Rob D'Anastasio climbs a route during an opening day climbing competition at Aesthetic Climbing Gym in Lake Forest on Sunday. More than 25 climbers participated in the event.

LAKE FOREST – Something's going right when rock stars of the rock climbing world show up on a holiday weekend for the grand opening of an O.C. gym tucked away in a nondescript industrial park.

The $3,000 first prize money promised to both male and female winners of the Aesthetic Climbing Gym Invitational held Sunday – not to mention the $2,000 and $1,000 prizes for second and third place – helped attract the likes of 2010 Teva Mountain Games Bouldering World Cup champ Daniel Woods.

"Bouldering" refers to the method of climbing without ropes, which Woods likened to "doing gymnastics on the wall."

Woods was making his first visit to a Southern California climbing gym from his home in Boulder, Colo. At 23, he's also a seven-time winner of the American Bouldering Series, the biggest such competition in the U.S. He pronounced Aesthetic Climbing Gym, the brainchild of three 20-something rock climbing enthusiasts in Orange County, a good place to test a climber's ability.

"It has everything for the boulderer," a shirtless Woods said after finishing the five climbing "problems" in the semifinals with a shin scrape.

The 29 competitors included amateurs and pros from Orange County and others from as far away as Pennsylvania and Tennessee. The 10 climbers in both the men's and women's categories with the most points would compete in the evening finals.

By noon, a crowd of about 90 spectators had wedged into a narrow space to watch the climbers tackle 18-foot-high gray walls christened The Slab, The Cave, The Roof, The Bulge and The Wave.

Co-owners Jeremy Meza, 26, and brothers Trevor and Dillon Arndt, 24 and 22, met at one of Orange County's half-dozen or so rock climbing facilities a little over three years ago. Conversations about the sport, which is in contention for inclusion in the 2020 Olympic Summer Games, led to opening their own gym with backing from investors and their parents.

"We are a bunch of climbers doing a cool thing for other climbers," said Micha