North America Cup bouldering competition a sign-of-the-times event in Vail

The competition was stacked Saturday at the GoPro Mountain Games bouldering contest in Vail, an event that drew massive crowds and doubled as a North American Cup competition.

The North American Cup is one level below the World Cup, with contests taking place in the U.S. and Canada, and is designed to feed into the top level of competition represented on the international stage.

The most well-known climber in the mix was Nathaniel Coleman of Utah, the silver medal winner from the men’s combined sport climbing competition at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. Coleman didn’t make finals in Saturday’s bouldering event, finishing ninth overall among the men, with the top six advancing to finals.

If there was a point of interest to be made about the competition, it was the age of the competitors in the finals, Coleman said.

“We have a lot of young people in finals,” Coleman said on Saturday. “I would say the average age of climbing competitors overall is mid-to-low 20s, but it seems like, within the last couple of years, there’s been a lot of young talent coming into the scene. That’s true internationally, and that’s true here as well.”

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The winner of the women’s bouldering competition on Saturday was 17-year-old Mira Capocchioni, and on the men’s side, 16-year-old Brenden Beauchamp finished second to winner Simon Hibbeler, age 24, who was one of the older competitors in the final.

The average age of the competitors in the women’s final was 19, while the average age of the competitors in the men’s final was 21.

John Muse, VP of sport at USA Climbing, said the young field was indicative of the resources being poured into the youth ranks of the sport.

“For the longest time, we didn’t have support as an organization for our athletes that were going out and trying to compete on the international circuit for USA Climbing,” Muse said. “Since 2018, we have added a lot of funds to try and assist and try to support and fund those athletes.”

Muse said it’s not an issue of the talent getting younger, rather it’s a result of the fact that most of the support, in years past, has gone to older athletes.

At the North American Cup, “you’re seeing a younger athlete, because they’re not yet the athletes on the U.S. team going out into the other parts of the world, participating on the international circuit,” Muse said. “It’s the next generation.”

For USA Climbing, Saturday’s young final in Vail was the realization of a goal the organization set for itself in putting more funding into the junior level of competition.

“It’s showing exactly what we need,” he said. “These athletes that are out here — it’s a young final, no doubt — and these are the next athletes that we’re going to see stepping up into the U.S. team ranks.”

For younger competitors especially, an event like the GoPro Mountain Games — which attracts hundreds of screaming fans — can be a bit intimidating. Capocchioni said a key for her, in battling the nervousness that comes with the big crowds, was to try to have fun.

“You just gotta smile,” she said. “Everyone here is stoked to be watching you, you just gotta remember that part of it.”

Following the competition, Hibbeler showed his age a bit in offering some wisdom as to how he earned his win.

“If I believe that I can win, and then I don’t, yes that might hurt, but it’s better to leave the door a little bit open and believe you can, and see what happens from there,” he said.