Dustin Beckwith sets his sights on the top of the pole in the speed climing event.

LAKE PLACID, N.Y. — Brian Bartow took advantage of missteps from his top two competitors on Saturday to win the gold medal in the speed climbing event at the ESPN Great Outdoor Games.

The speed climb requires strength, speed and a tad bit of craziness.

Bartow, of Grants Pass, Ore., climbed a 65-foot pole and then descended it in a time of 13.57 seconds. Brian Linville, of Hayward, Wis., took the silver medal with a time of 16.5 seconds.

Bartow said the event is safer than it looks from a spectator's viewpoint.

"I don't consider that crazy or dangerous. I've been doing it since I was 6 years old, so it's almost as natural as walking," Bartow said.

In the speed climbing, the competitors must ascend the pole, strike a line at the top, then pretty much free fall on the way down until they crash into the padding at the base of the pole. However, they must mark the pole with their spikes at least three times on the way down. All this is done in less than 18 seconds.

As they climb, the athletes use a rope tied around the pole and their waist to provide leverage and to avoid a potentially dangerous fall. But as they fall, the rope also keeps the climber perilously close to the pole. Knees, elbows and sometimes chins bounce into the timber.

	Chris Hughes, left, and gold-medalist Brian Bartow wage a speed-climbing war.

In the semifinals, Bartow defeated the defending GO Games champion, Wade Stewart, of Canada.

Stewart had a slight lead midway up the pole, but he slipped just prior to reaching the top. That was all the window of opportunity that Bartow needed. He finished in a time of 14.06 seconds. Stewart finished with a time of 14.34 seconds.

The finals were not as close. That's because Linville, who also won the silver medal in last year's games, slipped twice.

"You slip twice in a 65-foot race and it's tough to win, not to take anything away with Brian Bartow," Linville said. "I slipped right at the beginning and then a little bit further up the pole."

Speed climbing is based on the skills required of timber workers to harvest trees in the West. The trees were so tall that they could not be cut at the base, for safety reasons. So, loggers had to make a lengthy climb.

Sometimes, the loggers used dynamite to knock down the top half, hence the need to get down as quickly as possible.

	Speed-climbing: A GO Games sport with an X-Games feel.

Bartow learned the sport from his father, who still competes at a top tourney level. The family has a pole off the back of their home that they practice on.

Stewart took the bronze medal with a time of 13.97 seconds during a competition against Dustin Beckwith, of Hayward, Wis. Beckwith had time added to his score for failing to meet the requirements for the descent.

Twelve competitors were invited to the event.

The rules for the first qualifying round differed from the rest of the competition in that participants raced the clock. But from the quarterfinals on, they were placed in two-man brackets, so whoever won the head-to-head competition, advanced to the next round.

Linville said he was ready for the finals, maybe too ready.

"I maybe had a little too much adrenaline," he said.