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Up and at 'em for a challenge

Teva Mountain Games run the gamut for thrills

David O. Williams, Special to the News

Published June 3, 2006 at midnight

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VAIL - Rock climbers aren't used to the public gawking at them as they route find or leap from hold to hold on an overhanging face.

They're usually either sequestered in the relative solitude of the gym, working out problems with fellow climbers on a wall, or clinging to a canyon face.

Today in Vail, the nation's best climbers come out from the shadows to compete in the high- altitude sunshine on the Volks- wagen Mushroom Wall in Vail Village during the ongoing Teva Mountain Games.

Now in its fifth year, the games are the nation's largest festival of mountain sports, featuring kayaking, rafting, climbing, mountain biking, trail running and adventure racing. The overall purse is $85,000, $16,000 of which will be awarded to the athletes in competitive climbing.

Boulder's Scott Rennak, organizer of the three climbing disciplines at the games - bouldering, dyno and speed climbing - said the festivallike merging of action sports in a mountain venue is great for climbing.

"We love it. As climbers, we normally hike off into the middle of the woods somewhere," he said. "We're out by ourselves all day long, sitting in the dirt and climbing rock, so it's really cool when we get to spend a day socializing and fraternizing with the other sports. The mountain bikers, the kayakers, we're all pretty like-minded people. We just have different passions in the outdoors."

Daniel Woods, 16, of Longmont, the defending national bouldering champion and 2005 Teva Games co-champion, agreed with Rennak.

"It's so much fun. You can climb, and when you're done climbing, you can go check out kayaking, mountain biking and running and stuff," Woods said. "All the climbing events I've been to, it's just a climbing competition and nothing else, so this is kind of like an X Games thing with multiple events going on. There's a bunch of people watching you, and you get all psyched up."

Rennak said competitive bouldering has caught on with such a vengeance because of its grassroots appeal to youth culture and parents who prefer their kids hang out in climbing gyms.

"It's getting big on a local level at your own home gym in Omaha, Neb., or wherever," Rennak said.

"It's super grass roots and its all about youth. The best climbers are all under 25, and the parents like it because it's a healthy alternative."

It also requires a high level of fitness, hand-eye coordination, endurance and strength. The citizen's competition gets under way at 9 a.m., followed by the first pro qualifying round at noon.

In other action today, crowd favorites include a freeride mountain bike challenge and the sprint kayak pro rodeo. The games conclude Sunday, with the GNC Adventure Sprint Championships kicking things off at 4 a.m.

A highly competitive field is expected for this grueling but condensed adventure race that pits coed teams of three against each other in mountain biking, navigating, paddling, running and rappelling in competition expected to take six to eight hours.

Several of the world's top adventure racing teams are expected because of the $10,000 purse, a world-class course designed by former Eco-Challenge champion Billy Mattison and because Primal Quest, the Super Bowl of adventure racing, takes place beginning June 24 in Utah.