Elevation Rock Gym hosts first competition

Sixty climbers participated in an Elevation Rock Gym competition on Friday — the first such event since the Logan business opened five months ago.

Contestants had four hours to climb the newly installed routes. Their five highest scoring routes were then tallied and the top three contestants of each heat were determined.

Josh Elgan, a contestant in the competition, spent several hours a week for the past four months training for the competition.

“I wasn’t expecting to get charley horses during the qualifiers,” Elgan said. “But I had to cope with the cramps in order to qualify for finals.”

Mark Elliott, a graduated electrical engineering student from Utah State University, and Sierra Shields, a junior at Sky View High School, won the men’s and women’s advanced heats for the event.

“I didn’t think I was going to win,” Shields said. “I only had an hour and a half to qualify for finals and then I went on a date.”

Shields left the date early to compete in the finals and won. Her prize was a 60-meter outdoor climbing rope.

Preparation for the competition started earlier this week when the owners of the gym and staff started taking down all old routes and cleaning holds.

Sixty climbers participated in Elevation Rock Gym's first competition.Starting at 11 p.m. Thursday night, 89 new routes were set and installed to be ready for the competition 16 hours later.

“I got about four hours of sleep in the past 48 hours,” said Brad Kessler, one of the owners of Elevation.

The competition was free to members and cost $10 for non-members.

“We really wanted to have a free members’ competition to say thank you to all of our members that have supported us since we opened up,” Kessler said. “There was a line outside on December 1 to sign up for a membership and we really appreciate the support we’ve gotten from the climbing community here in Logan.”

Kessler and Brian Hestetune, co-owner of Elevation, plan on hosting their next competition in the fall. It will be a 12-hour endurance competition modeled after a 24-hour endurance competition in Arkansas, called 24 hours of Horseshoe Hell.