We’re back! – Oct 10th – 11th
BlocBender is the Upstate’s premier bouldering competition — a two-day celebration of climbing and community!
Everyone is welcome! No prior competition experience needed.
Changes this Year
One Day for Open and Citizen rounds!
This year, we’ve condensed BlocBender’s Open and Citizen rounds into a single-day format to make traveling more accessible. By bringing the full BlocHaven competition experience together into one epic day, we hope to help traveling competitors save on costs without missing a moment of the action.
Back to basics
For BlocBender 2026, we’re returning to our four standard competition categories: Recreational, Intermediate, Advanced, and Open.
Our new one-day format means we’re keeping the competition focused and streamlined while still delivering a full, exciting BlocBender experience!
Format
Modified Red Point
Scoring is based on Zones and Tops.
As well as Attempts to Zone and Attempts to Top.
Final score will be the cumulative total from all boulders in your category.
Tentatively, there will be 8 climbs per category.
Categories
Category
Recreational
Intermediate
Advanced
Open
Womens
V0-2
V2-4
V4-6
V7+
Mens
V0-3
V3-5
V5-7
V8+
Grade Range Circuits at BlocHaven (For Reference)
Red Climbs: V0 – V1
Yellow Tag: V1 – 3
Green Tag: V3 – 5
Blue Tag: V5 – 7
Pink Tag: V7 – 9
Black Tag: V9 – 11
tickets
…
Early Bird – includes shirt
(On or before Sept 10)
Standard
(Between Sept 11th – Oct 9th)
Day Of
(Oct 10th)
Member
$45
$50
$55
NON – Member
$55
$65
$70
Early Bird – includes shirt
(On or before Sept 10)
Standard
(Between Sept 11th – Oct 9th)
Day Of
(Oct 10th)
$70
$80
$85
The shirt
Early Bird Registration (if ticket was purchased on or before Sept 10th) your ticket price includes the new BlocBender 2026 t-shirt
The size you select in the form is the size that is ordered, we don’t order extra so please be sure to choose wisely!
Register
NOTICE for USA CLIMBING YOUTH COMPETITORS: Register only for the Sunday, October 11th QE
DUE TO USAC REGULATIONS, youth competitors cannot register to climb for both BlocBender (Oct. 10th) and the QE (Oct. 11th).
Please register for the Sunday youth competition through USA Climbing HERE (Registration isn’t live yet)
