The climbing scene at the Teva Mountain Games
As a general rule, adventure-sports athletes and dogs get along famously. That wasn鈥檛 the case last Friday evening at the Antlers hotel in Vail, Colorado. Nicky de Leeuw of the Dutch National Climbing Team was one of the 2,500 athletes from more than 30 countries who had traveled to compete in the tenth annual . His event: the , and on Friday he'd qualified for the semifinals for only the second time in his career. The event started Saturday at 10 a.m.
I met de听Leeuw听late Friday night in the Antlers elevator as I was returning, slightly wobbly, from what seems to be another great TMG pastime: schmoozing and drinking with a few hundred other folks at an 鈥渆xclusive鈥 party. De听Leeuw听was not in a chatty mood. Turned out that in the two hours I'd been away, my dog, Lucy — one of the thousands of pooches that the 40,000 TMG attendees brought with them this year — had started in with her howling routine, and we were staying in the room adjacent to de听Leeuw's. (What can I say? She doesn鈥檛 like unfamiliar places.) De听Leeuw听looked unsure about whether to accept my apologies or spit. After a curt exchange, he tore out of the elevator to 鈥済et some sleep.鈥
Feeling guilty, I resolved to watch him climb the next morning. I showed up at the wall and sat with some 300 other spectators, techno music thumping beneath 14,000-foot peaks, and watched de听Leeuw听fall off all four of his climbs.听“Lucy,”听I implored my stout companion, who was splayed out contentedly in the grass, “what have we done?”
When the competition was over, I caught up with de听Leeuw听near the wall to apologize. He'd听placed 13th鈥攐ut of 20. 鈥淚 couldn鈥檛 be happier,鈥 he said. “It was the best I've ever done at the World Cup.” 听He crouched to pet Lucy: 鈥淪o this is the beast, huh? I鈥檝e got a dog at home.鈥 No wonder 40,000 people and 10,000 dogs can survive three days with hardly any drama–everybody's so laid back. Which is why next year, de Leeuw can rest assured. I'm bringing Lucy to the party.听
–Kyle Dickman听
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