Yukon climbers turned out en masse for one last competition at F.H. Collins Secondary School on Thursday.
About 30 rock climbers chalked up their hands for the Yukon Open Cold Finger Snap – the final competition at the climbing wall before the closure of the school’s current location.
“It was a really good turnout for the youth,” said Climb Yukon president Alain Dallaire. “This year the youth climbing team has over 30 kids training on the team … There was about 23 of them maybe, and the rest were adults. For the size of the gym we have there, that’s almost capacity.”
The indoor bouldering competition featured 25 “problems” for climbers to solve.
Two members of the Yukon Youth Climbing Team reached the top of most of them, securing wins in both the junior and open divisions.
“This year all the youth pulled out the first positions for the open category, so that’s pretty good,” said Dallaire.
Thomas Toki registered a total of 93 out of a possible 102 points to win junior male and open male, pushing defending Yukon junior champ Pelly Vincent-Braun to second place in both divisions.
Sigourny Whipple-Grantham scored a total of 69 points to top both the junior female and open female categories. Teammate Fionnuala Marion placed second in both divisions.
“Sigourny dominated the female during the competition, completing up to problem 19,” said Dallaire. “Fionnuala did excellent completing up to problem 14.”
The climbing wall at F.H. Collins has been in use for well over a decade. The wall will have seen its final climber when the school switches to its new location, next to the current school, at the start of next semester in the New Year.
Climb Yukon will then move to a new indoor climbing wall currently under construction at Porter Creek Secondary School.
The Porter Creek wall will be a step up in terms of features but will also be a bit smaller than the F.H. Collins wall, said Dallaire, who hopes Whitehorse will get a much bigger facility in the future.
“What we need to work towards is a really large climbing facility for the community,” he said. “None of the walls we have here answer the need of the youth training team and the needs of the climbing community … I’m hoping to see this in the next couple of years.
“I’m hoping the Canada Games Centre is open to the idea … We have a meeting with the manager in a few weeks.”
Results
Open males
1st Thomas Toki – 93
2nd Pelly Vincent-Braun – 92
3rd Finn Matrishon – 88
3rd Jonathan Lowey – 88
Open females
1st Sigourny Whipple-Grantham – 69
2nd Fionnuala Marion – 46
3rd Lauren Whyte – 29
Junior males
1st Thomas Toki – 93
2nd Pelly Vincent-Braun – 92
3rd Finn Matrishon – 88
Junior females
1st Sigourny Whipple-Grantham – 69
2nd Fionnuala Marion – 46
Under 14 males
1st Brendan Cabardo Atkin – 68
2nd Jacob Finton – 62
3rd Sam Fleming – 37
Under 14 females
1st Ljubica Toki – 21
2nd Sophie Senecal – 21
Contact Tom Patrick at
tomp@yukon-news.com