Boulder’s 31-year-old Angie Payne, a former bouldering national champion and the first woman in the world to climb a V13—the Automator in Rocky Mountain National Park—shares some advice about competing.

On Pressure

5280 June 2016
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“I wish I had not focused so much on winning in the beginning and focused more on my own personal performance and pushing myself, instead of just feeling like I had to win every time.”

On Training

“I do train, but it’s not what people think of in the traditional sense of training, like lifting weights or cross-training a ton. It’s more about spending tons of time on the climbing wall and in a simulated competition setting so I can practice that mental side of it.”

On Competitors

“It’s been important to remember that fellow competitors are the people who understand the ups and downs of competitions the best and can thus provide some of the most valuable support during times of both success and failure.”