HOOD RIVER — Emi Bursett, 11, has finished her second season competing on the Hood River Brimstone Climbing Team and recently competed at the USA Climbing National Training Center in Salt Lake City for the first time.
USA Climbing Youth National Championships, Nationals as the competitors call it, was held July 7-14. Bursett started climbing July 12 in the bouldering qualifier round. She has made it to the semi-finals and was slated to compete July 14 (after press deadline).
Eleven-year-old Emi Bursett practices at Brimstone Boulders rock climbing gym ahead of her trip to the Youth National Championships in Salt Lake City.
Zoe Wagner photo
While Bursett is not the tallest climber, her persistence and skill make her a strong athlete. She threw herself across a wall multiple times attempting a V8 dino that tested her shorter height.
Bursett’s onsite grade is a V7 but her project is a V8, and she has only been climbing for two years consistently. She loves climbing slab (flat) walls. “Those are my favorite,” she said about crimps. “I love pockets … I don’t like slopers.”
Bursett could be called your regular 11-year-old. She plays roblox, does multiple sports, has rivalries with her sister, is energetic and can’t sit still (at least at the climbing gym). During our interview, she never stayed in one place too long, moving from the sofa and box jump to the climbing wall, the stairs, the climbing wall again, the pull on bar, the fingerboard and back to the pull up bar.
Bursett’s sister, Nyah Bursett, introduced her to the sport. Nyah Bursett was on a team in Portland before they moved to Hood River a few years ago.
Emi Bursett said, “I climb more for the climbing, [my sister] climbs more for the people.” They will go to a competition and Bursett says, “I’m focusing on how I’m going to climb it, and she’s talking to people.”
The climbing team is separated into Gold and Black, age being the main separator. The Black team is the biggest and has the older climbers. Bursett walked through the Gold climbing team practice. They start with a warm up, projecting for 10-ish minutes if they have time before starting a climbing workout. Then they have a snack and workout until the end of practice, with maybe some core thrown in.
At climbing competitions athletes go into isolation (iso) where they do a ground and wall warm up before they compete. Bursett described iso as a “terror zone.” She said, “It is scary … All these kids are ready to do it and I am kinda not.”
Climbing competitions, like other sports, differentiate competitors based on age. In USA Climbing, the youngest competitors are in Youth D, then Youth C, Youth B, Youth A, and Junior. Youth D climbers do not compete at Nationals. Each competitor is in a category for two years, except Youth D, before aging into the next category. Bursett’s birthday falls two days before the minimum Youth C age this year, making her one of the youngest competitors at Nationals.
Oregon competes in Region 12 and Division 1, where various competitions in bouldering, ropes and speed are hosted to qualify for Regionals and Divisionals. The top six competitors at Divisions can go to Nationals. Bursett placed first in the qualifying round at bouldering divisionals and sixth in the finals, qualifying her for Nationals.
Bursett has been training for the last two months with Claire Gordon, a previous US Nationals climbing team coach. Nathan Frankel, Brimstone manager and team coach, said, “I think [training with Claire] will make a difference ... She is really well versed in training national level athletes.” Gordon was to be with Bursett and other competitors at Nationals.
Bursett is not the only Brimstone member at Nationals. Brimstone Boulders head route setter and coach Molly Beard has been at the USA Climbing National Training Center as the lead/top rope Chief Routesetter. She is not there in a coaching capacity.
Beard, Carl Miler, Nathan Frankel, Jacob Fishman, and Sabine Bock make up the team coaches. The coaching team will be growing next season, with the addition of Ramón Ramirez, current youth programs wrangler.
Bock has “been working specifically with Emi’s team … so Sabine has played a big role in Emi’s success in going to Nationals,” said Frankel. “I think it’s important that Emi has role models on the team and Sabine has been a really big part of that as far as being a national level athlete at a young age."
“Emi is a super strong rock climber. She is so freaking strong and so smart. The thing we have been working on the most with her is her mental game,” said Frankel.
Team tryouts are coming up in September. Those interested can reach out to nathan@brimstoneboulders.com. In the fall the team will hopefully have more training space, including a spray wall among other features in the basement of Brimstone that is currently under construction.
Bursett’s final comment about Nationals was, “I am excited about meeting new people and trying new types of climbs like with big holds … I am also scared because there could be moves I never do. I might have no idea what to do and it’s kind of stressful.”
Despite the stress, Bursett said, “I think I could be back in Nationals because I will be an upper youth C.” The fun, friends and new sets make Bursett excited to keep coming back to the gym, and she won’t be stopping anytime soon.
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