Each year rock climbers from all over the Midwest pile into their cars and cruise to Rochester for The Best of Mid-West climbing competition. The comp, hosted by Prairie Walls climbing gym is a fund-raiser for the Minnesota Climbing Association (MCA) and the biggest Bouldering comp in the upper mid-west. The amazing amount of work it takes to put on the B.O.M.W. is all done by volunteers from Rochester and Minneapolis a like. From general organizing, to food, to washing holds (interchangeable wall grips) and route setting many of the volunteers are up all night creating and fore running the 70-100 new routes for the competition the next day. Unlike comps you may have seen on T.V. this is not a speed climbing competition, its all about difficulty. Each routeis awarded a point value depending on its difficulty. The climber with the five highest scores at the end of the day is dubbed the winner of their category (see results). The MCA chooses Prairie Walls for the competition because of their unique style of climbing walls. Dave Brandt (Prairie Walls owner) developed/designed his own way of building climbing walls that many feel is the best out there as far as design and functionality. Aside from the quality of Daves designs, the gym was one of the first in the world to build freestanding boulders in an indoor facility and has been hosting events, instructional classes, and lessons in Rochester for almost 8 years! If you havent done so already, stop by Prairie Walls climbing gym (located near Westfire Grill) or visit www.prairiewalls.com Darin Limvere is an employee/climber at Prairie Walls Climbing Gym and Director of Photography for Weekend Warriors skateboard video.