The 2015 Lethbridge Boulderfest Re-Cap

For the 14th year in a row, the climbers of Lethbridge crammed themselves into their local gym for Boulderfest – pulling on plastic for the honour and the glory, and one heck of a T ­shirt.

By Jonas Gagnon

After two days of near night­and­day setting and a full day of competition, organizers were calling it a resounding success.

“It was the best turnout of any Boulderfest I’ve been involved with.,” Trent Hoover, one of the setters for the comp, said, adding, “We had a great organizational team and everything went off without a hitch.”

Locals Mark Derksen and Shelley Hoover took first in Men’s and Women’s overall respectively. They competed with a registered 80 climbers, split evenly between two sessions – a full card for the comp. Organizers are now considering how to create more spots for next year without making the competition unwieldy.

Hoover joined local Kyle Marco and guest setter Morgan Dunnet, who came out from Fernie, to set for Boulderfest.

The competition was a scramble format, with sixty problems ranging from children­-friendly all the way to the most difficult problem which stayed unsolved throughout the event.

The longevity of the comp is thanks to Kyle Marco, who helped create it and has been setting and organizing every year that it has existed.

“He’s been a linchpin of the southern Alberta climbing community,” Hoover said.

During that time the comp has helped anchor the climbing community and kicked off the season, which begins much earlier in the Lethbridge than most of the rest of Canada.

With the growing success of Boulderfest, Hoover is anticipating an exciting second annual Tour De Frank this fall.

Read About the Inaugural Tour de Frank