Some common names climbed high in the standings at the Yukon Open Cold Finger Snap at Porter Creek Secondary School.
Sigourny Whipple-Grantham and Tomas Tokic, who are both members of the Yukon Youth Climbing Team, defended titles at the Yukon bouldering championship hosted by Climb Yukon on Feb. 23.
Whipple-Grantham defended two titles. She was the top climber in open women and junior female categories — the same as last year. Whipple-Grantham also placed second for open women at a Juneau competition this past December.
“I think she’s done with the climbing team because she’s Grade 12 and is going away next year,” said Climb Yukon president Alain Dallaire. “She had a good season. She did well in Juneau.”
Fionnuala Marion and Ljubica Tokic placed second and third, respectively, in both divisions.
Tomas Tokic defended his junior male title. Teammate Pelly Vincent-Braun placed second and Luke Bakica third.
“(Tomas) had a great competition; he climbed really well,” said Dallaire. “Tomas and Pelly are two of the strongest boulderers in the Yukon.
“Tomas is Grade 12, so again this is his last year — same thing with Pelly. So I’m losing a fair amount of really good climbers this year, but there’s another group of climbers who are coming up.”
Speaking of which, Cole Germain and Jason Smith-McKay placed first and second in the male 14-and-under division.
Not every title went to a Yukoner at the season-closing event attended by about 25 climbers. Marc Triendl, who is visiting from Austria, took first in the open male division. Triendl is in the territory working as a dog handler for a musher.
“He’s a strong climber,” said Dallaire. “He didn’t come for that reason, but he happened to be there.”
Tomas Tokic placed second in open male ahead of Jonathan Lowey.
Contact Tom Patrick at tomp@yukon-news.com