A climber at the Boulder Battle climbing competition takes on the challenge while other competitors prepare on March 15, 2025. (Joshua Loehr/CU Independent)
At 8:45 a.m. on March 15, over 40 students waited for the Student Recreation Center to open. Celebrations of St. Patrick’s Day will soon wake Boulder up, but for now, it is a quiet and cold Saturday morning. Every so often, a hopeful student walks up and pulls impatiently at the entrance doors. At 9 a.m., the doors open. Students pour into the University of Colorado Boulder’s rec center with one destination in mind: the climbing gym. Throughout the day, 123 climbers will come to compete in CU Boulder’s annual Boulder Battle.
The Boulder Battle is a rock-climbing competition hosted at the climbing gym. Competing without ropes or harnesses, climbers will choose to compete in one of three divisions: recreational, intermediate or advanced. Organizing staff split the 123 climbers into three heats throughout the day. Each heat lasted two and a half hours. Judges score participants based on their five highest-scoring climbs in their division.
Before the competition, some climbers described a thankful anticipation for the day ahead. The climbing gym, usually open daily, had been closed for the last few days in preparation for the competition. For some daily climbers, the last few days have felt like a song paused right before the chorus; on Saturday, the song played again. Quickly, climbers began to engage with the 53 boulder problems set up in the gym. More than anything, these climbers are glad to be back.
Competitors say they joined the Boulder Battle for many reasons. Some believe that winning is not the point, but others approach the day differently.
“Being competitive is fun and winning is fun,” said Sam Hoghaug, an intermediate division competitor
Whether climbing for fun or competition, each participant is part of something bigger. They are one of 8 million American climbers fueling one of the country’s fastest-growing sports. Events like the Boulder Battle highlight a broader trend —bouldering has recently exploded in popularity in the U.S. and across the world. Recently, the sport was included for the first time in the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games.
When the chalk settles and climbers rip off their shoes, the Boulder Battle’s top scorers are:
Recreational Division
1: Zach Sherritt
2: Colby Trefethen
3: Hale Burke
Intermediate Division
1: Robert Craven
2: Gabriel Cutting
3: Roman Fenkart
Advanced Division
1: Braden Benson
2: Max Elder
3: Alexander Ye
Contact CU Independent Staff Writer Joshua Loehr at joshua.loehr@colorado.edu.
