Unlike most sports, climbing lasts all year (at least for those that compete indoors). There is no off-season; when one ends, the next is already right around the corner. In the winter and spring, climbers compete and train for bouldering. This usually means power and pure strength, with some good technique to make your life easier. In the summer and fall, climbers train their endurance with just enough power to make your sport climbing better.

At the beginning of every season, the climbers are excited to change the training routine. Depending on the time of year and the training program, they might not have had the chance to get a good lead climbing session since its season ended (possibly several weeks or months back). Although this can get frustrating for those who prefer one type of climbing over the other, it allows the climbers the get a blank slate every few months.

We've been training, sweating, and working for months, trying to build our pyramid and reach our peak. The result of the training will either result in success or failure in the competition circuit. Either way, it's nice to be able to start over. Unfortunately, a "blank slate" doesn't save the good things. At the beginning of a season, every climber has to prove themselves again. It doesn't matter how well you climbed compared to your competitors last year if they beat you in the first comp this season.

After all of the training you did to compete just a few months back, all the time and pain you put it- you're forced to start over and do it all again. Even if you did well in the last set of competitions, the forced reset shows the climbers everything they did wrong and right (and how to fix/continue it).

At the beginning of a climber's first competition of the season, they ask themselves one question...

Will I learn or take a step back from last year?