2019 USA Climbing: Combined Invitational | Women's Finals

It’s 1 am. I’ve never seen or tried rock climbing in my life. WHY AM I HERE. I enjoy it anyways but WHAT

My hands are getting sweaty just watching them trying to grab onto such small holds

When Piper Kelly started to practically fly up that wall in the first few minutes I lost my shit!

I love how friendly they all are to each other :)

So Megan made a comment about one of the competitors being the first woman to put up a 5.15 like it was no big deal, but I'd like to put that in perspective for the non-climbers watching. This is easy to watch and with the camera angles think "It doesn't look THAT hard"; I'm here to tell you just how hard it is. Your average, reasonably healthy, non-overweight person, with no experience, can walk into a climbing gym and climb 5.7-5.8. Give that person a few weeks of practice and they'll have no trouble putting up many 5.9s. If they keep at it for a few months, they'll break into the easy end of 5.10. From there, progress slows considerably (and varies greatly), but depending on talent, fitness, and motivation you can expect to break into 5.11 in 6-12 months of climbing hard ~3 times a week. 5.12 takes years and hard training, but it is doable. I'd say it's the hardest "normal person" grade; i.e. the hardest you can climb and still have a life outside of climbing. The hardest routes you see in an average gym are (in my experience) in the mid-5.12 range. 5.13 is not for normal people. You might see one in a gym occasionally, but it's like the 100lb dumbbell that nobody ever touches. At this point, all you have done for the past several years is climb. You need to be exceptionally motivated. 5.14 is not something that mortals can hope to do. In addition to all of the above, you also need to be young and exceptionally talented. There are probably fewer than 50 people in the world to ever climb 5.15. They represent the hardest climbs in the world completed by humans. These are only done by the best climbers in the world, on their best days, after months or years of working that particular route. So the difference between first-day (5.8) and king of the gym (5.12) is 4 number grades. 5.15 is 3 more number grades BEYOND that. Keep in mind that the higher in grades you go, the harder it is to progress! Don't let the camera angles fool you; these athletes are pushing the limits of what human physiology is capable of.

Y’all bugging about the male commentator - considering he doesn’t pick himself for the segment he was very respectful to his cohort - didn’t interrupt her, overpower Megan, their voices were on the same volume level, and asked questions when he didn’t know and contributed his knowledge in the best way he could. I’ve heard commentators where I literally watched an hour in silence because of how annoying they were. So why am I reading comments where negative thoughts are being influenced on me so that I find myself picking up every little minuscule thing you guys don’t like and I don’t usually mind? Stop it

Asking Bouldering and Lead Climbing specialists to do Speed Climbing is like asking Marathon Runners to also do Rhythmic Gymnastics.

Bouldering starts at 36:56 and Lead starts at 2:23:06

thank you google, I actually watched and enjoyed the whole 3 hours of it.

I think my favorite part was just watching them all analyzing the bouldering challenge and talking through it with each other and laughing and smiling. They all just seem like they're really friendly with each other and just in general having a good time and happy to be there :')

I had lucky fortune to have Natalia Grossman as a student last year at Fairview High School. Not only is she an absolute monster on the wall, but she is also one of the nicest, kindest, and humblest human beings I've run into. Congrats kiddo!

At 3:02:05 y’all really thought she was excited with those hand movements but she was really expressing “how the heck am I supposed to clip in to That, now that Im here, when the next move is over There, and I couldn’t clip in before?!” It was like the purest “Oh Sh*t. BUT HOW?!?” Expression. Condie, I feel youuuu. 😭

1:18:36 her smile when she made it So PRICELESS 😍😁

Them: being pro and doing outstanding things in chill fashion. Me: lying in bed at midnight as tense as a board from watching them.

i was rooting for ashima. she seems talented ^^

im so high how did i get here

quarantine is going nicely, thanks to this video.

The bouldering was great. Really surprised to see there weren't people to brush these holds off between competitors.

Love the sportsmanship between these ladies!!!!

Megan Martin was a really good commentator. She made this enjoyable to watch for a novice. The women were really amazing to watch. I wish the National Team the best of luck in the coming worlds.