A week before his trip to Ecuador 10-year-old Gavin Robertson couldn’t stop talking about the tortoises.

The fifth grader at Lake View Elementary in Kirkland was preparing to head south with his family to take part in the Pan-American Continental Youth Climbing Championships over Thanksgiving weekend in Ibarra, Ecuador. Of course climbing was on his mind, and he knew it was going to be tough, but that didn’t stop him from being excited about the other aspects of the trip, including the family’s visit to the Galapagos Islands.

Robertson has essentially been climbing his whole life, or at least been around the sport, thanks to parents who have been taking him and older brother Bryden along since before they could walk. As members at the Vertical World Climbing gym, coaches had bugged dad Matt about letting Robertson join their youth team for several years. Finally Matt said they caved, and Robertson started climbing with coaches in September 2009.

What the family didn’t except was his natural aptitude for the events.

In his first part of his first season, Robertson was earning second and third place finishes consistently in bouldering, a type of climbing without the use of ropes. He tied for sixth at the regional competition, with the top five going to nationals.

Seeing how well he did in the first chunk of competitions, Robertson had the bug and went for it.

“Going into the second part of the season we focused a little more,” said Matt. Robertson practices for three hours a day, three days a week with the team, but loves every minute of it.

“I like that it’s hard, but I’m good at it,” said Robertson. “It’s just fun and everyone does it because they want to.”

In the second half of the season Robertson competed in top-roping, in which the line is anchored at the top of the wall and climbers get points based on their holds and how far they get. He finished in the third at division competition in California.

“I’m realizing, wow this guy is good,” said his dad.

Going into the national competition Robertson was ranked in the top 15 for his age group, which will being relatively new is gaining popularity. As the sport gains traction, especially with hopes of being added as an Olympic event, the youth climbing portion has been encouraged with new competitions, said Matt.

At Nationals, held in Atlanta this past August, Robertson was doing well coming out of the quarterfinals, excited for his last run, but mental shakeups kept him off the podium.

“There was an announcer for the finals and he couldn’t drown the voice out,” said Matt. Robertson ended up with a seventh place finish, not exactly what he’d wanted.

Matt said after the climb Robertson was clearly upset, and unhappy with the way he finished, despite good climbs the whole event. It was another competitor, the one who earned a first place medal, who changed Robertson’s thoughts.

“Kai (Lightner) came up to him and said congrats to him and saying how good he did for his first nationals,” said Matt. “By the time we left he was excited again.”

Lightner told Robertson in his first nationals he finished in last place, only to get better with another year of practice. It certainly made Robertson feel better and showed his dad something he’d already suspected.

“I was just blown away by the support of people, not even on the same team, but just in general,” said Matt. That support was the tipping point to giving a green light to future trips to climbing competitions. Plus for Robertson, it means time hanging out with new friends like Lightner and others from across the country.

“As far as I’m concerned, that’s the best part,” said Matt. Typically just the top five placers at Nationals receive invitations to the Pan-American competition, with anyone else in the top severing as alternates. But, Matt said, with some families concerned about traveling to Ecuador, only Lightner accepted the invitation of the top five, allowing Robertson to say yes.

Robertson said training for the Pan-Am competition has been hard, especially knowing the city sits at a 6,700 elevation, meaning the air will be much thinner than he’s used to here at sea level. For the last several weeks before heading south he and coaches have been working on endurance training to help prepare.

Despite having to forgo a traditional Thanksgiving, since the family will be arriving in Ibarra on the day most in the U.S. partake in the fowl, they are making up for it by going to the Galapagos after the event. Along with several of the other climbing families, they are excited to see the sights.

Robertson earned a fourth place finish in Ecuador in sport climbing in his age group and took 10th in his group for best all around climber. His dad said it was an awesome way to finish his first year of competitive climbing.