TOUR DE FRANK BOULDERING FESTIVAL

Greeted by clear, blue skies over a field of grey limestone blocks, climbers dispersed into the slide for the inaugural Tour de Frank outdoor climbing event on Sept. 20, 2014. “We’re really happy with how everything came together.” event organizer Kyle Marco said. “It was a great first event. Everyone had fun.”

The southern Alberta meet drew people from around the province, with a small B.C. contingent making the trek over the Rockies. Competition i n the men’s open was close, resulting i n a tie between Red Deer, Alta., climber Josh Bylsma and Edmonton’s Andrew Funk. The two paired up early in the competition, matching each other through a series of V8 and V9 problems to wrap up the top spot.

“There was some great competition,” Lethbridge climber Mark Derksen said. “It was nice to go to Frank with a great group of climbers.” Shelley Hoover handily won in the women’s open category. The event was conceived and facilitated by longtime boulderers Trent Hoover and Marco, both from Lethbridge and champions of the area. It featured over 70 problems from V0 to V9, as well as four previously unclimbed projects for the adventurous, giving participants plenty of room to fan out and tour the slide.

Encouraged by the success of the i naugural competition, the pair see a chance to grow t he event i n t he f uture and support t he climbing community i n southern Alberta. “It’s a great event, and a great way for climbers to experience Alberta’s largest bouldering area,” Hoover said. “Hopefully next year we’ll see some more local climbers come out and boulder at Frank Slide in the Tour de Frank.”

The Tour de Frank joins the rapidly growing ranks of outdoor bouldering festivals in Canada, i ncluding, the in B.C., Squamish Rampage and the Kelowna Boulderfields Rock t he Blocks, and, i n Ontario, t he ’Bogie Boulder Bash in Calabogie.