Back to Chamonix

Hello and welcome to this week's newsletter.

This week I'm off to Chamonix to cover the Lead and Speed World Cup this weekend.

Chamonix is the oldest venue still on the circuit. Despite becoming a venue synonymous with Lead, the first World Cup was a Boulder World Cup in 1999. Christian Core won the men's event and Stéphanie Bodet the women's. Stéphanie and Christian both went on to win the World Cup in Boulder in its inaugural year.

Chamonix is one of three venues to host all three disciplines in a World Cup back in 2000 for its second World Cup. It has not hosted a World Cup every year since then, but started regularly hosting World Cups in Lead and Speed in 2004.

The only other place in the top 10 which regularly hosts World Cups is Wujiang, China, which moved to a purpose-built indoor venue in 2023. Munich still hosts climbing events, like the European Boulder Cup earlier this year and the European Games in 2022, but has not hosted a World Cup since 2019.

Last year was Briançon's last year hosting World Cups as the IFSC moves to being an urban sport instead of a mountain sport. We are seeing more large cities like Denver, Curitiba, and Madrid hosting World Cups than alpine towns like Villars, Vail and Briançon. I'm going to go into this more next week.

Kranj stopped hosting World Cups in 2021, and the Slovenia World Cup moved to a new outdoor wall in Koper. Will Chamonix be able to keep hosting World Cups and overtake Kranj in the all-time list?

News + Results

• Indonesia won 3 medals at the Kraków Speed World Cup last weekend. Desak Made Rita Kusuma Dewi won her first gold medal and Raharjati Nursamsa won his second. Kiromal Katibin and Emma Hunt both won silver medals. Kiromal's medal extends his lead in the series ranking while Emma's moves her into first place. Ryo Omasa and Aleksandra Miroslaw finished 3rd.
• The IFSC European Lead Cup in Ostermundigen, Switzerland, happened from 4th to 5th July last week. Iziar Martínez Almendros (Spain) won the women's competition, with Julia Chanourdie (France) second and Zala Mlakar Staric (Slovenia) third. Nao Monchois (France) won the men's competition, with Nino Grünenfelder (Switzerland) second and Younès Aubert Masmoudi (France) third.
• USA Climbing have moved the US National Championship in 2025 from October 2025 to February 2026.
• The Lead and Speed World Cup in Chamonix kicks off this weekend, and we see the return of Brooke Raboutou to the World Cup circuit. Sean McColl, Campbell Harrison, and Rajiah Sallsabillah are also signed up for their first competition of the season.
  
  Schedule
  
  Friday 11th July
  18:45 – 20:15 – Speed Qualifications
  
  Saturday 12th July
  09:00 – 17:00: Lead Qualifications
  21:00 – 22:15: Speed Finals
  
  Sunday 13th July
  10:00 – 12:30: Lead Semi-finals
  20:30 – 21:25: Men’s Lead Finals
  21:25 – 22:20: Women’s Lead Finals

Media Recommendations

Kyra Condie breaks down the rules used at Boulder World Cups.

Showdown(s) At Snowbird | Edlinger vs. Tribout and Destivelle vs. Hill

In 1985, 19 of the top French climbers signed a manifesto against competition climbing. But competitions came anyway. Quickly, most of those same signees defected - becoming the climbers to beat at every event. As happens in every competitive sport, rivalries were formed, and would play out in the vertical theater. In 1988, America would host its first International competition at Snowbird in Utah’s Little Cottonwood Canyon. The 115 foot artificial wall would become a battlefield. Competition versus climbing. The organizers versus Didier Raboutou. Catherine Destivelle versus Lynn Hill. And for the crown, Jibe Tribout versus Patrick Edlinger. It was going to be a showdown. Several of them. Check out our website for related episodes, resources and more! Join the Secret Stoners Club for FREE and get bonus episodes. ---------------------------------- Season Two is generously supported by Rab. This episode is supported by Tension Climbing and The Tension Board 2. Written in Stone is co-created with Power Company Climbing.

PodBeanPodBean Development

Kris Hampton tells the story of the 1988 International Sport Climbing Championship in Snowbird, USA.

This video (with English subtitles) from a couple of years ago looks at Laura Rogora's journey to becoming an Olympian at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.

Aidan and Sam talk with Olympic silver medalist Brooke Raboutou. They chat about growing up in a climbing family, the Olympics, and social media. They also talk about how she tries to maintain balance in her life, the future of competition climbing, and what it is like to compete against Janja Garnbret.

The IFSC talk to Lučka Rakovec about her return to competition after being diagnosed with thyroid cancer.

Where to Buy Tickets

Chamonix IFSC Lead and Speed World Cup

When: 11th–13th July
Where: France
Where to buy tickets: This event is free of charge, and no tickets are required for entry.

Madrid IFSC Lead World Cup

When: 17th–19th July
Where: Spain
Where to buy tickets: This event is free of charge, and no tickets are required for entry. You can register for a free ticket here.

IFSC Youth World Championships in Helsinki

When: 28th July–3rd August
Where: Finland
Where to buy tickets: Tickets are for:

• Boulder Semi-Finals & Finals
• Lead Semi-Finals and Finals
• Speed Finals Event

Koper IFSC Lead World Cup

When: 4th–6th September
Where: Slovenia
Where to buy tickets: Tickets will be made available here (the ticket link currently does not work). If you are willing to go through the Slovenia ticket seller eventim (Google Translate does a good job at translating Slovenia), if you buy a finals ticket at the moment, you get a semi-final ticket for free.

Seoul IFSC World Championships

When: 9th–28th September
Where: South Korea
Where to buy tickets: Tickets will be needed for the following (all indoor events):

• Paraclimbing Finals
• Speed Qualification and Finals - Women and Men
• Lead Semi-Finals and Finals - Women and Men
• Boulder Semi-Finals and Finals - Women and Men.

All other events are free of charge. Access to the venue is limited. Entry is restricted to first-come, first-served. This platform was used last year for the Seoul World Cup.

Laval IFSC Paraclimbing World Cup

When: 23rd–26th October
Where: France
Where to buy tickets: You can buy tickets for the Para Climbing event and the Continental Speed event here.