The Professional Climbing Association's (PCA) second competition of the season followed the Hollywood formula for a summer blockbuster: headlining superstars, a little skin, fast action, drama, humor, and a predictable ending. At The Front Climbing Center in Salt Lake City, Utah, 20 women and 27 men competed in the finals, held in comp climbing primetime: August 10, Saturday night, smack in the middle of the Outdoor Retailer's industry trade show.

PCA coursesetter Scott Mechler engineered the five-minute-per-problem format to start with a bang. "The first problem dictates the flow of the competition," said Mechler, who set the men up with a running jump-start on Problem One. "Our psychology was to force competitors to let loose right off the bat." Some folks took this to an extreme.

Jaws dropped when Mike Auldridge tackled Problem One wearing dark glasses, a cowboy hat, and backless, tiger-striped chaps. The PCA should have issued a "viewer discretion advised" warning when Auldridge then stripped down to black bikini briefs spangled with gold-studded stars.

The third problem, the most difficult of the men's final, started on steep pinches and moved to a shoulder-wrenching left-hand gaston on a jug. Endurance master Francois Legrand made a pit-stop in a Rifle-esque knee bar, and turned to try to rouse the crowd, but couldn't rally a send. Using tiny holds, Chris Sharma climbed in an abnormally static and controlled manner for his third straight flash.

Problem Four knocked most out early on a low crimp. However, the eventual top three finishers put on a strong showing. John Stack and Sharma made it over the wall's lip, but failed to snag the final move. Nels Rossasen cranked off a powerful heel hook to reach past Sharma's highpoint, briefly tagging the final hold -- not enough to take the win from Sharma.

With Sharma capturing the win and Rossasen placing 2nd, the fiery Stack -- last season's overall victor -- had to settle for 3rd. As proof that you don't have to climb full time to compete well, Dave Hume took a brief break from his master's program to finish 5th behind Ethan Pringle.

In the women's final, Lisa Rands and Canadian Zoe Kozub both effortlessly flashed Problem One, an awkward corner followed by a stab to a shallow two-finger pocket. Though many competitors had the power to get to the pocket, few possessed the technical accuracy to stick it.

The second problem tested the climbers' route-reading skills and slab-climbing ability. While Angela Payne sent the problem with a dyno, Rands made a difficult hand/foot match and reached statically to the finish. Tori Allen sent the problem in her usual dynamic style, pausing midway to give the crowd a beauty-pageant parade wave.

Problem Three stumped most on the second move, a left-hand cross around a corner to an edge. Allen nabbed another flash, quickly floating to the top. Emily Harrington used her remarkable endurance to rest on each hold, but took a heartbreaking fall just a hair short of flashing.

The final problem, with a stalactite on a steep overhang below the finishing lip, decided the winner. Though Allen made an effort to dyno from the stalactite over the lip, Rands' exceptional core strength enabled her to match on the stalactite. Her feet flew from the wall as she campused over the lip to briefly catch the next hold before falling. Her World Cup-seasoned poise earned her the win over Allen.

Payne's stunning dyno finish on Problem Two earned her 3rd place over a seasoned field. In another outstanding part-time climber/full-time-working-stiff performance, 26-year-old software engineer Tanya Laidman Scovill (ranked in the top four ASCF women in 1997), dropped in on a whim between business trips to Japan and finished 6th.

After the comp, the PCA hosted an awards bash at a local art gallery to mark their one-year anniversary: within that year they've put $50,000 in competitors' pockets and created yet another layer of climbing subculture.

-- Stephanie Forte