The past few weeks have been all about climbing, as I took part in Triggerfinger! This is a climbing competition held at various Neoliet/Boulder locationsand I chose to compete in Tilburg. I enjoy the combination of climbing and bouldering - route climbing requires endurance as well as a good memory to recall the movements.
How Does Triggerfinger Work?
Triggerfinger is a competition where you have one month to complete as many routes as possible. Each route has:
✅ Two starting holds
✅ Three zones
✅ A final hold
The difficulty ranges from 3+ to 8A, but the exact grade of each route is not provided. However, you can often estimate the difficulty based on the holds and movements. The routes are released in phases, meaning you don’t have access to all of them from day one. Your score is determined by the number of climbers who reach a zone or the final hold. Each zone and final hold is worth 1000 points, divided among all climbers who reach it. Strategy is key - it pays off to attempt the harder routes!
Not interested in competing? No problem! You can still try all the competition routes without officially participating.
My Experience at Triggerfinger Tilburg
Week 1: A Strong Start
In the first week, 20 routes were released. I tracked my progress using Toplogger. Since the competition has different categories based on climbing level, every route counted toward my final score. My first session started with the easier routes on the upper floor. Once warmed up, I tackled the harder ones on the middle level. I felt strong and managed to top every route onsight*! By the end of the session, I had completed nearly all the routes from the first batch.
Second Batch: New Challenges
A week later, new routes were released. Excited, I jumped right back in! Once again, I onsighted almost everything - except for one route. On the main wall, a black route gave me a tough time. Learning the moves proved difficult.
In the following sessions, I worked through the sequences. I improved my movements but struggled with the crux near the top. During my last session before the final, I gave it a few more tries, but small mistakes prevented me from topping it.
Finals Day: All or Nothing!
On finals day, the last batch of routes was released - 15 new routes in total. We had eight hours to complete as many tops and zones as possible. The atmosphere in the gym was great, but it was busy. For some routes, I had to wait in line, but after two hours, I had climbed all the new ones.
The Final Score? A close second place! The winner secured just one more zone than I did.
My Conclusion
In total, I onsighted 50+ routes, and I’m really happy with that! However, I do think it’s a shame that onsighting doesn’t give you extra points, which meant that the final scores were very close. I also would have liked to see a few more challenging routes to create a bigger gap between competitors rather than having the competition decided by a single move.
That said, it was a great test of my climbing skills! Want to know where the next Triggerfinger competition will take place? Check out our event calendar and don’t miss out!
* Onsight: Climbing a route on your first attempt without any prior knowledge of the moves.
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