighbourhood, expected to open in the fall of 2025. Bradley told the News that the association is in the process of building its youth team program, and programming for kids and adults. It is also working with the City of Whitehorse to run some programming for kids.
“We are kind of building up to developing these programs so that when the facility does open in fall of 2025, we will have a nice full gym.”
The competition is part of a number of activities to prepare the youth team for a climbing event in Nanaimo, British Columbia, from Dec. 9 to 10.
Contact Patrick Egwu at patrick.egwu@yukon-news.com
