What a weekend! It is so satisfying when a community comes together to be the best they can be as individuals and to equally build up their peers. We were fortunate enough to be part of the media crew for this year's Tjoms in Arms weekend at Friends and Allies.
Tjoms in Arms (TIA) is the epitome of a community event. If you missed out on the epic event or are new to the climbing community and have never heard of Tjoms in Arms, let me tell you about it.
Friends and Allies is a bouldering gym located in Johannesburg, it is a fairly new gym that opened during Covid and has just grown from strength to strength. TIA is their first official boulder competition which they introduced to climbers last year. The idea is to bring your bestest, favourite climbing ‘tjom’ to make a team of two. Thirty boulder problems are before you and the goal is to send as many problems are you can in two hours. Once your time is up, you and your teammate combine your scores at the end to hopefully make it to the finals.
This past weekend, Tjoms in Arms Vii took place and the turnout could not have been more positive. With almost 40 teams competing throughout the day, the energy was high, and the problems were so enticing you didn’t want to take a rest. There was an abundance of support with people sharing beta with anyone, and of course, their tjommie, spotting anyone to make sure everyone was safe. Safety first remember! (Along with getting to the top and looking good).
#TeamAdventurelife took on the challenge this year and we absolutely loved it. We were doing fairly well after our two-hour session and potentially going to the finals, but unfortunately didn’t make the cut. Next year though
After the qualifiers, the setting team worked tirelessly to strip the 30 problems and get ready to set for the finals. In the meantime to keep finalists out of the gym, Pierre Carter gave a talk and shared his experience from his 7summits, 7 flights expedition. He is aiming to be the first to paraglide off the highest peak on each continent! If you want to know more about it, click here.
There were three different live feeds throughout the day, one from the Send Space, followed by us, and the finals were streamed from Friends and Allies themselves with KP and Olly Marx as commentators. The event extended past the gym to those who were unable to make it but were ready to support tjoms from afar. After the finals and the prize giving, everyone came together to enjoy an evening of socializing. Catching up with friends and sharing the events of the day. Not a bad way to spend a Saturday!
A huge shout out to Friends and Allies for coming up with and hosting such an awesome event and weekend. To Wes for being a brilliant host/MC and sharing your passion for this sport. It is an event and a vibe that will only elevate in time and what a way to bring a climbing community together. For that, we thank you.
Take a look at this year's TIA highlights
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We hope to see you Tjoms there next year!
Shout out to Chris Doman for capturing all the photos from the day! Want to take a look at more of his work, click below.
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