A year ago, I organized the first annual Wine Country Boulder Brawl with my good friend Nolan Kloer. The WCBB is a bouldering competition that showcases top California climbers at Napa’s premier climbing gym, Rockzilla. The WCBB was our attempt at giving back to the climbing community that has given us so much. Dwayne Robertson, the owner of Rockzilla (also the man that instilled within me the idea that downgrading a climb is always better than upgrading one), is one of the biggest reasons climbing is what it is for me today. I’ve only been climbing for a little over four years, but Dwaye has been an integral part of each step I’ve taken in my climbing life along the way. Without getting too sentimental, this man is like a second father to me. Organizing this competition to show off his gym was my way of saying ‘Thank you’ to the man that taught me how to downgrade.
Last year’s event was a much greater success than we had anticipated. Climbers from all over the state showed up and kept the room filled with that sort of late-night-gym-session sort of psyche. The highlight (for me at least) was when Five Ten Athlete, Giovanni Traversi, walked through the doors. G. climbs at a gym not too far from Rockzilla, and came to Napa to put on a show. And that he did. Watching G. absolutely CRUSH in Finals was the most gratifying thing in the world to me. We did it. We got people psyched, we gave back to Dwanye, and we drank a lot of beer.
This year, we’re going hard: On-sight Finals, FREE beer, High Tech Burritos (for purchase), DJ, raffles, Giovanni Traversi, and wine, lots and lots of wine (courtesy of Robert Biale Vineyards).
The WCBB began as a simple way of showing a great man that we care, and has evolved into something more applicable to the climbing community as a whole. What I intend to do with this event is draw in some of the best boulderers from the state, and eventually the country, in order to bring to the spotlight all the things we here at Rockzilla love about climbing. Spreading our love for climbing with the community is at the forefront of the WCBB’s mission. Every year we throw this event, we’ll grow and we’ll bring in new climbers. In order to do so, we need cash prize. However, if climbers like Giovanni Traversi, Dan Beall, Max Zolotukhin, Natasha Barnes, and Brian Hedrick decide to show up this year, the prize money will come.
If you don’t already have something booked and you’re interested in climbing with some very happy and very psyched individuals, please come to Rockzilla’s 2nd Annual Wine Country Boulder Brawl on Saturday July 21st. Comp starts at 5. Beer will obviously be there. Oh yeah, one more thing, THE COMP IS FREE.
Joe Ramos (master of all things ‘video’) put together a promo vid. Check it.
Peace.
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