Cliffhanger opened its gates yesterday in a blaze of glory – the weather, for once, played along with the preferred game plan...

World Cup bouldering action kicked off with the opening qualification rounds. The highest ranking boulderers were the first to set foot on the wall – a long and overhanging series of walls. Noticeable was the absence of any monster roofs which have been such prominent features of previous comps. A few volumes broke up the otherwise relatively linear lines of the wall. Fridge-hugging looked to be consigned to the skip; lock and reach looked like it was back in – though read pull and jump for the vertically challenged. More than the odd tasty rock-over onto rubbish footholds looked to be lurking too…

Here’s a selection of shots from the men’s qualifier starting with some visitors first…