The vertical rig is in place and the holds are being fixed – so just what kind of climbing can you expect in the first ever Dalat SufferFest?

SufferFest is the first multisport event of its kind in Vietnam combining SwimRun, trail running, and climbing: all of which you have to compete in for a chance of being named as the SufferFest Ultimate Sufferer. Of course if you don’t fancy yourself as an Ultimate Sufferer kind of person but do fancy a bit of climbing you can just do that too.  We look at what’s involved.

The first thing is that on the Friday the walls are free for anyone to climb whether they are thinking of competing or not. Which is a great opportunity to try them out.

The next thing is while there are two types of climb; bouldering and top rope, there are actually three categories of climbing in the competition.

SPEED CLIMBING

The most exhilarating climbing for athletes and spectators alike, the speed climbing will be performed with auto belays on the high wall and contestants will set off in twos.  The two different routes on the speed wall are graded to be exactly the same difficulty and the stereo scrambling is to help climbers with motivation while injecting a little extra adrenaline. Remember though that the real contest is against the clock.  After a preliminary round on Saturday there are the Finals on Sunday where the fastest spidermen and women will slog it out.

TOP ROPING

Traditional top roping climbs with auto belay. Like the bouldering these will consist of a number of routes of different grades each with their own prize of points depending on the level of difficulty.  You lose points for every fault (falling, using an illegal hold, using a retaining bolt, etc.) but can retry routes at will although lost points accrue so after a certain number of attempts there will simply be no, erm, point.  Preliminaries on Saturday will lead to a shortlist of finalists for Sunday.

BOULDERING

Boulder routes range from v0 to v11 (bouldering grades) and are marked in the same way as the top rope, full rules are available here. Preliminaries on Saturday will result in the finalist shortlist on Sunday.

Push Climbing is proud to be part of the SufferFest.  If you want to know more about the climbing challenge just get in touch.  Watch out for our forthcoming tips on how to beat the beast in the Dalat SufferFest – after all we built it, so we know how to tame it.