Story and Photographs by Tony Veltri
Click here to see Tony's PBC video.
Click here to see more photos from the PBC.

     "Why do I always get a seat near the wierdos?" I ask myself. I'm on the red-eye back from the Phoenix Bouldering Contest, and as usual, there's some obnoxious lard-ass who is expanding into my space like a human puffer fish. The fact that I'm spending the next four hours crammed into the extreme left portion of my seat, however, can take nothing away from the awesome experience I shared with all who attended this year's event!


Third place finisher Tommy Caldwell attempting one of the toprope problems at this year's PBC.

     During the weekend of April 14th, droves of climbers from around the world converged on the boulders of Queen Creek, the site of the 18th annual Phoenix Bouldering Contest. This year's PBC drew over 550 dedicated boulderers who were unleashed upon the boulders promptly at 8:00 am, when the contest began. Contestants cranked on the sharp volcanic edges and pockets until their scorecards were full or their fingers were bloody, or in some cases, both!

For most climbers, the foghorn blast that came some five hours later, signaling the end of the bouldering, marked the beginning of the post-comp events that have made the PBC so famous. Vendor booths from Misty Mountain, Cordless, Ropegun, Pusher, five-ten and several others ringed the festival area and offered their swag and other goodies at blue-light special prices. I was able to score a Misty Power Pack, over $150 worth of Ropegun stuff AND a Cordless pad all for under $175.00. I was especially psyched to sell my Metolius pad, which is a total dog when faced with the burden of carrying heavy photo and video equipment. Great thanks also go out to Fish Products gear booth and their patented "Fish Tank" free wet bar, serving up everything from "mystery beer" to margaritas. Other entertainment included a dyno contest, a tug of war, the Access Fund auction, and an absolutely kick-ass performance by the Buddha Base Process, whose beats kept us dancing long into the clear moonlit night.


The official Fish drink list.


Letting it rip in the dyno contest.

On Sunday morning, the end result for many was severely pink tips and a hangover. Although the Trango pancake breakfast helped to ease my hangover, I really think that those guys need to work on their hand balm; it was way too sticky and dogs kept licking my fingers. (Oh, you mean I was supposed to put that on the Pancakes?!)


New England's own Tim Kemple entertaining the peanut gallery at the PBC.

So then, was it really worth a 4000-mile trip with 5 connecting flights for a weekend of climbing with some of the most motivated boulderers in the world? Hell Yeah! Will I do it again next year? Oh yes! …But hopefully, instead of sharing my seat with the portion of some fat guys ass that doesn't fit on his, I'll be sharing the whole row with friends who didn't get to make it to this year's PBC.