With so many bouldering gyms in the Netherlands, you can now take part in a bouldering competition almost every weekend. Last weekend, it was time for Plaatjes Draaien at Boulder Tilburg. The atmosphere of the previous edition, which I had seen online, looked very promising, so I was curious to see what this competition would be like.
What is Plaatjes Draaien?
The concept: a vinyl-themed climbing competition where a DJ accompanies the climbers with music during the final. The adult qualifiers started at 12:00 PM, and the final was set to begin at 6:30 PM. Since vinyl-style climbing tends to be a bit slower, I made sure to arrive on time so I could start right at 12:00.
Qualification: lots of boulders, minimal waiting
There were 36 boulders, many of which were surprisingly accessible clearly designed with young climbers in mind. I topped the first 15 relatively quickly. Although the competition is known as a “slab climbing competition,” many of the boulders were set on vertical walls. The aim was to simulate the feeling of slab and balance movements understandable, as there weren’t enough actual slab walls available.
The gym was quiet; I didn’t have to wait anywhere. From boulder 30 onward, I expected a significant jump in difficulty, but it wasn’t that bad. In the end, I topped all 36 boulders, 34 of them on my first try. I was done after an hour and a half. The relatively low level of difficulty was also reflected in the results: more than 10 climbers topped everything. So the deciding factor came down to the number of flash attempts.
Good vibes, but few surprises
The boulders were fun to climb, but the truly exciting slabs were missing. A bit more variety would have been welcome. The most striking boulder? A bathang on a slab something I had never done before. You usually see bathangs on overhangs, but on a slab, it worked surprisingly well.
Scoring: room for improvement
The scoring worked as follows:
- 10 points for a top
- + 4 points for a flash
- 5 points for the zone
- + 2 extra points for flashing the zone
But this is where things went wrong. Depending on how you entered your score in Toplogger, you could sometimes end up with 12 points for a single boulder. This caused confusion when determining the finalists, although it was fortunately resolved quickly. Notably, it was possible to make it to the finals without topping all the boulders, as flash attempts yielded a lot of bonus points and all boulders were worth the same. For a future edition, I’d recommend taking a closer look at this.
The final:
I placed second in the qualification round and made it to the final. As usual, this meant waiting in isolation while the route setters put the finishing touches on the boulders. Around 7:00 PM, the final began. The women started first. They climbed the same routes as the men, but with a few additional holds added for them. The format: five minutes of climbing per boulder, followed by five minutes of rest. In total, four final boulders awaited us.
At 8:00 PM, it was finally my turn to try the first boulder a purple one with large slopers. Starting from a corner, I had to shift my weight across, but despite several attempts, I couldn’t manage it and only reached the first zone.
The second boulder had little to do with slab climbing but was surprisingly fun. The main challenge was controlling the final hold. Boulder three stood out visually right away, though I found it a bit on the easy side. Despite needing two attempts, I reached the top fairly quickly. It seemed that this boulder was manageable for almost all the finalists.
And then came the fourth and final boulder. During the preview, I already sensed it: this was going to be tough. A paddle dyno with holds that had no texture for both hands and feet. The moment I stepped on, it felt like standing on ice. No grip, no stability. I gave it three tries but couldn’t gain any control over the movement. I didn’t get much enjoyment out of it.
Maybe not fun for the audience to watch, and perhaps not entirely fair to the setter either, but to me, it no longer felt like climbing. I gave up, knowing that my podium chances were gone but for me, it’s mostly about enjoying the experience. In the end, I finished fourth, with two tops and one zone. All finalists received a hand file from CrushClub to take home, and some great prizes were awarded to other participants. Congratulations to the winners!
Conclusion: fun concept, room to grow
Plaatjes Draaien at Boulder Tilburg is a creative concept with real potential. I enjoyed the atmosphere and the climbing. Still, I see a few areas for improvement:
- Make the qualification round a bit shorter and slightly more challenging
- Take a critical look at the scoring system and how scores are processed
- Add more variety and spectacle to the qualification boulders
I'm looking forward to the next edition!
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