CWIF (Climbing Works International Festival) 2024 report

• Wednesday 20th March 2024

Percy Bishton reports.

Apart from a brief one-year holiday during the COVID years, the Climbing Works International Festival (CWIF) has been a regular event on the international climbing calendar since 2006. It is regarded as one of the essential pre-season warm-up events for World Cup and Olympic athletes, and over the years has attracted a list of competitors that reads like a who’s who of the climbing world.

The CWIF format has been copied by imitators the world over – Studio Bloc Masters in Germany, Dock Masters in Holland, G-Force in Ireland, Battle of Britain and Plywood Masters in the UK to name a few, but none of these events has managed to capture the unique spirit and psyche that the CWIF engenders amongst the athletes or the crowd. The CWIF is always special and this year’s edition would prove no different.

The event followed the usual format – qualification day with thirty boulders set by the B Team – Andy Longy, Jason Pickles, Rob ‘The Enigma’ Napier and myself. The boulders created show why CWIF is so unique. The athletes must be comfortable in all climbing styles – powerful crimping, knee-trembling offwidths, sustained jamming, desperately thin slabs, and of course, rocking around the many aretes that the Works offers its setters such great terrain for technical problems.

Qualification day is always surprising for a lot of strong climbers who come along expecting the conventional vanilla-flavoured insta-friendly commercial climbing they get in the big climbing wall chains. CWIF is for good all-round climbers – being the strongest isn’t always the best strategy. Nalle Hukkataivel famously once failed to qualify at the CWIF, and lots of big names are often shut down by the qualification boulders, but it’s always amazing fun. Where else in the UK are you likely to be rubbing shoulders with the likes of Alex Megos, Shauna Coxsey or Yoshiyuki Ogata while waiting for a burn on a boulder?!

The semi-finals and final are held the following day on boulders set by the A team – Matt Cousins, Cailean Harker and Max Ayrton, all directed by the head setter from the USA, Garrett Gregor. Garrett will be the head setter for the Paris Olympics this summer – the CWIF being the only international event outside the Olympic world he will set this year. I think it’s fair to say that no competition has ever had two Olympic head-setters (past and future) working in the same event, but we managed it for the CWIF!

The Semi-finals

While the semi-finals were the usual brutal affair, the setters worked it perfectly to get a great round and a good clear ranking for the athletes going into the final. Britain’s Max Milne crushed it to take the top spot for the men, while Ukrainian Ievgeniia Kazbekova dispatched all the boulders in the women’s round. The stage was set for a great final.

Another thing about CWIF is that it is a comp organised by people who love competition climbing and we do our utmost to create an atmosphere where athletes can give their all. Our rules are fair and clear but also relaxed enough that we can give our setters free rein to try and do something new – a situation that is sadly lacking in many events which seem to be increasingly mired in restrictions and conformity.

When a setter has an idea for a new move that might push the climbers into new territory, rather than saying no, we say “Yes please!”. Max Ayrton, the UK’s most recently qualified IFSC setter, had dreamt up a new move which he had tried to put into competitions on two separate occasions, only to be told that he couldn’t for any number of silly reasons. Luckily, we don’t have any problems with that sort of thing at CWIF so he was set free to do his thing. And what a thing it was!

The Final

The final started with a couple of fairly conventional looseners for the climbers – the women took on a thin slab with tiny pebbles while the guys had varying amounts of success on a finger crack which had been filled with blocking holds to create an intimidating and powerful pair of moves on a juggy mono. Needless to say the two German climbers in the final smashed this problem into submission being used to this rather Frankenjura-esque style, Yannick Flohe managing a flash. Some of the Brits seemed a little reluctant to yard on a one-finger hold with such abandon!

Problem two was the game changer. Max Ayrton had managed to set a boulder which required the climber to start and then perform a slow and controlled cart-wheel across a sloping shelf. It took all the finalists a few tries to grasp the craziness of the boulder, but the cartwheel was the only viable solution they could find. One by one the finalists got closer to solving the move, with Yannick Flohe the first to get the zone hold, but nobody could finish the problem.

Then came Max ‘The Future’ Milne. He quickly found the solution to the cartwheel, but then got shut down on the still incredibly difficult top section. The crowd were very excited by his progress, and very rowdy thanks to a liberal dowsing in complimentary beer. A top was being demanded and Max supplied it for them. The timer had counted down to zero as Max fought the final sequence but nobody in the wall cared. Everybody was engaged in screaming and shouting encouragement at Max as he battled the last moves. After an astonishing battle and immense perseverance, Milne found the top hold – the crowd went wild!

This is the true magic of competition bouldering. Unencumbered by all the rules, climbers are allowed off the metaphorical leash to explore the limits of their sport. It was a little bit of competition magic and a great sequel to the infamous Toby Roberts insane power contortions of 2023. Let the discussion recommence as to whether the IFSC needs to bring back the 4+ time limit for bouldering!

The last two problems required a less radical approach. In the women's competition, it seemed to be heading for stalemate with Holly Toothill and Ievgeniia Kazbekova matching each other for tops until an uncharacteristic slip on problem 3 from Holly left the door open for levgeniia to snatch a well-deserved victory.

Meanwhile, Yannick Flohe was slowly but surely demolishing the finals problems with next-level power and confidence. Max’s efforts on the second boulder hadn’t given him the top score he needed but had given him a massive boost in confidence and he proceeded to flash the last two problems, leaving Yannick with it all to do. The big German wasn’t fazed though and proceeded to deploy his formidable power to dispatch the last top problems for the win. Alex Megos, another CWIF regular, fought well right to the end of the round to grab third sport, and suddenly it was all over for another year.

Competition climbing in the UK is not in a great place at the moment – the powers that be (GB Climbing and the BMC) are trying to find their way through the minefield of bureaucracy that befalls a sport when it hits the big time of Olympic status, and it is easy for events to get postponed or cancelled due to lack of funding and support. With this in mind, I think it is more important than ever to thank the sponsors, staff and volunteers who still love climbing competitions and see their value. These are the people that make the CWIF happen and we are indebted to them for their continued support.

Men’s Final Result

1. Yannick Flohe (GER)

2. Max Milne (GB)

3. Alex Megos (GER)

Women’s Final Result

1. Ievgeniiia Kasbekova (UKR)

2. Holly Toothill (GB) 

3. Lucy Garlick (GB)

Sponsors: Rab, Scarpa, Beta Setting, Rockcity, Securit, Staxx, Flux Holds, Bleaustone, X-Cult, Entre Prises, eXpression, Lapis, Sheffield - The Outdoor City, UKClimbing.com, Vezi, Flight volumes

You can watch the final livestream here: